When the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA games made their way home to the PS3, PC-only players wished that the series would come to their platform. When the series arrived on the Nintendo 3DS, that hope grew some more. While some held on strong when Sega stated that it would pay more attention to the PC market, some talented developers decided to stop waiting and do it themselves. PC players who were willing to be adventurous had Project Project Dxxx, which subsisted on community-created content. Those who wanted to stick with Steam had Project Heartbeat, which also relied on community content but had a small collection of Eurobeat songs and an editor so players could create their own charts. In a welcome surprise, Sega dropped Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ for the PC.

If you're unfamiliar with the game mechanics, it takes on the tried-and-true method that few rhythm games ever stray from. Symbols appear on-screen and move toward a destination, and your job is to tap on the corresponding button at the correct moment to match the song beat. Most notes are activated with taps, but a few notes need to be held, and there are a few moments when more than one note needs to be tapped simultaneously. In addition to the button taps, arrows also need to be tapped or held, giving you up to six different notes to heed if you're playing at higher difficulty levels.

What makes this different from other rhythm games is that the hit area takes up the entire screen, rather than relegated to a section of the screen. Notes fly in from all directions and speeds, so you're constantly darting all over the screen to find notes and try to not be distracted by the music videos that are playing in the background. When you consider how vibrant the videos are, that becomes tricky and gives the game a steeper learning curve for genre newcomers. It'll also be an adjustment for those who know rhythm games well but have not experienced this one.

Project DIVA Mega Mix+ was built with a controller in mind, and by default, the symbols that fly around are buttons that correspond to the Xbox controller. Thanks to the versatility of the platform, you can change this out to be arrows, Switch face buttons, PlayStation symbols, or a mix of arrows and face buttons. No matter which pad you use, the game lets you use both face buttons and the direction pad to handle the main notes. Arrows are done either with the shoulder buttons or by tilting either analog stick. The game supports keyboard-only controls, and it can be easier to hit multiple notes in rapid succession if you're proficient with that versus a standard controller. The only knock is that you can't rebind the keys, and you can't replace the on-screen prompts with keys, but it shouldn't take long to get the hang of using a keyboard in this game.

Like the Switch iteration, the game is focused on the Rhythm mode, so those who wanted to interact with Miku and friends or help them decorate their living spaces will be out of luck. By default, you have access to three difficulty levels, with each differing in song selection, note types, and numbers. Playing a song on the Hard difficulty level not only gives you access to a global leaderboard for that song but also access to the two higher difficulties for that song. Playing on Easy and Normal won't get you those leaderboards, making them more like practice levels, but special sections in each song give you a chance to add some flair to the videos if you complete them.

As for song selection, the base game contains around 178 songs, which is everything from the Switch version if you include all of the DLC. Grabbing the extra song pack DLC adds 72 songs from the PS4 version of Future Tone, bringing the total up to 250. The good news for Switch owners is that this song pack is confirmed to hit that system at some point, so this is more like a timed exclusive for the PC. The edge in total song count still belongs to the PS4, as it has two more songs in its lineup ("Ievan Polkka" and "Nekomimi Archive"). With the Steam store page promising that DLC will be available, there is still hope that the PC will get more songs down the line.

Beyond the Rhythm mode, there's not much else to do unless you're into customization. Completing songs gets you points that can be used to unlock different costume pieces, like different hats and hairstyles to full-on outfits, like Ulala's garb from Space Channel 5 and a Sonic the Hedgehog onesie. You can create t-shirts for the vocaloids to wear, but you are limited to five creations at a time. The tools used to create the shirts are pretty basic, and there is no ability to share your creations online or download designs from others, but the ability to draw with a mouse gives it an advantage over the Switch version. You can play each music video on its own or in a playlist, so the HUD and gameplay elements don't interfere if you want to enjoy the tunes on their own.

There is one flaw that makes this version inferior to the PS4 iteration of Future Tone or the Switch iteration of Mega Mix: stuttering. For some reason, no matter the hardware you have or the drive you install this on, Project DIVA Mega Mix+ has some noticeable but inconsistent stutter. Whether it is because of a lack of optimization or the DRM Denuvo causing issues, the experience loses a bit of smoothness no matter what song you're playing. You'll be fine if you're playing the game at the lower difficulty levels, but for those who thrive on perfecting the higher difficulty levels, the stuttering is enough to derail most perfect runs and really needs to be addressed soon.

Graphically, the game remains impressive, especially when you realize that this is all done in real time. Hitting a full 60fps at all times, each backdrop looks gorgeous, and every vocaloid's performance looks stunning. One advantage over previous versions is the ability to display Miku and her friends in two different graphical styles. Future Tone gives you the 3D look that the PlayStation and arcade iterations have used, while Mega Mix sports the anime-style look from the Switch version. The ability to swap between the different styles before each song is a welcome option for fans of either look.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ is a great game PC-owning rhythm game fans. The music remains catchy across all of the genres it tackles, and while the playfield can be busy, the mechanics place you in a trance once you get into a groove. The basic arcade mode is enough for most fans, while more creative types will enjoy the ability to create t-shirts and dress up the vocaloids in costumes. The absence of two songs isn't too bad, but the frame rate stutter is going to be painful if you plan to perfect all of the songs at higher difficulty levels. Fix that, and this would be perfect, but as it stands now, unless you hate vocaloid music, Project DIVA Mega Mix+ is worth a purchase.

Score: 8.0/10