.Hack//GU (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit

Hello, again. I want to make this a quick review, but I don't think that will happen. You see, I'm distracted while writing this, but today's game deserve's a full review, so if the review's a little shaky that's my fault, not the games. Anyway, here we go.

Story: The story of .hack centers around players going into an online game. You play a young man named Haseo, who on his first day in "The World R:2" (The world from the original games was trashed and a new one made) is PKed by some people who were pretending to be his friends and show him how to play (tutorial). Eight months pass and Haseo is now the one of the most feared Player Killer Killers. (I think this would be an excellent time to talk about the .Hack series. It is a multiple media story. That is, if you want to know all of the plot, then you will have to watch the anime, read the manga, and play the game. The anime that lines up with this is .Hack//Roots, and it takes place during that 8 month gap. The one thing you should know about it is that Haseo's in game friend is PKed by a player named Tri-Edge and goes into a coma, but you would learn this in the game as well.) That said, Haseo learns where Tri-Edge is likely to show up. Deciding he's badass enough to take this PKers, Haseo goes. There Tri-edge shows up and does something never before seen (unless you've played the other games) and Haseo wakes up staring at his desktop. Everything relating to "The World" has been formatted, so none of Haseo's data besides his initial creation remains. Logging back into the world, Haseo is once again level one, so people decide he's a noob and try to teach him how to play. There is a lot more that goes on after this, but the main things to mention are Haseo's need to hunt down Tri-Edge and his recruitment into an elite group that is trying to destroy a virus that has made its way onto "The World." The story is very entertaining, and the characters are nicely done as well. 5/5

Audio: There are only a handful of music tracks in the game, and most of them aren't very noticeable. A few are very nice though, and none of them are painful. During cutscenes the is voice acting. It all seems well done, and I like how the voices match the characters. They really brought in a lot of the big name ones too. There is an opening scene with the cast list. I was astonished how many I recognized. Not that it matters, what does matter is the voices sound good. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics are nice. The style is not one that is commonly used. While the in game graphic design are somewhat realistic looking, the FMV scenes have a cell-shaded look to them. They also seem to have an aura about the characters. The dungeons are very attractive. They scrapped the large world map then dungeon from the original series and now either have dungeons or small outdoor maps. There aren't a lot of different types of maps, but what they have look very impressive. The graphics aren't drop dead gorgeous, but they are very nice and suit the ambience well. 4/5

Gameplay: The idea of .Hack//GU is that you're in an online game, and it does it very well. Even better than the originals. When you're not in the game you can look at internet forums (you are able to post in some of them), write emails (or send greeting cards), and customize your desktop (change the music and wallpaper, and some wallpapers can now be downloaded off the forums). When you log into "The World" you can access game forums as well as the main site that tells the back story of "The World." Inside the game proper, you interact with other players and can trade with them for new items. The game consists of running around the server town or going into dungeons. You can call people on your friend list to join your party, which holds up to three. You can give them commands for what strategies to use in battle, but mostly they're on their own mindset (like real online players). Also you can give them gear to equip. If it's better than what they have, they'll wear it. If it's not then they'll leave it in their inventory. When you see a monster, you can approach it from behind to get a critical bonus hit before the battle. Battles occur in shielded areas, so neither you nor the monster can leave (unless you use a smoke bomb). Sometimes you'll see battle areas as you explore the dungeons, and these are other players in a battle. You can enter the area to help them, and if you succeed then you will be awarded some small prize. Each dungeon has a different goal, either it's reach the beast statue, or defeat the boss monster. Depending on your weapon, you can press the X button for more damage. If you do enough damage on an enemy they will be circled by purple rings, this means special attacks will do more damage, and you get bonuses for using a special attack on the monster at that time. Also there is a morale bar, which fills by doing certain things. When that is filled you can either have boosted strength and speed until is wears off or unlimited magic until it wears off, depending on what you set in your menu. The gameplay is well done, and despite the fact they are completely AI, other characters are actually very helpful. 5/5

Replay: There is no real reason for replay besides love of the game. Nothing is particularly customizable, so you would only be playing through the same things again. 2/5

Overall: The game is a great one. It's entertaining, it's easy to pick up, but not too easy as to become boring. The characters are well-developed, and the setting is interesting. If you liked the first series, you'll love this. It takes everything good about the first ones and makes it better. 5/5