Phantasy Star Online

"I Wish I Could Give This Game a 9.5 Or Something Because, While Not Perfect, It's So So Close!"

First of all, this game marks another industry first made by Sega, this is the first ever online, console multiplayer RPG ever made. And saying that, I really wouldn't want to be a company trying to out do it, as this game, although first of it's kind, will probably also remain the best of it's kind for a long time to come. With it's amazing sense of atmosphere, beautiful graphics, and great online community, this game is definitely one of the best I've ever played.

Graphics: For a Dreamcast game, I don't think anything can top this in the graphics department (except possibly Shenmue). Phantasy Star Online (PSO) also has a good share of nice little unique graphic effect such as the great flowing animation for the monsters and characters. For example, when a monster moves it's arm, his chest and muscles move with the arm which makes them seem more life like. Also, the water (when there is some) looks really amazing. The Dreamcast also hasn't been known to produce very good lighting effect, but PSO Sonic Team managed to do pretty good with the lighting, adding some nice reflections and shimmering on metals. 9/10

Sound: The sound is one of the main reasons I said this game has such good atmosphere. The sound is really memorable (not in a ''know-ever-beat'' kind of way, but rather in a ''that-really-sounds-unique'' kind of way) and does a good job setting the tone of the moment. ''Magic Sound'' is also implemented in the game, which is basically like ''magic weather'' of many other games. Basically, magic sound is just an effect that changes the back ground music in-game to fit what's currently on the screen. For example, you could be walking through the forest and suddenly a group or Boomas surrounds you, then the music flows from the quiet, mellow sound to the main battle music. So instead of having to load a new track, the system just flows from one mood to another. It doesn't sound that amazing in writing, but it's actually pretty cool in the game. The only let down in the sound is the sound effects are kind of bland. The gun shots are kind of muffled and a few other issues with the sound effects, but nothing too bad. And on the plus side, things like magic and the speech bubble sound effect are very nice. 9/10

Gameplay: The gameplay is nothing innovative, but for what it is, it's good enough. Though I guess since the 5 language translator thing comes under gameplay, that can be considered innovative (very innovative actually). Speaking of the 5 language translation thing, it pretty much works like it sounds. Basically, you just pick from a very easy to navigate list of phrases, questions, and answers and pick a person (or everyone) to send it to, and it automatically translates what you picked to their language preference (which is shown next to their name and level above their head). And don't worry, this doesn't mean you have to pick phrases and everything to chat with your English speaking friends, you can just type what ever you want (well curse words will be censored in a ''!@#$'' fashion, which would be ok with me if they didn't have to censor stupid words like ''fart'' or ''poop'') and they'll get it just like you said it. As for the actual play of the game, it's easy, yet very addictive. You get 6 slots in which to assign actions to (one for A, B, and X and one for R + A, R + B, and R + X). The actions you can assign can include anything from your weak but fast attack, your slower but stronger attack, your weapons added attack, any offensive or defensive magic or a quick short-cut to a frequently used item (or any combination of these. If you want to use all magic or something similar then you can go right ahead). All in all, nothing you haven't seen, but nothing really bad either. 8/10

Replay Value: The replay value, as with any title with online play (given the game is actually good to begin with), is usually going to be above average. That couldn't be more right for this game. With out online play the game should last a few days, but WITH online play the game is so so much better. Besides being just plain funner with other people, the online community is also very very nice which makes it even better. This is definitely the best online community I've ever played in. Almost everyone is very nice (especially high level characters). One person gave me a shotgun when I first started that's still better than anything else I've seen at my current level of 40. Also, the game has very little lag when playing online, which is always a plus for an online game. Only when there are more than 8 enemies on screen have I really experienced much lag that actually got a little annoying. Overall, very good online community mixed with great online structure makes the replay almost endless. 10/10

Overall: Overall, if you don't have an Internet connection the game is decent, but there are definitely better out there so I wouldn't warrant a purchase. But if you do have an Internet connection then this game is one of the best I've ever played! I really really want to give it a 10, but the 1 player off-line game just brings it down ever so slightly. If you have a connection, what are you waiting for? Go get the damn game!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/08/01, Updated 02/08/01