Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2

"After many, many months of waiting, here it is, PSO ver.2!"

Well, here is one of the most anticipated games in Europe, and I'm gonna review it. Let me give you a bit of background on PSO ver.2. It was first released in Japan, and was very popular. Then Sega released it in America a couple of months afterward. It proved successful in America, and people in Europe wanted to get a piece of the action. Many resorted to waiting for it, others have imported it. Now, it has finally been released, and I'm reviewing the English version 2.

Graphics: 7/10

Nice graphics, a bit higher quality than the original PSO, yet could be improved further by a lot, instead of having all the old graphics, Sega could of had some new graphics for the attacks. Nice, but could be improved a lot.

Sound: 4/10

Well, exactly the same as the original PSO, except that Sega have added some more annoying tunes to the already annoying repertoire. Sega, we needed new stuff, not the old annoying junk. If you really hate the music, like me, then play a different piece of music whilst playing.

Online play: 10/10

Amazing. Us european players don't have to pay for the hunters license, which came with the american and japanese versions. Plus, Sega have added three new online modes: Battle, where you can attack other players in a set game, or out in a level, Challenge, where you have to complete certain stages under a certain time with team-mates, and Lobby ball, where you can play football, or soccer as the americans call it, with loads of mates. Always a nice idea to play with friends.

New stuff: 8/10

Simply superb. All of the new online stuff counts under this, so I won't copy it again, and there are hundreds of new rare weapons, quests, and a new mode of play, Ultimate, to keep you going. Ultimate is, well, ultimate, seeing as you need to be level 80 at least to play it online. Unfortunately, the only way you can get Ver.2 rare weapons is in ultimate, which is bad.

Other stuff: 1/10

Hackers. There is no way to avoid them in this game, like the old one, and you can be turned into another character, NOL, like in the old game. Thankfully, Sonic team and Sega have done something about this, and they will ban gameshark users from playing online if they repeatedly offend. Nice one.

Final word: PSO version 2 is good, but there are some flaws, like the rares not being seen until ultimate mode, and the hackers. So, all in all, I would say, get PSO ver.2. Now.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/02, Updated 03/04/02