"Welcome to the world"

Well I've been glued to the newest .hack game for the last three days now and I must admit that I am impressed.

Being a newbie to the .hack games (I cant seem to get my paws on any of the old copies) I find this game t be very nice. The battle system is a little button mash but the blocking unlike most games is an important step in the battle system. Players also need to time attacks properly in order to cash in on big exp bonuses offsetting just mashing X the entire time. The movement AI could use a tweak here and there but is solid for the most part. Your party seems to enjoy stepping on spike traps after your making a point to move wide around them.

The world is looking very nice and the towns have the magic of the original series .hack//sign. The interaction system with NPC is also a welcome addition to most games where you can actually barter for items that they have in their possession. Finally an NPC that is useful for more than blocking a road or informing you that the Yen-sa eater is up ahead. (So that's what that giant monster is. I thought it was a moving rock!) I do wish a larger inventory would be available a little earlier in the game however. 30 items is not many.

The plot line on this game is very nice as well and pulled me in fairly quickly. Being a PKK has it's advantages.

Surfing the false forums is an interesting addition to game play as well. It allows to to see some inside info on the game and find new areas that were not available just by looking at extras. The lore on the ' official site ' was also very involved and for that I give kudos to the writers. A story is nothing with no background.

For sure I'm giving this game a nine. It's very interesting and a good dungeon crawler buy why do I have to kick things all the time? When you see an animal in the real world is your first reaction to kick it? If so then please forget the last few lines but please give the animals a break once in a while okay?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07