.hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth

"Collective review of Parts 1 through 3; The only perfect score I've ever given"

Welcome to 'The World,' an online MMORPG set in the .hack universe. You play as Haseo, whose legendary history of in-game PKKing (Player-killer-killing) has earned him the title "Terror of Death." Haseo spends months playing 'The World' in efforts to find a fabled player called "Tri-Edge" whom PK'd one of his closest friends, thus somehow sending her into a coma. When haseo finally finds Tri-Edge he comes to realize he is no match, and is easily struck down by the mysterious adversary.

Haseo resumes his play after a mild blackout and finds his character reverted to Level 1, all his items lost, and his contact list emptied. The story takes you on a rollercoaster of plot twists and tear-jerker moments as Haseo builds meaningful relationships and tries to unwravel the underlying mysteries of "The World".

STORY: 10/10

If you're familiar with the .hack series, you'll immediately have questions about 20 minutes into the game, as you bare witness to Tri-Edge and the line-up of familiar characters you run across. That being said, if you've never played a .hack game before THAT'S OK! The entire game is self-sustaining, with a plot line taking place several years after the events of the first series. All aspects of The World and any information relating to the previous games will be explained in a short, simple, easy-to-understand way. Though there isn't much reference to the previous game at all that you need know.

This three-part series will keep you asking questions and wanting to see the story unfold until the very end, and even then you'll want more. Parts of the story are revealed to you in the form of other 'websites' accessable to you via your in-game 'desktop.' pseudo player forums and a news website will keep you updated on events in the 'real life' .hack world and events you're not aware of in the game itself. a lot of the news presentations are broken down into actual anime videos with impeccable quality. (Visual quality on par with what you'd expect from a high-production Anime series). All of this boils down into creating a vibrant atmosphere that will have you actually wanting to watch the news to see what's going on, especially when things start to go awry. Each character has their own unique personality and you find yourself falling in love and hate with all of them.

VISUALS: 10/10

To be honest, when I first picked the game up, I wasn't expecting much from the visual department. I was in for quite a surprise; The graphics and character design are nearly on par with Eternal Sonata on the XBOX 360. Beautiful half-cellshaded styles reveal minute details upon viewing the game close-up. Character models are really on point and each one is original enough to tell them apart with ease, while still feeling like all their clothing and weapons could be found in a real MMORPG. The Cutscenes are stunningly detailed and brilliant. From the camera angles to the close-ups of characters faces during awe-inspiring moments. There's really no room to complain here, "Beautiful" is the only word I can use to describe.

landscapes are gorgeous- From the cities, to the fields themselves; running around a field is just a beautiful experience. Be it day, or night; grassy or desert area, the randomly-generated field layout will almost have you wanting to sit down and stare off into the sky to take in each area. The backdrops to fields will display mountainous regions, lakes, and amazingly large cannons pointed at the sky, linked to The World's backstory. Every inch of the game area is flawlessly crafted, and the character models could easily bring this game to the next-gen consoles with little to no criticism.

CONTROLS/COMBAT: 10/10

The .hack//G.U series has one of the best combat systems I've ever used in an RPG. It's real-time combat taking place in a way very similar to Star Ocean: 'till the end of time, yet much more indepth. Haseo can use four weapons total, by the end of the game. Including dual pistols with without-a-doubt, the best RPG Gun controls I've ever experienced. Conbat is amazingly tight and the controls are very responsive. You're able to switch between what weapon you want to use on the fly (Between daggers, a massive broad sword, a scythe, and dual pistols).Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses and it's up to the player to figure out how to use them. Special attacks are assigned to the Square, Circle, Triangle, and X buttons and can be rearanged any time when not in battle.

Partyable characters on your 'friends list' will level up by themselves at the pace you do (So you don't have to worry about leveling up 25 different characters, they'll actually do it themselves.)

SOUND: 9/10

My only real fault here is the sometimes-cheesy dialog. There's nothing really wrong with the voice acting itself, (Though several of the characters have very grating voices) but corny, overplayed, predictable phrases pop up every now and then, as well as a voice cast I've heard 1,000,000 times in the past. (Honestly, about 7 of the voice actors work with each other on a regular basis. The person who plays Pi is becoming quite annoying, as I can't seem to play any game or watch any anime without having her monotone self-rightous voice in there somewhere. The market for Anime/game voice actors must be running shallow). Battlecries stay on the low, and you don't really hear them if you don't want to, and they never truly become repetetive. The music is inspiring and fits well, from the opening theme, to the credits themes, to even the desktop music, everything fits very well, with quality orchestraded background music, to the surge of power you feel when a held attack connects with a thunderous blow to an enemy. Over all, you get used to the..familiar voices and occasionally teeth-scratchingly pitchy voice *Atoli*.


IN CONCLUSION:

I've never given a game a perfect score on any website, as I consider myself adamant about finding flaws in anything, to look past the hype of games like Grand Theft Auto and pull out their flaws for an honest review. So to find a game that I love so dearly that I give it a perfect score, I guarentee will only happen once in a blue moon. .hack//G.U is an epic series that will hold the attention of any RPG fan until the very end and keep you wanting more. This ranks as my #1 RPG (Collectively) of all time. One of my only real issues with the series is that it's just too short (Though the series spans 3 games, sold seperately, they could have easily fit them all onto one disk and saved you a good $100. ) Each game is short, and can be completed in a few hours, but if put together collectively would make a normal, long game. However cut into three parts, it's just vexing to have the game for one day and be done with it. Anyway, these minor things aside, the G.U series is well worth, even the unusually blatant pricetag, and should not be missed by any RPG fan, under any circumstances.

A 10, out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/08

Game Release: .hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth (US, 10/24/06)