"A great collection of classic games"

If, like me, your first Phantasy Star game was Phantasy Star Online, then you might be interested in finding out where Sega's illustrious RPG series actually began. So Sega have released a conpendium of the first three Phantasy Star games just for us handheld owners. I'm gonna try to give a breakdown of each seperate game, then rate the whole pack...

PHANTASY STAR

First released way back in the heady days of the Master System. Phantasy Star was a landmark achievement, and amazingly has stood the test of time pretty well.

The plot follows young Alis, who finds her brother slain at the hands of the tyrannical King Lassic, ruler of the three planets of the Algol system. Alis vows revenge against Lassic, and sets out to free Algol from his grip. As she travels, she gains three companions who will aid her in battle. A classic revenge story, but with a lot more to it than you might think, especially the twist towards the end, which I won't spoil for you. As the rest of the series shows, it's only the start of something much larger, and is indeed epic stuff.

By Game Boy Adavnce standards, this doesn't hold its own graphically against other examples of the genre, but then again this IS a retro pack. By Master System standards it looks absolutely astonishing, filled with colour and little details. The most impressive thing is that all the dungeons are in full 1st-person 3D, long before Doom and its ilk. It moves really smoothly too. Many of the monsters all have their own animations for attacking, and the whole thing's nice and easy on the eye too.

The sound's a bit of a downer, with most combat noises comprising of varying degrees of static, but the tunes are pretty good.

It's amazing how well this 16 year old RPG still plays even today. Battle mechanics are smooth and responsive, and there's a lot to keep you hanging in there. My only real gripe is the ridiculous complexity of the dungeons, and the lack of side-quests is a bit of a downer after today's goodie-filled RPG's, but Phantasy Star is still a storming RPG, proving that Square aren't the only ones who make top-quality RPGs.

PHANTASY STAR II

The first Phantasy Star game to be released for Genesis (Megadrive, if you're British like me), Phantasy Star II somehow managed to improve on the already-amazing original, with the superior hardware used to great effect.

Taking place 1000 years after the events in Phantasy Star, all is not well on Algol. The machine known as Mother Brain, that controls the system, has begun to malfunction, and monsters are running loose throughout the system. As government agent Rolf, and his Newman (blend of human and monster DNA) friend, Nei, you set out to find out what went wrong. Throughout the adventure, six other people join. There are so many events that go on in this story though, you'll keep playing through to witness the next story moment. And as for the final stages... well, Phantasy Star games have a reputation for adding a killer twist at the end, but the twist in this one is probably the most shocking I've seen in any game!

The graphics are an improvement over the original, but still look a little basic when compared to today (I've really got to stop saying that). There's a nice sci-fi feel to it all, but there's an annoying lack of variety to the sprites (are Hugh and Kain related? Are Amy and Shir long-lost sisters?). The real meat-and-bones of the graphics lie in the battles. While the backrounds are extremely basic, the animation on the monsters and characters has been improved ten-fold. Monsters animate while waiting, and all attacks made by characters and monsters have their own animation - you actually see your characters on screen this time! All-in-all, this still looks a treat, and is probably the best-looking game on the pack.

Music's also improved, with some great tunes scattered throughout. Sounds are a bit disappointing, but at least it doesn't sound like static.

This game still plays amazingly well. However, the dungeons are still ridiculously complicated, despite the fact they're no longer 1st-person. The battle system's very hit-and-miss, as it's all too tempting to leave your characters alone and let them just hit the enemy until they die. The battles are also frightenly difficult very early on, and they get tougher...

Despite these gripes, I enjoyed this game immensely. It's probably my favourite game in the pack.

PHANTASY STAR III: GENERATIONS OF DOOM

Oh dear, oh dear... What did we do to Sega to deserve this? After hitting a peak with Phantasy Star II (which would be hit again with Phantasy Star IV), Sega let their standards slip to a new low with this stinker...

The one saving grace about this game is the plot, so I'll cover that first. Taking place about a thousand years after Phantasy Star II, this finds us on the world of Landen, where prince Rhys is due to marry Maia, the woman he found washed up on the shore some months ago. However, before they can say the I do's a dragon swoops in and carries Maia off, so Rhys sets out to find her. On the way, he discovers the true nature of the world he lives in... What starts as rescue-the-princess guff becomes something of an epic, even though it's connection to the prior Phantasy Star games is unclear until much later. The best thing about the game is the Generation system - after beating Rhys' section, you get a choice of brides to marry. You'll then control Rhys' son, and then his grandson, who discovers the cause of the whole mess. There are four different paths through the game, and it truly is breathtaking stuff. Hardcore gamers will want to see all four endings (which shouldn't be too difficult, given that all the characters have the same basic objectives) but for most people once will be more than enough. Even then, some might never even get to the end, for the reasons I'm about to reveal...

The game's graphics are very poor. The character portraits look nice, but that's the only thing that looks good in this game. There's a shocking lack of variety to the worldmaps, towns and dungeons. The battles look absolutely atrocious - the monster design ranges from pretty poor to downright comical, and they only have one or two frames of animation for all attacks (look, that giant hit me by wiggling his finger!). The spell effects are shockingly poor, and you can't even see your characters this time round - all you get is a cheap-looking line depicting a weapon strike. After Phantasy Star II, this looks appaling. It looks worse than Phantasy Star, and that was on the Master System!

The music is definitely a mixed bag. Some of the tunes, such as the title theme, are beautiful, but the rest is ear-blisteringly bad. The battle and dungeon tunes are woefully repetitive and underwhelming. The sound's taken a step back from Phantasy Star II as well - it sounds like static again!

This is also the worst to play as well. The dungeons are ridiculously complicated again, but this time they lack all traces of fun. The encounter rate is frustratingly high - you can't take two steps without some monster ambushing you. The battle system is quite frankly pathetic - it seems they looked at what was wrong with Phantasy Star II's system, and made the faults 10 times worse. Also, while the battles were insanely difficult before, this time they've gone the other way and made them ridiculously, painfully easy.

All in all, this is an atrocious offering. A great plot is ruined by a godawful game. This is the only one in the pack that I had to force myself to complete.

THE WHOLE THING

I'd say that on the whole, this is worth buying for Phantasy Star I and II alone. One stinker out of three might not sound good, but when you consider the high quality of the other two games, it's not so bad. However, the biggest problem I have with this pack is that Sega didn't go the whole hog and chuck Phantasy Star IV in there. Considering Phantasy Star IV is widely regarded to be the best game in the series this is a major let-down. The only option open is to find a second-hand copy of it, but if your Genesis is knackered then you'd better hope and pray that Sega see sense and release it for GBA one day.

All-in-all, despite the loss of Phantasy Star IV, this is a really good pack. Older gamers will love playing these again, and younger gamers can appreciate the severest test of RPG skills they've ever had. Well worth checking out, I reckon.

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