Post by Bytor on Jan 21, 2010 0:39:13 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.5/10
Typical anime look and feel. The characters are rendered nicely and the various worlds are very nice looking as well. It is certainly a case of the game design looking as needed/wanted and not a truly graphical masterpiece. If you are a fan of the typical JRPG then you will really like this, if you are looking for next-gen graphics then you will be left wanting.
-Sound- 8.8/10
Great music which does a great job of setting the mood of what the game is designed to portray. The sounds are exactly like a real MMORPG would produce. The voice overs as well are exact and each fits the character model precisely. The Japanese soundtrack is also a very interesting and fun addition
-Gameplay- 8.9/10
I love almost every aspect of the gameplay. The basic idea is you, the main character, are playing a MMORPG and it is portrayed wonderfully. The various other players AI is great, they seldom repeat the same comments twice and you have the ability to interact with them via adding them to your party and/or trading items with them. It is a RPG but once the battles start it becomes a real time action game. One thing I really like is even once the battles start you still have time to decide what exactly you choose to do, run around a bit and you will garner enough time to cast spells, use magic scrolls and even command your allies to preform different tasks. One of the big drawbacks in the battle scenes is the camera angles. The camera is 100% in your control and often this can cause issues in tight places and surprise attacks. Having said that I simply loved the whole idea of a "simulated" MMORPG. Be prepared to juggle the various scrolls (magic items) , various weapons/armor and abilities as each has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
-Story- 8.5/10
I dare anyone not totally immersed in the .hack universe to figure everything out, but in a nutshell you are playing a MMORPG and discover that you have special powers which enable you to hack various aspects of the game...
-Overall- 8.9/10
I love this game, The game simply does a whole lot of things right. The look, the feel, the gameplay are all wonderful, the camera does take a bit to get used to but due to the expansiveness of the dungeons you typically will have time to at least run around and make some quick decisions. Finishing the game in @25 hours is certainly possible, but in order to really get a feel you really should have some fun and experiment with the different areas, it will certainly add many, many hours of excellent gameplay!