BATTLE SYSTEM INTERACTION ORIGINALITY STORY MUSIC & SOUND VISUALS CHALLENGE Easy COMPLETION TIME 20 to 30 hours OVERALL 4.0/5 Rating definitions

   .hack is an unusual series. It's a game that takes place inside another game, and what's more, it's also a multimedia series, the story for which takes place across a wide array of books, manga, anime, and games. While the first incarnation of the .hack saga has long since come to an end, the new saga, entitled .hack//G.U., is just beginning.

   .hack//G.U. takes place seven years after the events of .hack//Quarantine. After a catastrophic fire at the CyberConnect Corporation's headquarters destroys all the player data for "The World" (a massively multiplayer online role-playing game with over 20 million subscribers world-wide), "The World R:2" is developed as a sequel, featuring many of the same features as the original World, but also with many new ones. This new version of the World hasn't sold as well, but still maintains over 12 million users. The game begins as the main character, Haseo, creates his character and first enters the world. You'll find yourself going through a tutorial level teaching the basics of the game, and upon the completion of said tutorial, Haseo is targeted by a group of PKs - Player Killers. While the PKs easily take him out, a mysterious man with a gigantic gun on his arm comes to his aid, reviving him and offering him a simple greeting: "Welcome to the World." Fast forward six months (note: for the events of those six months, you can view the anime .hack//Roots, which is a prequel to the events of G.U.), and Haseo is now a level 133 PKK (Player Killer Killer), on the hunt of the player who PKed his friend Shino and put her in a coma in the real world, known only as Tri-Edge. Soon after slaughtering a group of PKs, he gets word that Tri-Edge can be found in a certain location and goes to face him - however, he is easily defeated and finds himself data-drained back down to level 1!

Area words are back again, but this time with a new and improved interface.

   This is where the game begins. Yes, as hard as it may be to believe, all the above events take place in the opening cut scenes before you actually take control of Haseo and start playing the game. Needless to say, the story is central to .hack//G.U., and they make sure to grip you right from the start, throwing a hundred questions at you and offering no answers. While this was also true in the original .hack series, G.U. offers up innumerable game play upgrades, particularly the combat system, which has transformed from a rather bland and uninventive hack 'n' slash routine to a faster, more intuitive system that requires both strategy and timing.

   While the main character, Haseo, may appear at first to be a Twin Blade like his predecessor Kite with his dual swords, he is actually, in fact, a new class to "The World R:2", the Adept Rogue. What makes this class unique is that it is able to undergo an upgrade quest which not only changes Haseo's physical appearance, but also allows him to equip additional types of weapons. In Vol. 1: Rebirth, you will eventually gain the ability to equip a broadsword in addition to his twin swords, and knowing when and where to use each weapon is key to successful battles. Skills are also easier to use in this incarnation of .hack, being activated by the "Skill Trigger", aka the R1 button. After activating the skill trigger, pressing any one of the four face buttons will unleash a corresponding attack. Your skills will then become unavailable for a short time until a bar above your characters head recharges. This system is a lot more fluid than navigating a menu as in the first series, but other than being more practical, skills have other uses.

   For one, after an enemy has taken a certain amount of damage, they will begin to glow purple. When that happens, a Rengeki attack becomes available, which causes skills used at that time to do significantly more damage, and also increases the experience you gain at the end of the battle. Using the Rengeki attacks successfully not only helps you level up, but helps you to defeat enemies more efficiently and adds another level of strategy to the combat system. As well, certain enemies are able to fly or have armor. These enemies have a second bar below their health bar that must be removed before you can do any significant damage to them (to knock them out of the sky and break their armor respectively.) While it's possible to whittle away at their health with normal attacks, different skills have different properties that make them more effective against these defenses. Pierce skills will do a lot more damage to a foe's armor, while air attacks will damage a foe's flight ability much easier than other skills.

Skeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiith!

   There is also another level to combat in the form of Avatar battles. These battles never happen randomly and are almost certainly boss fights whenever they occur. During an avatar battle, you take control of a monstrous entity called - you guessed it - an avatar. As an avatar, you can circle around your opponent, make quick dashes around the combat area, use a ranged attack that can stun the enemy, and also use a melee scythe attack which is only really useful to knock away incoming projectiles, though is your main form of damage when you successfully stun them. While increasing Haseo's level will also increase the power of his avatar, generally these battles require more skill than anything, and almost play out like a space shooter from old arcade games. Predicting and dodging attacks becomes extremely important, as there is no way to heal yourself during these fights, and your opponents have frustrating amounts of health. Once their health bar drops to zero, the battle enters "data-drain" mode, where you must charge up and successfully hit your opponent with a data-drain within sixty seconds. They're not going to make it easy for you though, as they will constantly be moving around, stopping only for split seconds, and some will even continue attacking you, which reduces the data-drain's charge if you're hit. Failure to data-drain him within these sixty seconds will return you to the fight, your opponent having healed a small portion of his health that you must once again whittle down.

   Because you don't actually play a character, but a person playing a character, you are able to log out of "The World" and visit your desktop, and it is here that other major elements of the story take place. From your desktop you can check your e-mail (which is usually filled with messages sent to you by your friends in the World), check the forums for new area words (another feature returning from the original series, but with a much improved interface) and information, read and watch news about what's happening in the real world, and even change the background image and music for your desktop. While this method of storytelling is certainly unique (and effective), it can be frustrating having to log in and out of the World repeatedly during certain parts of the story.

   Visually the game is quite pretty, but it really shines through during the prerendered cut scenes. Unfortunately, while the graphics are well done, there aren't very many of them. That is to say, the number of dungeons and fields that you can visit are really quite limited, and you'll find yourself in the same style of area many times throughout the course of the game, though the maps themselves will be quite different. In addition, the number of different enemy types is also fairly restricted. While it's not that noticeable during the course of the story, you will definitely begin to notice should you choose to level your characters to 50 (the current maximum) in preparation for the next volume, during which you will be fighting the same two enemies ad nauseum, although the length of time it takes to level up is rather low - generally only a single dungeon to go up two or three levels if it starts out a couple of levels higher than you.

   As far as sound is concerned, the music is good, but not terribly great, though a few pieces do stand out. The song in Mac Anu, the city you start out in, is very catchy, and of course there is also the memorable "Mecha Grunty Theme Song" (don't ask, play the game and you'll find out). The voice acting is superb, however, which is excellent considering that virtually the entire game is voiced, though oddly enough the voice actor for Haseo is different from the one in the anime prequel .hack//Roots, which may throw some people for a loop should they choose to go through both.

   The game isn't very long, clocking in at somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, but seeing as it’s only the first part of three, it shouldn't be that surprising. It should be noted that it would be unwise to play this game unless you are planning on playing the two that come after it, as the cliffhanger ending may frustrate you to no end - I know it's frustrating me right now! All in all, G.U. is a marked improvement from the original .hack game series, with an excellent story, interesting characters, and a vastly improved game play experience. While it still has a few flaws, it's well worth playing.