An incredibly addictive and highly enjoyable game! Well worth the initial investement!

GAMEPLAY

Ah yes, the most important part of any game, and thus, this section is the bulk of the points (30 to be exact). Phantasy Star Online (PSO from now on) is, to say the least, an incredibly addictive game along the lines of Diablo 2. It is, at it's core, a hack and slash game. You will only be pressing a few buttons (all of which are customizable as to which button does which attack) throughout the course of the game, but it will be so enjoyable. PSO basically brings the whole Diablo 2 genre into the realm of 3D. The entire game is basically hack-slash-hack-slash-heal-repeat, a boring concept when you think about it, but once you actually try it you may be amazed. The idea's all come together wonderfully and the game ends up being much, much more than what you would expect. The bosses are all challenging and require a certain amount of strategy to beat (especially the caves boss at lower levels!) and the difficulty ramps up as you complete the game. (Online you only have to be level 20, 40, and 80 to gain access to new difficulties).
One thing that is a major problem in some 3rd person games is the camera...it can lock up, get trapped behind walls, and overall become a nuisance. In PSO, the camera is great, it 'slides' along walls and with the press of a button the camera shoots back behind your character. It works very well.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in PSO are, for the most part, pretty. Episode One doesn't really show much of the Gamecube's power (as it is a *basically* direct port from the Dreamcast version) and has some nasty pop-up in the Forest area, but Episode Two....Episode Two is where I games graphics really shine! Wonderful water effects, fogging, and many enemies on screen at once, just wonderful! Episode Two also does away with the 'Square Room' syndrome experienced in Episode One, and gives lush locales to explore and, of course, to defeat enemies!

CONTROL

The controls are very fluid in PSO, with only a few, minor problems. Sometimes, when controlling the character (With the analog stick) it seems a bit sluggish, and gets quite annoying when you just clip a wall and are slowed and have to 'accelerate' again (When you start moving you walk, then run). Other than that though, the customizable controls add much to the game (6 different commands can be set for : B, A, X and R+B, R+A, R+X).

STORY

Story....what story? Do we need a story? PSO...doesn't have much of a story at all. You are sent to Ragol to investigate what happened to Pioneer 1, and to *try* to find out where and/or what happened to Rico. Thats it for the story...and it's driven along by little posts that you 'talk' to during the course of the adventure...meh, this type of game really doesn't need much of a story...

REPLAY VALUE

PSO...has...a...lot...of..replay...value, PERIOD! At first you will just be content with gaining levels to get to that next, almost attainable difficulty level. Then, from there you will begin to want to get that next cool weapon, like that big cannon you saw someone using the other day, or that Sword with the eye in it that looks strangely familiar to Soul Caliber's Nightmare Sword...you will be hunting down the rare and hidden weapons that exist in the world of PSO. And there are a LOT of rare weapons, armor and items. You will be playing for a long, long time...

VALUE

PSO, sadly, does not do too well in this category. As if it wasn't enough to just pay for the game AND a Broadband Adapter/Modem, you have to pay $8.95 per month! Now, I know this is an online game, and it costs to keep servers up for it, but this is NOT an MMORPG! $8.95 is a dollar away from the average MMORPG rate, and this is just an Online-playable game like Diablo 2 (which supports 8 players at once, and is free!). The price, at the VERY least should be the same as it was on the Dreamcast, usually around $4-5..not $8.95!!!

REVIEWER'S TILT
I feel that this game deserves a higher score, sure it is a lot of money to start up playing, but it is well worth it. You will be playing this for months, and hundreds of hours, to come. The gameplay is amazing, and it all comes together perfectly.