tanta07's Full Review: . Hack: Infection PS2 for PlayStation 2
.hack is an interesting game idea that comes to us from the good people at Bandai. It is somehow tied in with an anime series of the same name, but I'm not familiar enough with the cartoon to know just how linked the two franchises are. I've heard reports that the game follows the anime series nicely, and there is a DVD included with the game that seems to run parallel with the plot of .hack: Infection. Intended to be a four-part series, .hack: Infection is the beginning of the saga, and serves as kind of your introduction into the new world. I had my reservations about the series when some people complained that there isn't enough game here to warrant it being split up into separate episodes. When I saw the game used, however, I thought "what the hack." "Hack," get it? Har har. Ahem, anyway...this is a fairly solid RPG as the genre goes, but it does have significant flaws that might keep me from picking up any of the upcoming installments in the series. While it is a fun little ride for a while, the shallow gameplay gets tedious quickly, and if it isn't changed, the though of plowing through this for three more episodes sounds like hell.
What is probably the most interesting feature of .hack is its plot. It mainly revolves around a popular online game called The World that everyone is getting into, but no one seems to be talking about some strange side effects, such as a few people lapsing into comas after playing the game. You start out as your main character, who goes by the handle of Kite when he's playing the online game. Kite is a newcomer to The World, but his friend shows him the ropes. Shortly after their first session, however, Kite's friend falls victim to the game and is admitted into the hospital while in a coma. Not getting sufficient answers about his friend's illness in the real world, Kite decides to take matters into his own hands by investigating in The World. Via the game's message boards and by wandering the virtual world, Kite starts to unravel something far deeper than just a goofy kid's game. Kite meets up with some other virtual warriors and tries his best to get to the bottom of what The World is really all about. Of course, this is only part 1 of 4, so you don't get any real resolution. However, what there is of a plot in this installment is intriguing and satisfying.
Graphics
While .hack is impressively colorful and runs smoothly, the graphics are probably not going to impress anyone. There are actually Playstation titles (Final Fantasy XI comes to mind) that look better. The character models have noticeable jaggies when they're walking around, and the detail in the backgrounds and dungeons is not all that great. But, as I have repeated many times in the past, graphics are not the most important thing in a game, especially with an RPG. .hack by no means disappoints in this regard, however. Aside from a few dungeon backgrounds that could be a little prettier, you probably won't find yourself crinkling your nose at anything you see. The character models are nicely detailed, and they move fluidly when in battle. In my opinion, the dungeons are far too repetitive, but what there is to look at is fairly nice. When crawling through the dungeons (which will take up most of your time playing this game), you will see the same bland textures over and over and over. There are a few cinematic scenes, but they don't really utilize better graphics; what you see during these scenes is essentially what you see throughout the rest of the game. In a word, the graphics in .hack are passable. I feel a little more attention should have gone to the dungeons to make them a little more unique, but aside from that, there really aren't many complaints.
Gameplay
.hack offers up many new and interesting ideas in this regard, though many of the gameplay elements get rehashed far too many times for my tastes. The idea behind the game is a revolutionary one: you are the playing the game in the role of a gamer who is also playing a game. This brings up all sorts of interesting ideas that can be incorporated into the experience, such as giving the game a real-life slant, like when the main character's friend really does suffer ill effects from playing. .hack really does a good job working this dual world angle, as your character bounces back and forth between the "real" world, and his new, adopted real world ("The World"). For instance, after coming out of a pulse-pounding battle in The World, the main character may receive emails from his fellow players who give insights into their "real" lives. This adds a whole new layer to the storytelling seen in the game, and gives the characters a human side that is rarely seen in video game creations.
The main bulk of the gameplay will go a little something like this: you will sometimes receive cryptic clues in your email that you receive in the "real" world. You can then log on to The World to try and piece everything together. Once your are logged on, it's good to take a look at the community message board, since the players will leave you quite a few clues as to where to go next. The World is comprised of hundreds of different destinations are all identified with specific code words. Once you get a new code word for a different portal, you must warp there using a "gate." Finding these code words is half the battle. Once you arrive at the new destination, you can wander around for a while looking for the dungeon. Once in the dungeon, it's a fairly straightforward affair of hacking your way through random battles before fighting a boss and then retreating back to main town. You always have the option of returning to a dungeon you have already visited in order to gain more valuable items and experience. By the way, experience in .hack is fairly straightforward, and your main town will be home to RPG staples such as item and weapons shops. In respect to customizing your characters, .hack is pretty much old school, and anyone who has played an RPG before will have no problems jumping right in.
Battles in .hack take place in real time, meaning that you must choose your character's actions while the fur is flying. This does add a certain amount of adrenaline to the fighting, and makes them quite fun. This is a good thing, because you will find that you are spending about 90% of your time in this game in random battles. Your main character will usually be equipped with a sword (or swords), that you will swing at the enemies by hitting the "X" button. Simple, eh? Well, where it gets tricky is that the battles take place in a 3D environment, and you can rotate the camera to your advantage as you fight. You will also want to pay attention to the tactics of your enemy, because the right timing or positioning can make all the difference. Also, you will usually have one or two companions fighting along with you, and you can issue orders to them to aid in the battle, all the while dishing out healing items to those who need it. Wrap all of this together in one package, and the battles became intense, white-knuckle affairs that will leave you gasping for breath after tough boss skirmishes.
I did notice, however, that some things can make the battles harder than they really need to be. For instance, the artificial intelligence of your companions usually leaves a lot to be desired, and they will often totally ignore the orders you give them. This usually happens with weak magic users in your party, whose only really use in battle is to cast healing magic on your fighters. So the battle starts, and you give him the order to use "first aid" (the battle tactic that tells him only to heal the injured during the battle), right? Well, watch helplessly as you mage ignores the order and wanders into the middle of the fray, getting struck down easily, since he is just a wimpy magic-user. So now no one is healed, and you must divert attention from the battle in order to resurrect him with an item. He is back now, but his magic must regenerate, so he is essentially useless now. This happened time and time again to me, so I sincerely hope this A.I. bug is something that gets corrected in the future episodes in this series.
While fighting your way through dungeons with a nice battle system is extremely fun, it loses its luster once you realize that this is about all you're going to do within the game. .hack becomes shallow pretty quickly in a seemingly endless loop of finding clues, exploring a new dungeon, beating the boss, and starting over again. This process is occasionally interrupted by a cinematic scene to spur along the plot, but guess what? Your next objective never fails to be exploring a new dungeon and beating a new boss. If the dungeons themselves offered anything in the way of new and unique scenery, it probably wouldn't be so bad. But you'll start to notice the same old textures over and over as you transverse the dungeons, and it starts to feel like the same 'ol same 'ol much too quickly. Even the enemies get recycled over and over, to the point that facing one more dungeon full of enemies you have seen before gets to feel like a chore. You will also reach a certain point where leveling up your characters is key in order to advance, so you must then go through dungeons you have already been through several times once again to gain experience. From what I have read of the next episode in the series, it is simply more of the same, since crawling through those same dungeons for another 20 hours almost seems like too much to bear.
Audio/Music
The soundtrack for .hack is about as vanilla as you are likely to find in a major title, and usually doesn't bring itself to the forefront. For the most part, the game is filled with minimalistic, atmospheric tunes that you barely notice as they rattle away in the background. There are a few instances in which cool little techno ditties with please your ears, but the music is almost a non-factor most of the time. I wish I could say a little more about this soundtrack, but that is really about all there is to say. It's that bland. Audio-wise, everything seems to be put together well. There is some voice acting, mainly taking place during the cut scenes, and a few snippets here and there while you are in battle. The voice acting is fairly decent, and you won't find yourself wincing at the overacting all that much. Clanking of swords and other sound effects are all there and well done, including a nice bubbling stream effect in town that is realistic enough to have you running to the bathroom every few minutes.
.hack is a solid RPG that will keep your average gamer busy for a week or two. Much beyond that, however, the shallowness will eventually force you to either A. beat it out of stubbornness, or B. put it down so that you won't already be sick of the coming sequels, which are supposed to be very similar. In concept, .hack is an interesting idea that really could be stretched out to a few sequels if they coming titles prove to offer up some new dungeons. If this doesn't happen, though, you can be content in knowing that you have played through the whole experience in .hack: Infection. I would recommend this game for a solid week or two of RPG goodness, but for those looking for a deeper experience, playing sequel after sequel in this series may end up feeling like the movie Groundhog Day.
Graphics - 3/5 - Everything looks okay, but is underachieving by today's standards.
Gameplay - 3/5 - Fun, intense battles, but it gets old long before it should.
Audio/Music - 3/5 - A bland, unimpressive mix that doesn't ever call attention to itself.
Replay Value - 2/5 - Why would you want to play this again? If you never get tired of the same old dungeons, you may give it another run-through. Besides, from what I've heard, getting the next episode is essentially replaying this title again.
Fun Factor - 3/5 - A solid title. You'll have your fun, but that may wear out within a week. Hold on to that receipt.
It's the year 2010, and the most popular game ever is the World, a massive action/RPG game that connects people around the planet. When the newbie nam...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.