.hack//INFECTION; Dirty Tactic or Brilliant Idea?
Written: Aug 22 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A solid foundation for a long series of games.
Cons: Story is just a set up for the other games.
The Bottom Line: If you're willing to make the investment it will take to actually complete the series, .hack//INFECTION is a solid RPG that is unique and different.
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| psycho_gamer's Full Review: . Hack: Infection for PlayStation 2 |
.hack//INFECTION marks the launch of a risky and undoubtedly unique undertaking by Cyber Connect 2, the developer and Bandai, the publisher. The game is part 1 of a 4 part series of games that are to be released all inside of a year. That by itself is risky enough, asking gamers to invest quite a chunk of change ($50.00 a game when first released at 4 games is quite a big chunk). Even riskier though is the premise behind the .hack franchise of games.
.hack is a simulation of a MMORPG or massive multiplayer online role playing game, an example of such a game is Everquest. These are games that are played online, with many other players around the world and the whole point of the game is interaction with other real life players and the community that evolves from such a game. But see, .hack is a simulation of one of these types of games, meaning it is an offline game that plays like an online game. Risky? Yes. A fresh idea? You betcha. But just how does an offline online game play and what exactly is the point?
The Story
First off, one must understand that .hack the video games are just a teeny tiny little snippet that is the .hack universe. The whole episodic tale of .hack actually spans about 35 tales told through an anime series, novels, comics and lastly video games. .hack the 4 part video game series takes place near the end of the whole tale and the first installment of the video game series, INFECTION, is actually just a set up for the other three games. It sets the stage for what is to come and explains, though not in very much detail, about the .hack universe.
The story revolves around an online game in the future called The World. Millions of people all over the globe play this online game and it is the best selling game in the history of games. Most of your time playing .hack, you will actually be playing The World. Confused yet? I hope not, cause there's more. Something terribly wrong has started to happen in The World, people are lapsing into a coma and some are even dying unexplainably while playing The World. So naturally, as the game starts off, your buddy convinces you to finally start playing The World with him. Your buddy is somewhat of a legend in the game and you are a lowly nOOb. But your buddy being a good pal, takes you on your first dungeon adventure.
While on your adventure, you and your pal run across a nasty enemy whose presence is unexplainable. Naturally, this baddie attacks you and your bud. Long story short, your buddies character gets killed as does yours in the game. A few hours later, you find out that you buddy has actually fallen into an unexplained coma while he was playing the game with you. So then the adventure starts, and you are off to investigate The World for clues on how to help your friend and to get answers as to why people are getting hurt in real life while playing a video game.
Game Play
The game play in .hack//INFECTION is pretty cut and dry. The battles take place in real time, meaning it plays like a mix of an action game and an RPG. All and all, it is a nice mix that is actually pretty fun. There is a definite need for some sort of strategy in battles, you can't just go running in guns (or swords in this case) blazing or else you will die quickly.
The underlining factor in the battles in .hack are elemental. All enemies have an alliance with an element, those being the staple RPG elements of water, fire, earth, wood, lightening and dark. The best way to deal the most damage the fastest to your foe is to use the element that opposes their element while fighting them. Hence, water beats fire, fire beats wood, lightening beats dark and so on. There's the strategy part of the game. Once you get down what magic spells work best against what, the game gets much easier.
There is also an abundance of different weapons, armor and items you can collect in the game. Some are quite rare and hard to find, others require you to trade with other simulated players for and some you can buy.
During the course of the game, you will meet other players who will partner up with you on your quest for good and help you along the way which adds to the feeling that you're playing an online game with many other players.
The hook to .hack is of course that it is simulating an online gaming experience. So with that in mind, the interface of the game resembles that of your computer desktop. You will have an email box which is nifty for when other "players" send you email. Sometimes they send you useful hints about the game, other times they like to talk about sushi. There's also a message board for the game where you can post and read messages from other "players". The message board actually is a good source for information and laughs as well. It does a nice job of actually capturing many people idiocy they portray on game message boards.
The game play can get a little repetitive though with all the battles you will fight while on your adventure. Even with that though, it is still addictive and the enemies still seem to somehow keep you on your toes even near the end of the game. The boss battles are decent. Nothing too spectacular or jaw dropping. Most have a pattern of attack and once you figure that out, it's lights out. The one complaint about the game by many is that it was just too short. The average gamer can beat the game in 12 hours. Which is sickenly short for an RPG. If you do everything in the game, all the side quests and mini games, you will be done in about 18-20 hours. Still not good for an RPG.
Graphics
The graphics in .hack are serviceable. The characters are all well animated and look good as do the enemies. There is a nice variety to all the enemies as well. The magic spells you unleash are impressive enough and add a nice touch to the game.
The dungeons on the other hand, look decent enough, but the problem is, they all look the same. You will spend countless hours in what looks to be the same place, but in actuality is many different dungeons. A little more varity in this department would have been nice.
The camera again, is serviceable. It has its moments of controller throwing frustration while trying to maneuver it to see the enemy your supposed to kill, but for the most part it does a decent enough job. It is a manual camera, which means toy have to be constantly tweaking with the right analogue stick to keep up with the action, but it's not as bad as some other games of this type.
Much of the game is played on the menu screens, which luckily are easy to navigate and do a good job of keeping everything in order. There is some annoyance though while in the middle of a real time battle to have to pause the game, bring up the menu and scroll down to find the magic spell you need. A quick battle menu or other type of contraption would have been a nice addition.
Sound
The sound in .hack is good enough. Some of the music can get a little repetitive and annoying though, mainly the technoie (is that a word?) anime type of stuff. For the most part though, the music is catchy and fresh.
The story is advanced through cut scenes naturally, and they are voice acted well. Though some of the dialogue loses a bit in the translation process, and comes off as really cheesy, but that's what you get when you play these types of games so it's not really a negative.
Bonuses
A super sweet bonus with .hack//INFECTION is the addition of a 45 minute anime DVD called .hack//Liminality. Liminality continues the story that is .hack only instead of focusing on the action taking place inside the game, The World, it tells the tale about goings on in the real world and offers up nice information detailing the story of .hack. It is a fantastic bonus and the DVD is of surprisingly good quality and the story is very good to boot. Each installment of future .hack games will be packed with its counterpart DVD that continues the Liminality story.
Overall
Overall, it boils down to this, do you like anime? Do you like RPGs? Do you have $200.00 to invest in buying all 4 installments of the game? If the answers to all these questions is yes, then you should buy .hack//INFECTION.
Let me just say this, if you have any interest at all in this series, the you should without a doubt start with INFECTION and not try to be cheap and start with the second installment (MUTATION). The reasons I say this are two fold. The first fold being that you will be completely lost as far as the story goes as Part 2 just throws you into the game with no back story or explanations at all. The second fold being that if you play and complete part 1, you will be able to import your saved game data when you start up part 2. This means that you will be able to transfer all your weapons, items and experience gained from the first game to the second. A very nice touch that makes you feel less ripped off after you spent all that time collecting items and leveling up in part 1.
In the end, .hack//INFECTION is a solid foundation of an RPG that was designed to set the stage for the other 3 games. A cheap tactic or a brilliant idea? You be the judge.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
psycho_gamer
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Member: Steve Grove
Location: Eugene, OR
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
You blew it (not in the good way neither)
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