Phantasy Star Universe Review (X360)

Phantasy Star Universe is an action-RPG where the main attraction is hooking up with your friends online to hack and slash your way through dungeons in search of rare items and loot. It also includes a surprisingly excellent single-player adventure that will make anime fans absolutely giddy. Whether you plan to play it online or just want a decent 20 hour RPG on the Xbox 360, Phantasy Star Universe is worth checking out.

Gameplay

Phantasy Star Universe is a fairly straightforward game as far as the gameplay goes. It is an action-RPG where you are free to move around in battle and attack and use items however and whenever you want. The weaponry at your disposal includes various types of guns as well as swords and pikes and other melee weapons and all of them can be upgraded. A nice touch is how smooth and easy to use the menu system is. You can queue weapons up to slots assigned to the B button, and switching weapons or using items is as easy as pressing B and then using the D-pad to pick what you want. This is a great system that allows you to have a weapon available for every situation, which keeps the game moving at a very fast pace. Combat can get somewhat repetitive since you are usually just spamming your standard and special melee attacks and throwing in a few shots from your guns here and there, but there are a ton of enemies to fight so it still manages to be pretty enjoyable. The boss fights, while not all that difficult, at least feel big and epic and are very impressive.

Another aspect of the gameplay is that there are three classes to choose from as well as four races. Each race is better at doing certain things, and each class gives you access to different weapons. It is an interesting setup, and since you can switch your class at any time, you have the opportunity to switch things up when it starts to get repetitive.

Single-Player

The main attraction and long-term appeal of Phantasy Star Universe is the online multiplayer, but there is also a single-player campaign that is extremely well put together and very fun. You play as 17-year-old human, Ethan Waber, as he decides to join the Guardians security force and help fight an infection of nasty aliens known as SEED. You meet up with new characters and can then form teams to go out and tackle missions on the various planets in the local star system. The story is surprisingly good, the characters are very likeable, and the overall story and mythology is interesting. You’ll be hooked. A nice touch is that the whole single-player game is presented like an anime series. Each of the 12 chapters in the game is really like a 90-minute episode of your favorite anime, complete with intro (with accompanying catchy music), outro, and “Next time on Phantasy Star Universe” teasers for the next episode. Within each chapter, there is a definite beginning, middle, and end and it is all wrapped up with a lesson learned or a new revelation that keeps you moving on to the next chapter. I have to admit that I absolutely love this stuff and it really went a long way towards keeping me playing. The absolute dedication shown by the developers to stick to this style and make it work so incredibly well is really something special. All of the achievements are tied to the single-player game, and you can pick up an easy 1000 gamerpoints here.

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