 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | CyberConnect2 |
| Publisher: | Namco Bandai | |
| Genre: | Action RPG | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card | |
| Buy Now: |   |
It continually amazes me how quickly one’s opinion of something can change. Take, for example, the Dot Hack (.hack) series. Nowadays, I must admit I am a bit jaded by it, but that is a far cry from how I started out. In the past, I was simply enamored with every aspect of it, from the manga to the anime to the video games, despite only a limited (at best) exposure to any of it, and I dreamt of adding a PS2 to my collection just to play it (well, that and a few other felonious titles, but we won’t tread that ground again). After actually playing Bandai Namco’s series though, I realized that, apart from driving Microsoft Word absolutely nuts, the titles weren’t as entertaining as I once thought. Even so, I still enjoyed the concept and so, with .Hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth behind me, I was willing to forge ahead with Vol. 2: Reminisce – after all, could I really get the full measure of the series with just one game? The answer, it would seem, is yes.
When it comes to video games (and elsewhere too, I’m sure), there is a certain disparity between the true nature of a sequel. In most cases, when you pick up the next book in a series, you are presented with the same familiar characters in the same familiar place, but the story told is usually new. When it comes to Dot Hack, it is not so much picking up the next book as it is just turning to the next chapter. For someone like me, this presents the challenge of having to set the stage without spoiling too much of the portioned story. However, for those of you who have grown tired of this recent trend of paying full price for only a fraction of the story, Reminisce represents part of a larger problem. Thankfully, if you are looking to get into the series without a large investment, another seemingly endless stream of cutscenes (just like the first game) awaits to refresh on the original exploits of Haseo, the feared PKK known as the “Terror of Death.”
After thinking he has settled his long-standing rivalry with Tri-Edge, Haseo and his friends learn that the bigger problem is not some supposed PKer, but the glitch-like phenomenon AIDA, a sort of self-aware virus fascinated by humans. After the events of the first game, AIDA attacks Atoli (Haseo’s current obsession and dead ringer for Shino), leaving her character corrupted and unable to talk and, more importantly, leaving all of the players unable to log out. Naturally, when others begin to learn that they are trapped, all hell breaks loose. This constitutes the main story arc in Reminisce, with the players discovering that their consciousnesses have been spirited away to a mirror server and trying to find way a way to reconnect and transport the players back into the original. But the plot continues to thicken when the mysterious player Ovan reveals that all of it – the AIDA, Avatars and even Atoli’s (and other Doll Syndrome victim’s) symptoms – may all be connected.
Even though the story still echoes of the past games, Reminisce actually has much more varied gameplay than we’ve seen before. Mind you, the core game is still the same. It is a MMO-modeled Action RPG that has you running around level grinding in a series of dungeons most of the time, with the story merely there to push you into them (just as it would in almost every other game). As you’re pounding away on X (occasionally holding it for a charge or using Square to block), your SP will gradually increase, eventually allowing you to perform a Skill Attack, which are usually weapon-specific physical attacks or magic, by tapping the R1 trigger or going through the main menu (accessed by hitting Triangle during combat, also allowing you to use items). The more useful among these is Rengeki, which greatly enhances your abilities and, if done right, builds up your Morale and allows you to enter the various Awakening Modes (by hitting Square).
Posted: 2008-04-28 07:12:29 PST