Dot Hack G.U Vol. 1 Rebirth
Platform: PS2
Better than expected.
Review by Sirus

The previous four games in the .hack series had mixed reactions because they barely added up to 40 hours and had really boring gameplay. They are trying to make up for that now with G.U. in what is planned to be three games long. Fans of anime will notice references to the anime .hack roots but if you haven’t seen it you should be ok. Basically the games and anime take place in a fictional online game called “The World” where strange things are happening that were not programmed into the game.

G.U. starts out with a player-killer killer (PKK) named Haseo who is fighting with a gang of player killers (PK). Afterwards, he receives a tip to the location of Tri Edge. Tri Edge was responsible for using an attack on Haseo’s real life friend Shino that caused her to go into a coma. When Haseo goes to that location and confronts Tri Edge, his attacks are unable to damage Tri Edge and Haseo is hit by the same attack, Data Drain.

Haseo is luckily not put into a coma from the attack but he is sent back to level 1 and loses all his equipment. This beginning, while done a lot, makes the game more accessible to players who have no history with the .hack games or the .hack universe. When Haseo finally gets back into “The World”, he is befriended by two players who are in a guild designed to help new players out because they think he is a noob.

After a witnessing a certain incident while on a quest, Haseo is approached by a guild run by a game admin who offers to help Haseo find Tri Edge if he will help them look for a strange anomaly of data they codename AIDA. The story makes for a great start to what looks to be a totally enjoyable trilogy. The characters are likable and make even the smallest quest fun because it feels like you are helping another player out.

.hack//GU is set up like the typical dungeon crawler. Towns have warp panels that allow you to warp to dungeons where you fight monsters to gain experience and level up. Each dungeon is riddled with warp points so you can leave at any time. There are only five or six different dungeon types and each one of the same type has the same look repeated over a randomly generated area. These areas however are pretty to look at and the combat is fun enough that some players will ignore the repetitive areas.

Players take control of Haseo in combat using his dual sword style of fighting. You can tackle the dungeons alone or with up to two party members whom you invite before leaving the town. Combat is much improved from the single attack combos seen in the previous games. Now the combos are longer and in addition you have a charge attack, skills, and awakenings. The average sword combo has three hits followed by a large number of hits with repeated pressing of X. You can also hold down X until a charge bar is full and then release for larger damage.

Haseo also learns skills as his proficiency with weapons increases. Skills can be set to the skill trigger which is used with R1. You can only use the skill trigger when a certain gauge is full preventing you from using a skill right after getting knocked down. When you activate the skill trigger button, you see four skill names show up - one for each of the four face buttons. At first the same skill will be on all four but later you can customize it with more skills.

Skills can also execute Ren Geki finishers if the enemy has had a large combo on them. Players will know they can use Ren Geki because the enemy will turn purple and there will be a flash on the enemy’s health bar. Ren Gekis generally do enough damage to be worth looking for and successful Ren Gekis charge the party’s morale gauge that is used to execute awakenings. Awakenings are powerful party attacks that can make tough battles more manageable.

In dungeons players can also find chim spheres, broken down gruntys, and magical beasts. Chim spheres are used to open doors in dungeons and are gathered by kicking chim chims who populate the dungeons, usually hiding in trees. You can carry up to 99 chim spheres at a time but if you are holding too many, some chim assassins will attack you. These things are extremely easy to avoid and defeat and pose no threat for even the least skilled player so it’s nothing to worry about. In some dungeons you will run into a broken down mecha grunty who needs chim spheres to rocket off. I started to get annoyed with these guys because they only give you basic healing items for your spheres. The magical beasts sit still until you approach them at which point they run away and you run after them trying to catch and kick them. If you are fast enough to kick them, you will be rewarded with money or other bonuses that make the dungeon easier to manage.

Later in the game, you gain access to an Avatar that unlocks a whole new type of battle. Avatar battles feel like Zone of the Enders 2’s main gameplay. In the Avatar battles you are transported into a large open battlefield where you and your enemy fly around shooting projectiles and boosting around. In Avatar battles it’s not enough to just deplete the enemy’s HP gauge but you must also data drain them afterwards. Avatar battles are a total blast and a welcome addition near the end to keep gameplay fresh throughout. The game also lets you continue if you die on one of the avatar battles and try it again although that may just be on bosses.

The graphics in .hack//G.U. are well done although the in-game graphics don’t have mouth movement. The game also sports beautifully cell-shaded cutscenes that show a ton of emotion on the character’s faces. The music is well done and complements the gameplay nicely. The voice acting is top notch with many easily recognizable voice actors for each of the roles.

Overall I was very satisfied with .hack//G.U. especially going in there with low expectations. The game lasts about 20 hours if you just rush through doing the main game and can get even longer if you do all the different side quests and things that are available.



Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Lasting Appeal: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Playtime: 20 hours
Final Score: 8.2/10