A virtual world of hidden corruption.
Graphically, the game is a mess. Characters often look as if they belong on the earlier Playstation console, and the level design is minimal.
To gain access to a level, you must first approach the root town's chaos gate (looks like a yellow spinning orb). While there, you can select three words from each word bank (A, B, and C) to warp to the matching area. But be careful. The word keys will warp you to different areas depending on what server you are currently in. An example would be that wile Delta's "Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground" would warp you to an abandoned cathedral, Theta's "Hidden Forbidden, Holy Ground" will just transport you to a normal field.
But don't get too exited. Even though there seems to be an endless amount of keywords, the levels and dungeons both are randomly generated. Be prepared to spend hours upon hours leveling up with the same monsters in virtually identical areas.
The game's AI is sufficiently lacking as well. In order to have your Wavemasters (mages) even cast a spell, you have to give them a command first. While this may not sound so bad, consider having to fight your own battles, while one character stands in confusion from not knowing spells, while another character unleashes spells at random that may sometimes even heal your enemy. In order to designate the spells that you want to cast, you must give them a piece of armor or a weapon with that ability attached to it. Switching equipment means losing some spells for others, and since your party members only equip the strongest set given to them, you will often be saddled with the elements you don't want in return for your 'friends' being able to survive one battle.
Another flaw is the battle system itself. While your battles take place in real time, you often feel as if they never seem to progress. This can either be caused by a high level of monster difficulty, or that 70% of your attacks and spells are dictated as a 'miss'.
The story is the only thing that really keeps Dot Hack// Infection alive. You play as a Twin Blade who has just begun his adventure in The World. After a series of twisted events, you are given the power of "Data Drain"; the ability to re-write monster and player data. With it, you are to uncover the truth of The World.
However, this game is short, and you will not unravel its secrets in this short chapter. Instead, after beating the final boss, you can save your character data and pick up were you last left off in the second installment of the series: Dot Hack// Mutation.