The Dot Hack series an RPG fans silver medal

User Rating: 8.7 | .hack//Mutation Part 2 PS2
Here we have a world of the not so distant future which uses a lot of technology, one of which is a computer which has a videogame called “the World” which is based of a book, but the entire basis is based off an anime which is based off a Manga. Did you follow all that? OK, good. Now on to the in depth stuff…. You start your adventure in part 1 .hack//Infection. You log into “the World” from your desktop to play as Kite (or whatever you want to name your character) whose motivation for playing was to play with his friend Orca but on your first trek into a dungeon you and Orca get ambushed by a super powered evil monster (later known as skeith) and Orca gets data drained and put into a coma. The only good thing to come out of the dungeon is a mysterious ghostlike girl (later known as aura) gives you a bracelet the lets you stop other virus infected monsters with “Data Drain” and so your adventure and quest to save Orca begins. Along the way you meet others that wish to help you, one in particular Blackrose is in the same predicament you are, her brother is in a coma (see DVDs that came with the game for more on her story) In .hack//Infection you only have 1 server to choose from and it’s more of a leveling up disk. And the world is in good shape with little virus problems. In .hack//Mutation you get 2 servers and you get your first grunties (big cowish animals that talk and you can ride) and at the end the world really starts showing signs of virus problems. In .hack//Outbreak you get 3 servers and more grunties and the world is in a constant state of virus problems and you still aren’t near finding the answers In .hack//Quarantine you start with a world so unstable that a server is destroyed and is switched to a hackers server but at the end you fight your darndest and free everyone from comas put the world back the way it’s supposed to be….. for now…… After you beat the story there is a little replay value with the item completion list and the new unlocked characters and a few bonus dungeons but not really much else…. Pros- *robust, expansive, in depth 3D RPG experience *Anime based game and comes with anime DVD *great graphics *excellent voice overs *100+ hour game guaranteed if you don’t cheat *entertaining news articles that could conceivably happen in the future *put all 4 boxes next to each other to see kite riding a noble grunty *beautiful cut scenes that make getting farther in the game worthwhile Cons- *lots of repetitive things like dialog, button pressing, actions, quests and more… *bad AI, I mean BAD! * simulated MMO but only 3 people per team? I don’t buy it….. *Huge save files, especially if you keep all 4 *inability to choose class *being forced to call who the came wants on your party when they want them on *the other online “people” trade like their common items are their soul *expensive to buy all 4 but you have to to play the whole game…. *at times the game gets really, really hard at others too easy *dungeons and fields are very boring and time consuming NOTE: if you don’t like anime or .hack there are better RPGs out there then this