Phantasy star universe is a good game but not without it's flaws.
Phantasy Star Universe's setting takes place across four locations in total with most of the fight's taking place on the game's three worlds. Each of the game's location's have their own distinct theme. This is reflected in the graphics and theme of each location rather well. Each location has it's own set of shops you can visit with each weapon and armour shop carrying different set's of equipment.
Phantasy Star Universe's mission's consist of three main types but with same general concept. The first type is the non-timed missions. In this type you can take you're time in each enemy infested area that you're in but this is usually doesn't last to long before you're thrust into another type. The second type is the timed based mission's. In this type the goal is to get through the area or boss battle as fast as you can. The third type is a time based mission but with a twist. In this type you're goal is not only to get through the area as fast you can but also kill all the enemy's. At the end of types two and three you are graded and if you can get an S rank for those you can end up scoring a bonus item witch varies from mission to mission. One thing to note is that types two and three a persistent throughout all of the free missions. However the concept for each of the games mission's is pretty simple. Get from point A to point B while killing whatever stands in your way. Though it may be worded differently for each mission the concept in persistent through out the game.
Phantasy Star Universe's battle system is good and easy to use. The player can use two attacks. The first one being the weapons basic attack and the second one has to be bought and learned before it can be used. However the second attack varies from weapon to weapon and can be leveled up as it is used which may unlock a follow up attack if the attack is used again. The battle system allows the player to swap weapons on the fly which can be accessed by opening a sub window on the battle screen. This saves the player from having to manually go into the item window and change the type of weapon they want to use. However it is important to note that if the player want's to use a new weapon they must manually go into the item screen and put the weapon into the sub menu before it can be used.
Phantasy Star Universe's weapons very but all have their own unique set's of strength's and weakness's. Large weapon's in general deal large amount's of damage but are slow. While medium to smaller weapon's in general deal less damage then the big weapons do they are faster to use. Both large, medium and small weapons are all unique and relatively easy to use the same cannot be said about the guns. All gun based weapons in the game need to be locked on to a target before they will hit an enemy. Unfortunately the only way to counter this problem is to enter first person view mode. However while you're in first person mode you cannot move and if you get injured the player is immediately returned to third person view.
Phantasy Star Universe's controls are good but has one main problem. The lack of a pause button. This may frustrate players when they have to go the bathroom and they're in the middle of a time based mission or are fighting a pack of enemy's. This problem, while not crippling, is a pain to deal with.
Phantasy Star Universe's AI is rather disappointing. The players in game team mates seem rather dumb at times especially when there is an enemy right in front of them and they don't attack it. The player may also encounter multiple times in which an enemy appears but they can't target them for a few seconds and during that time the enemy may ignore the player and his or her party.
If you can look past Phantasy star universe's issue's then this may be worth picking up. However it may be worth renting before hand to find out weather or not you can sink your teeth into this game before you buy it.