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Back in 2000 when the Dreamcast arrived on the gaming scene, Sega were ahead of their time yet again. Phantasy Star Online was your typical RPG; with an epic single player campaign, missions and quests to undertake and monsters to slay. What made it special was, alongside the single player aspect was the possibility to take the game online and partake in a constant online world (one of the first MMORPG’s if you will). If we fast-forward to 2006 then we have the release of Phantasy Star Universe, a similar RPG which takes place in an alternate setting. 2008 has brought us an expansion which goes by the name of Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus and it promises new quests, features and storyline. Since 2000, the MMORPG outlook has considerably changed so does Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus have what it take to still adequately entertain or does it fall into the staple of gaming history.

Anyone expecting a World of Warcraft beater should kindly move on as Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus is not attempting to achieve that godly honour. It simply wants to continue the success of its predecessor and give its fan base more of the same. It’s not going to win awards for its ludicrously random story or its confusing plot development but Phantasy Star Universe was never about that. It’s all about creating a character and then subsequently teaming up with AI controlled characters or friends if you’re online and enjoyably grinding your way through monsters. Creating your character is half the fun as the tools are specifically powerful. You can choose from the Human (the typical everyman), the Newman (an elf-eared human who isn’t suited to close combat), the CAST (a robotic dimwit who is skilled in firearms) and the aptly named Beast (who is born to fight up-close and personal). Once you’ve chosen your race, and your sex (male or female) then you can change your face, eye [brows] [lashes], ears, hairstyle, skin colour, clothes and proportions. The customization is better than most and it’s easy to create the character that you wish. Finally is your name and then you’re whisked through some CGI cut scenes which show off the Japanese art style and introduce some of the characters, all the while being assaulted by cheerful pop-rock music. On from that is the standard introduction which introduces the story: a time of peace following on from a war between the four races has been shattered by the Seed, an evil being set of destroying everything in the way. It’s borderline original, but it definitely will not be winning any Oscars.

Once in the actual game it’s a pleasant experience. You’re greeted by a minimalistic HUD which shows your name, your level and your HP in the bottom right corner. The classical mellow music draws you into the fantasy realm. The graphics are stylised, but crisp and detailed. If you’ve never played a Phantasy Star game then there’s a lengthy tutorial which introduces every aspect of the game to you over a time period of half an hour. It’ll explain the purpose of your room, where you can set up furniture and ornaments, bank your equipment or save your game. Leo (your tutor) will take you around Clyez City, the Guardian’s HQ (think the SeeD from Final Fantasy 8). Consisting of five levels; the residential, two levels of shops (where weapons, equipment, armour, upgrades, clothes can be bought), the space port and finally the Guardians mission HQ. Online the city is teaming with life as players interact in an effort to finding group members, but offline its population by generic people who vanish if you get too close.

From Clyez City (or any other subsequent base) you’ll teleport (with the help of a map) to a mission / level / instance where your main task is to kill all the monsters in it to get to the end. Whether alone with AI controlled help or online with your friends you’ll work together to get to the end of the mission where you’ll get a rank, money and experience. Combat itself is solid enough, but we’ll definitely say if you have the chance, get the console version or at least a gamepad. There’s an ‘auto-lock-on’ feature and then it’s simply choose one of your weapons (ranging from a single handed laser sword, a two handed laser sword, a blaster, or any other of the countless weapons in the game) and then work your way through the groups of enemies, looting as you go. You can switch weapons in combat, and each have special attacks known as photon arts. These range from spinning around and therefore damaging multiple enemies or committing to a jump and smash type of attack. Combat is a fluid art and you can work your way through a group relatively easy. At the end of a level is usually a boss that requires more hits than the previous grunts, but often doesn’t hold much challenge. It’s a fulfilling system and attacks carry a good enough sense of weight. It can get monotonous after extended play sessions but it’s hard to argue what MMO doesn’t.

If you’re a fan of the series then it’s hard not to recommend this to you. It’s a complete package, but in essence is just more of the same. Questionably that’s not particularly a bad thing, but the game won’t feel super fresh. It’s been nipped, tucked and tidied and is as solid as it will ever be. It won’t have a subscription base of nine million and neither will it keep you entertained for nine million hours. If you’re looking for something away from the grind of World of Warcraft then this may be your cup of tea. It’s a nice little game and deserves its score of;

Score: 7/10

(PC Version reviewed. Also Available on PS2 and Xbox360 (via Xbox Live))

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