.hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth review

Unfortunately, .hack//G.U. also suffers from the same faults of the original saga. Dungeons are as repetitive and tiring, justas before. Thereare only three: a field area, a cave area and a Japanese castle area. Battlingon these three backgrounds over and over again will wear you out. Although lots of gorgeous new areas like the Lost Grounds waterfall where Haseo often met with Shino in the .hack//Roots series have been added, they primarily serve as a stage for cut scenes and you can’t interact with them at all.

The battle system has also been revamped and now has a fast paced beat 'em-up feel to it.Rengeki Attacks - special flashy attack moves-and the Awakening Mode -a team-based attack -help make the battles more enjoyable.

Even though there's more action, battles are still a mindless X-button-mashing affair. As with the dungeon areas, there aren't a lot of different monsters to fight, either. Also, since you're always fighting monsters that are the same level as you, you never really get the feeling that your character is becoming stronger. Battling in thenewbie areas with your level one weapons feels about the same as fighting in high level zones.

Haseo will eventually learn how to unlock his Avatar, a giant scythe-wielding data monster which defies The World 's system parameters and allows him to use the infamous soul-sucking Data Drain ability. Avatar battles play out like a 3D shooter - you'll fly about dodging and slashing through your enemies' attacks while blasting them with energy shots. The Avatar battles are pretty fun and add much-needed depth to the battle system, but are introduced far too late in the game to make much of an impact for this volume.