Well, after many months of waiting, have deemed us Europeans worthy of Phantasy Star Online Version 2. Version 2, as you may know, is not a sequel of PSO; it’s an update, meaning that this game is PSO, just with added bells and whistles. So what has happened in the long months since PSO was launched, just what have they been holding from the European market for so damn long? Let’s take a look and see…

The original PSO was simply ground-breaking. It was the very first console based Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG for short), and unlike based MMORPGs, offered the genre to the masses for a relatively low price, after all, a Dreamcast will cost you £100 max, a PC will run into the thousands. The game itself was basic when compared to PC MMORPGs, but with no fees and a very accessible control system, PSO won many hearts, mine included. Sigh.

The graphics, sounds and controls are all identical to the original PSO, which is a good thing, as the graphics look nice and sharp and rarely lag or freeze-up. There is not a lot to say about them that hasn’t been covered before, look at the screenshots. That’s not bad for a console that costs only £60 now, is it?

So then. What’s new? Well firstly and rather crucially, your character can now reach level 200. That’s another 100 levels more than the original, meaning that the game has effectively been given a shot in the arm, as players can now strive to reach even higher levels, stretching their enjoyment as far as possible. Secondly, there is another difficulty setting; Nightmare. Nightmare mode changes the game completely, whereas normal and hard have the same enemies, only stronger, Nightmare brings in a new cast of baddies for you to blast and hack at. Granted they appear to be very similar (the first boss is still a dragon, just an ‘ice’ dragon this time!), but it makes a change. There are also some pleasing new shiny weapons, items and mags for you to collect. Which is nice.

There is another two play modes now as well, challenge and battle. Challenge mode just sets you on the planet surface with little or no means for survival (you are stripped of all revival techniques etc.), thereby creating a ‘challenge’. It’s mildly distracting for a while, but soon gets very samey and you’ll bore of it before long. The second new mode is Battle. Battle mode allows you to fight in a ‘deathmatch’ style, with other players, and your rankings being presented online. It’s rather good, a ‘Unreal-lite’ if you like. There are plenty of options, such as traps and sonar and such, and because of the ability to alter statistics, a level 200 player can easily be killed by a level 005 player if they aren’t careful. This mode adds some much needed life to PSO version 2, as you can find yourself challenging complete strangers to a battle to the death. Fantastico.