.Hack//Infection

Dot Hack was originally ignored by 99.9% of the world, except for japan, for a long time. Leaving it to the classic theory that "Cartoon Network always buys a good anime and screws it to hell by showing it to 11 year olds", Dot Hack quickly got a fan base of 11 year olds who watch Toonami and wear Dragonball Z t-shirts. However, it lost it quickly, as 11 year olds need stimulation, and the Dot Hack series is very much an slow series, and per se, there isnt much fighting as there is talking and whining. This still allows it to be kinda a cult classic, and less of a "fight a episode" series.



If you've ever played a Gauntlet game, you'll know the exact mechanics of this game. Run around with partners, hit things, cast spells, use items, get farther, repeat. Except for desperately trying to promote the "You're in a MMORPG" idea, as well as the "Tech" feel. While this feels like its kind of tacked on, I will admit that its a welcome change from most dungeon crawlers, which seem to be stuck on "Knights in shiny armor with women with blonde hair and DD cups".

This game's story is actually somewhat interesting. Your best friend was playing a MMORPG game called "The World" when he mysteriously goes into a coma during gameplay. You think there is something involved with the game, and you slowly find out what's going on in The World. Want to guess what it is? A conspiracy. Go figure.



The game's graphics and sounds are borderline horrific. It feels very much like an underpowered Dreamcast game- choppy, N64 like graphics with almost SNES quality sound. You can use orchestra-like soundsets all you want, and it can use all the speakers in the world, its still going to sound like crap. While the background music isnt THAT bad, its not going to win any awards for "Greatest soundtrack".

As for the gameplay itself, its bearable. There isnt much variety in the game, as the action/RPG elements basically restrict the game to an attack button, an magic button, an item button, an command button (For your NPC teammates), and your control stick. Not horrible, but I would have wished that they would have put in a little bit more detail into the fighting system other than that.



The whole good point about this game could probably be considered the story. The story is just plain interesting, if not somewhat cliche. The game itself comes with an included DVD of a full hour long anime OVA (There are 5 total, entitled "In the case of Mai Minase"-the first game contains the first episode (one hour), etc...). I actually enjoyed this OVA a lot more than the game, which is either a good thing to say for the OVA, ir a bad thing to say for the game.

Also, something needs to be said about the sequels. There's a ton of talk about this game having 5 preplanned sequels to carry out the story, and each game being limited as to what levels you can make, what areas you can visit, and what secrets you see. However, I seriously doubt seeing myself buying the next game, being as the next, the third, or even the last game don't present a SINGLE ENGINE UPGRADE. This simplistic, strange system stays exactly as it is for the entirety of five games. Even for an amazing RPG system like Final Fantasy 7 or 8 I would call that overkill. In this case, I just call it cheap. This allows for the ability to carry on your saves, but it also will bore even the most patient of gamers.

Either way, this game isnt worth the money unless you're a big Gauntlet fan, or if you are a big dot Hack fan. I would have LOVED to see the DVDs included with these games ("In the case of Mai Minase") available outside these games, but that's not an option, as I've seen. In any case, I give it two stars, with a recommendation to not fall for the advertising, its not as good as it was supposed to be.

2 star(s) out of 5

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