Dot Hack G.U. Volume 1: Rebirth

Written by Jason Young  on September 22, 2006

Final Glimpse: Come back to the only offline online world. L337 $P33|< ||07 r3QU1r3D.

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For those of you who decided to Сdonate' money to support Bandai's immersive offline Сonline' epic, .hack, a return to the СWorld' in Rebirth is only common sense. After all, the game takes place several years after the events from that game; and well if you enjoyed the first series nothing I do or say will change your decision. However, for those of us unacquainted with the series, .hack, is a simulated MMORPG (massively multiplayer online RPG), appropriately entitled Сthe World', that doesn't require any additional hardware.

The .hack//G.U. series consists of the .hack//Roots anime and the PS2 trilogy that kicks off with Rebirth, the СWorld' has been rebuilt from different parts of another project and is now known as Сthe World R:2'. As the story goes, Haseo or Сthe Terror of Death' was peacefully playing through the game until he was ganked by a group of PKers (player killers). Suffering from the traumatic event, he decides to go after each and every Player Killer in the game because one of the players left his friend in a real-life coma. Take heed, fellow World of Warcraft gankers. You know who you are.

Despite his mad playing skillz, Haseo gets data drained back to level one with people forgetting who he was. However, he doesn't care about any of this, he just has one goal in mind: revenge. He decides to seek out the mysterious Tri-Edge in order to help his friend emerge from his comatose state.

As in the first game, players will be connected through various chats with characters in reality and in the game through e-mail. Offline, you'll be able to check the forums as well in order to unravel the mystery in the game. Mirroring a real MMORPG structure, once you're logged-in to the СWorld' you'll be able to go questing, interact, and level-grind your characters. Akin to the first game, the areas that you'll be able to access consist of different addresses that you have to uncover.

Gameplay-wise, the game plays very similar to the previous series, albeit with slight differences. It's now easier to explore the world as you have Haseo's bike which helps to shave time off of traveling and as a weapon as well. Additionally, vast improvements have been made to combat as you can now switch weapons on the fly, perform combos and finishers, and coordinate with your party through an improved AI.

One of the most interesting new features of the game is the all-new battle arena where you simulate PVP against other players. As you win, your rank increases in the world which allows you to earn items as well. In an homage to real MMORPGs, players can now formulate Guilds reminiscent of different types of fractions in other games. For example, players can join the PK guild Kestrel (consisting of 5,000 members) or the n00b friendly group Canard.

Like the previous .hack games, the game relies heavily upon an anime-inspired design for both the art and music. The new cast of characters consists of a darker/edgier character design than the previous installments benefit from the new art style and graphics engine. This has also helped to create livelier environments, which consists of cities, fields, caves, etc. As a result of the game's anime-inspirations, you can fully expect some familiar American voice actors to act out your stereotypical anime character designs.

For those of you wondering whether or not there's any additional bonuses along with the game, a special edition of the first volume will include an additional disc entitled Сthe End of the World' which contains cutscenes from the previous games rendered with the new .hack graphics engine. However, unlocking everything on the disc will require the player to obtain Сkeys' from the other titles revealing secretes behind GU as well.