Electronic Gaming Monthly 171 (Magazine)

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 171
Publisher	Ziff Davis Media
Pages
Volume	171
Cover Date	October 2003
In Store Date	Display Until Sept. 29
Price	$4.99 US/$6.50 Canada
Catalog Number	014024069608
Medium	Color Magazine
Dimensions

Article

PS2 / Also On: None .hack Part 3: Outbreak

RPG Action in four easy installments

• Screenshots included in the article
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Shane: Back when Dickens released his novels in one-chapter-a-week fashion, the 19th-century masses eagerly devoured each successive snippet of Victorian class struggle. Now, 150 years later, the same serialization that made Pip a star in Great Expectations has also spelled commercial success for Bandai's .hack. Let me tell it to you straight, though—splitting the game into four too-short, too-similar parts has turned out to be a rip-off.

This high-concept saga (in which you play within a faux massively multiplayer RPG on the fritz) is really starting to wear thin. It's an average dungeon crawler at best, and even the most ardent role-players can only hack it for so long. The mediocre graphics, overly simplistic dungeons, and repetitive combat (in which you're alternatingly mashing buttons or baby-sitting your A.I.-deprived party members) haven't changed one bit since the first volume. I even experienced disturbing déjà vu about 10 hours in: I as forced to trudge through a cave I swear I'd been through two .hacks prior.
It would be easy for me to simply write this series off, but here's the rub—I'm still intrigued by the narrative. As .hack's malfunctioning game-within-a-game world continues to degrade, the plot gets better and better. I've spent a lot of time slogging through faceless labyrinths with these characters, and now I want to see this whole ordeal through. So, if you've played the past two versions, you'll probably want to tackle this one, too...just don't expect any improvements. But if you're new to the series, don't even attempt this—Outbreak is impossibly difficult unless you transfer your experience and items over from Mutation.

CJ: If you're an anime fan like me, it's hard to avoid .hack. Since I got hooked on the successful TV series, I've simply gotta play the game component, too. There's a lot here to appease our demanding otaku tastes, like a choice between full Japanese or English voiceovers and a free supplement anime DVD (see sidebar). On th downside, .hack's flaws are many—dull visuals, annoying battles, and characters that couldn't gold their own with the likes of Final Fantasy's Tidus or Yuna. But if you're looking for an extension of your anime experience, you won't be completely disappointed.

Official Playstation Mag—Gary: The key to enjoying .hack? Ignore CJ and completely disregard Shane. They just don't get it. Sure, I'll grant them a lot of their gripes—the dungeons are repetitive and the battles are definitely too similar. But for me it's all about how you play the game. .hack offers so much to anyone who's willing to plumb its depths. You gotta be willing to read all the e-mails, peruse the message boards, and watch the extra anime DVD to grasp the scope of .hack's refreshingly unique narrative. Plus, the range of combat strategy is simply astounding. With Outbreak, I found myself using battle tactics that I didn't even consider in the last go-round. I can't wait for Part 4—I'm still utterly hooked on .hack.

• Screenshots included in the article
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  Minase, Mai

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  "Ichiro Sato" / "Bith the Black."

Liminality Continues
Like the two volumes that came before it, Outbreak comes with an anime DVD, Liminality: In the Case of Kyoko Tohno. This is completely different than the popular .hack//SIGN series that's running on television—Liminality shows what's going on in the real world when the player's aren't logged into The World, the massively multiplayer RPG you're "playing" in .hack. Confused yet? If not, you will be when a third anime series, .hack//DUSK, hits next year.

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  The 3D render of Blackrose featured in the article

Good: The story line continues to impress

Bad: Looks and feels exactly like the previous two chapters
Prerequisites: .hack Part 1: Infection and .hack Part 2: Mutation

The Verdicts (Out of 10)
Shane: 6.0
CJ: 6.5
Gary: 8.0

Publisher: Bandai
Developer: Cyber Connect 2
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

www.dothack.com

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The single-page variation of the Outbreak Feature Advertisement was featured in this issue of Electronic Gaming Magazine.