| Phantasy Star: Generation 2 review |
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Phantasy Star 2 was a significant game both in terms of its importance to the series and as a hotly anticipated title. The original was leaps and bounds ahead of any other RPG on the Master System (Ax Battler, for Christ's sake) and featured 3D dungeons, likable characters and a quest detailed and solid enough to compete with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
Phantasy Star 2 sought to take things further. It was set 1000 years after the first appearance of Dark Falz, and picked up the story in an Algol which had grown fat and complacent under the nanny-like care of a master computer called Mother Brain (given total responsibility for the system as part of "Operation Hideous Disaster Waiting To Happen," one can only assume). Corruption and cowardice run rife, and when Mother Brain's sheltering hand starts to recede, things start going to hell quickly. Out sets a huge ensemble cast lead by a hunter called Usis and his girlfriend Nei - the first ever Numan in the series. No cute umbrellas, ludicrous platform shoes and hordes of adoring male players saying "U GIVE ME UR GUILD CARD LOL" for Nei, though; she's a pariah, universally reviled freak and a monster by everyone except Usis who seems unable to resist her big "rabbit in car's headlights" eyes.
PS2 was thus notable for the maturity and bleakness of the storyline, the way it cemented elements of its world and job system only hinted at in the original, and its absolutely KILLER sting in the tail. There was only one problem.
It was bobbins.
Gone were the marvellous first-person dungeon treks of the original, replaced by a series of repetitive and maddening mazes viewed at an inept three-quarter angle and involving nothing more than pressing up, down, left and right to guide your cadre of stick men to the end. The game was also small and linear, so to compensate for this the level designs were made infuriating and the combat forbiddingly difficult and fiddly. The game's superlative plot being sacrificed at the altar of sparse text (there's maybe an A4 sheet of plot dialogue in the entire game) was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. Nonetheless, so strong was PS2's material that it retains to this day a loyal following of fans who were willing to see past the flaws.
Phantasy Star Generation:02 is the answer to these peoples' wet dreams. Almost everything that was begging to be fixed has been fixed with aplomb. The tiny, Fisher-Price-resembling sprites have been replaced with hi-res counterparts whose every detail is visible. The music no longer sounds like the elevator servicing the Ninth Circle of Hell. The game runs what feels like eight thousand times faster, and you can run in diagonals. Lots of retrofitting has been done to the costumes and combat (such as the inclusion of attack strengths and Photon Blast-style charge attacks) to make the game more consistant with the PSO universe.
By far the best thing about it, however, is the storyline. Oh good God above, have Sega come up with the goods here. Pages and pages and pages of anime-illustrated cutscenes now rule where before there were just a few sparse lines of exposition. The scene at the start where Usis notes that Nei is looking at him a bit funny and won't let him leave has been replaced with a full-blown lovers' tiff, and things continue in the same vein from thereon. PSG2 is everything you ever knew, deep down, was great about PS2 given its wings and pointed at the sky.
There are two things that might put you off a purchase. The first is the fact that it's still PS2 and it's still not an amazingly good game. True when we played it in 1988, true now. Sorry, everyone; still, it's hardly going to be a consideration to true fans. The second is that the language barrier is actually higher than in the original thanks to the inclusion of extra flags, plot arcs and material (some of which is just as infuriating and misleading as the original bumpf). Don't expect to buy this and be able to breeze through without a walkthrough on your knowledge of the original version alone.
All in all, as long as you go into the purchase with your eyes open, then for the 2500 yen asking price you can't really go wrong. This is exactly the kind of rewrite we need to see more of - not only is it cheap, fast and beautiful (and comes with the original Genesis version free) but it's actually difficult to see how they could have improved on it without substantially rewriting the game or redesigning the scenario. PS2 fans, rejoice (although everyone else is likely to just wonder what all the fuss is about). |
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System: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: Role Playing Game
Developer: SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Players: 1
Version: Japan
Reviewed: Apr 2005
Writer: Simon Dominguez
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Pros:
- Mindbendingly depressing and engaging story
- The flawed masterpiece with most of the flaws removed
- Sumptuous hi-res artwork
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Cons:
- Short, linear & frustrating
- Unlikely to win new converts
- Still poorly designed under new prettiness
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