In this game, the plot intensifies and zooms towards the eagerly-anticipated Part 4 denouement. The plot is as gripping and creepy as ever, as the hero wanders and gate hacks his way through the MMORPG, The World, where terrible things are happening to players. Like Mutation, Outbreak offers some minor innovations to the familiar gameplay, combat, skills, graphics, world features, available characters, and travel systems employed in Infection. hack Part 2 Mutation received B+ ratings.) (See the Reviews Section of this site, where both. hack parts and now in this part, it was all I could do not to simply refer you to my prior takes on the series. Given the ongoing gameplay engine across the first two. hack continues the appealing gameplay of its predecessors and sets the stage for Part 4 Quarantine, the final episode just released. Once more, with Part 3 Outbreak, the ongoing saga that is. water, is a key to successful monster combat. As in many games, manipulating opposing environmental elements, like fire vs. You must be facing a monster to do any damage. Camera angles play a big role in successful combat. This will help the many action-challenged. Without jeopardizing your party from the hailstorm of monster blows, combat becomes a calmer, more strategic, experience. From there the player can give orders to the others in the party, anything from healing someone, reviving another, casting a spell, designating a target monster. The player needs only to hit Triangle in the middle of battle to pause the game instantly. Dot Hack lets you turn combat almost into a turn-based affair. Some of Dot Hack’s many monsters do not stand around waiting to be pummeled, rather some you need to catch. As you approach, the landmark dissolves, monsters come at you big-time, and, undoubtedly, players will feel a healthy adrenaline rush. Monster combat icons appear as large yellow twirling landmarks. Much like the action-RPG, Kingdom Hearts, button mashing can be effective to beat monsters. (Remember though, the end of this game in no way comes close to wrapping up the story, to be completed in the three games to be released later this year.) One visual treat, however, was lifted directly from PSO – the cascading rings that accompany the teleportation of characters to and from different areas.ĭot Hack’s combat engine can best be described as modified real-time. Dot Hack’s plot is deep and complex, with each subplot advancing the story just a little bit further. PSO’s world is relatively small, and plot is threadbare, with meaningless, though fun, side quests, which instill no enthusiasm in the player. Dot Hack’s world is gigantic with a seeming infinite number of locations to explore. Dot Hack’s monsters resemble the beautifully-drawn monsters of the later Final Fantasy’s. The Fields and Dungeons contain many colorful, over stylized backdrops and settings, including weather effects. We feel Dot Hack has far better graphics than PSO. Many have compared Dot Hack to Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II (PSO) on the Gamecube.