This is the first game I've bought for the 360 specifically for the online function and it hasn't let me down at all. The story is a bit kooky but you have to be impressed by the scale and the flexibility of the game. I've spent far to many evenings and nights "levelling up" my character and finding my feet with the missions. Granted its got a lot of novelty value for me at the moment but its easy to have a quick go turn into a all-nighter and getting up for work at 07:00 isn't that nice after that!.

So far I've found a mixture of age ranges playing the game (??6.99 p/m might rule out some of the youngest players) so there are always people to find to have a "run" with.

Buy it and try it.

For anyone reading these reviews who HASN'T played Phantasy Star Online for Gamecube/Xbox/Dreamcast, let me explain what this game is all about...
You use a weapon to kill some enemy creatures. You do it again. You level up and become more powerful. You get a bigger, better weapon. You kill some harder creatures. Repeat.
If you HAVE played PSO, and enjoyed it, then buy this immediately - this is how PSO was meant to be, dual-wielding weapons, player shops, and photon skills.

If you are looking for a deep offline single-player experience, then this is not the game for you. The offline story serves only as an introduction to the game, which you should play online to really appreciate.
The online game is what really shines. I have lost countless hours to this game, and I don't regret it at all.

I been hooked on Phantasy Star Online since Dreamcast and Gamecube days. Well finally a sequel has arrived!

Well there's offline mode, extra mode and online mode.. Since most of the meat is at online.. you best bet is to spend some time with the offline mode.. thats where you get to know about the storyline controlling Ethan Waber a young boy who ends up becomming a member of the Guardians, a sort of military force that sends out help for the planets; Parum, Neudaiz and Moatoob while operating from the Guardians colony floating in space. An alien force called 'Seed' has begun to attack the solar system.

What Sonic Team has done here in the offline mode is impletment training of the new battle and menu system for you be familiarized and be ready when you go online as things are a lot different from PSO!

Online mode; This is where you (hopefully gonna be spending most of your time at(while playing this game).. Oh the character you level offline won't be the same level/character that you bring online.. while offline you control and level up Ethan Waber and (other non playable characters that join you), Online you must create your own character and start from level 1...

You will probably be underwhelmed at first because there are only a few missions which you can start off with.. but what makes this different from PSO is once you complete part of a mission you will exit to a guardian's temporary base camp. From here (depending on which exit you take) you should have a choice to take 2 different routes (some will lead you to other areas for you to complete your mission) and face different bosses!

In the original PSO you have normal, Hard, Very Hard and ultimate difficulties.. In PSU they rank as C missions (normal difficulty), B Missions (hard) to A missions (Very Hard difficulty), S and S2 mission (ultimate difficulty) and depending on what routes you take will also affect the difficulty of the mission even more! At the end of completing each mission you will get a ranking and 'S' rank is what you should aim for (killing all the monsters and have no party deaths) will result in getting maximum meseta and exp!

Most people will end up mostly levelling up at the Guardian's Colony or Parum (which leaves some people thinking "that's all there is to the missions"???? SO if you want a challenge then head out to Neudaiz and Maotoob as they can be extremely challenging and hard!!! Also There is Hive which is similar to the old PSO Ruins level.

and as for finding rares... well they really are Rare this time so good luck!! and getting meseta is pretty hard now too..

What is different is that you have your own room to decorate and (later on can open up a shop to sell your rares while you are either offline/playing missions or chilling out and chatting to people while in game). (while this is only speculation decorating your room might affect your luck finding rares) but I stress its only speculation at this time...

Gone are raising mags.. instead you have a Partner Machinery (which similar to mags) and depending on what you feed it will also attribute to its final form.. most of the early P.machinery's life is spent in your room. Here your P.Machine will help in synthesising stuff.. Yes you can create weapons, armour, food items to help you in your online quests (and some of these have very low chance of success to be created) hence what you feed it will determine its success for creation. Once your p.machinery reaches its final form you should be able to take it out with you into missions to help you and your team mates in battle.

This time you dont need to wait for the load screen when people enter battles, Battles are much faster and action orientated, tech spells and other techniques all start at level 1 and you need to purchase them and level them up. Up to 6 people can join in battle and if you are party leader and you dont like certain players you can now boot them out!! (remember having to leave your own party in PSO from annoying players) ??

Overall I really love this game! its got depth but it will take a while for you to appreciate it! If you want the same PSO stuff then you will be dissappointed.

Unfortunately the xbox 360 version you can only play alongside other 360 players from USA to Europe and Japan (pc and ps2 versions have their own independant servers). It also runs at 60 frames per second (but expect the frame rate to drop while action get intense)!!

EDIT:

I'm actually still playing this since this review was submitted. Alot has changed since then and Sega have been uploading events which have come and gone and there are still lots of people playing this.. infact there is also an expansion for PSU to upgrade and prolong things even further!

just to clear the air a bit first I'd like to say that this game has been completely misunderstood by the games media who've by-and-large discounted it based on the merits of the single player story mode. let's get one point absolutely clear: phantasy star universe is primarily an ONLINE game. that's its core strength and the sole reason you should buy it. the story mode is simply tacked on to flesh the package out a bit. therefore my advice is...if you can't swallow a ??6.99 monthly fee for online play just walk away.

but...as an online game phantasy star universe is incredibly satisfying and enjoyable to play. it sticks with the basic formulae laid down with PSO and adds several layers of depth and complexity making it feel fresh and new.

some of the main changes and additions i'll list below:

- there's now 3 planets and a guardian's space complex serving as mission hubs. these areas come complete with their own mission terminals and shopping complexes for equipping your character

- character generation and development has moved on and is much more detailed than before. loads of options for getting your character to look and feel just right.

- each character has his own room in the space colony which can be decorated. you can expand your room to include a shop where you can sell items to other or you can just invite your friends over to admire your set-up.

- each character has his own pet robot (PM) that can be fed items and evolves accordingly. think of this as a cross between a PSO mag and a sonic chao! this little guy can also make weapons and armour for you and join you in battle once he's levelled accordingly

- combat is more fluid and tactical than in previous PSO's. character movement is also quicker and much improved. you can also strafe.

- the 360 version comes with full voice chat capabilities within parties. this makes a huge difference to the game.

- weapons, items...basically anything can be fabricated by players using their PM's. these items can then be used or sold for cash to other players either directly or via shops.

- weapons can be ground with base materials to enhance their statistics. this really ups the weapon customisation depth to insane levels. each time you grind there's a chance your weapon breaks however.

so that's just some of the main things you can do in PSU not possible in previous incarnations. aside from that the game retains all the charm that made PSO such a hit. PSU is a game about community and fostering friendship and cooperation.

it's also a relaxing game to play and very rewarding. you can dip in for 30 mins or play the whole night if you so wish. and if you find a nice group of players to run with few games can match PSU for sheer enjoyment.

so if you're after an enjoyable social and relaxing MMOG you can do no better than PSU. it may lack the content and sheer scale of other games like world of warcraft, but it more than makes up for this with a solid structure, ease of play and friendly online community.

enjoy it!

This game is a major disappointment. For those expecting a homage to PSO, you'll find the game is structured very different to Phantasy Star Online, and you're forced to play as a generic character, as opposed to designing your own, in the story mode, which really takes away half the fun.

The levels are really bland, and lack the distinctiveness of PSO's levels, so much so, it makes the overall gameplay really dull, as you don't recognise where you have been or need to go.

As this game was catered for customers with HDTV, the in game text is horrendously small, which makes it very difficult for people to see the text and speech bubbles, which are fundamental to prgoressing in the game.

The online aspect is perhaps the biggest let down, as most people I know are stuck with broadband ISP's that don't support XBox Live (Vrign, Sky Broadband), so we cannot play online.

I actually prefer the dial up aspect of PSO, because it was simple, fun and there were no hefty online fees.

The graphics are however perfectly fine, and are spookily similar to the Dreamcast's, which really indicates how ahead of its time Sega's Dreamcast actually was.

After spending months playing the original online, and thoroughly enjoying the game, I am bitterly disappointed with the final product, and
although I really do want to recommend this game, I can't help think it's a half baked product, with the potential to be so much more.

Ultimately this was a wasted opportunity, and i would seriously recommend players go back to the original (which, alledgedly is still playable online) and compare it to this game, and the differences will become very clear.