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Phantasy Star Universe

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7.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
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Based on 11 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega

Genre(s): Action, Role-Playing Game

Players: 6

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: October 24, 2006

Summary

Phantasy Star Universe offers two complete RPG experiences - a single-player action adventure spanning multiple planets, and a robust online multi-player component. The game offers long-time fans the epic experience they have been clamoring for. The solo adventure features more than 40 hours of gameplay, an emotionally engaging story, traditional cut scenes, and strong character development. The title's hero is Ethan Waber, a 17-year old cadet intent on saving his sister, who is living on a planet under siege by mysterious life forces called THE SEED. In Online Mode, players are given the opportunity to create their own characters from a range of races, and they get to explore all three planets in the Grarl solar system. Fans can travel with a squad of other adventurers, enter urban sprawls teeming with hundreds of other players, and build their avatars into powerful warriors. [Sega]

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Game Chronicles

What the original Phantasy Star Online lacked in terms of a solid single player story mode, Phantasy Star Universe makes up for it in spades. With its well written story, good voice acting, frequent cut-scenes, and addicting, yet simple gameplay, there’s no denying that this game is a full fledged action RPG that doesn’t have to be taken online this time to fully appreciate.

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1UP

A throwback to the good ol' days of "Diablo 2"-style dungeon exploring, PSU is a value-packed, worthwhile action-RPG that finds its biggest challenge not in its modern-day peers, but in escaping the shadow of its predecessor: "Phantasy Star Online (PSO)."

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Gamer 2.0

Universe is a strong and worthy sequel to the 2000 Dreamcast classic, but key absences – specifically the offline multiplayer – make a very good case for waiting.

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GamingTrend

At the end of the day, PSU is probably destined to be in the same niche as Phantasy Star Online was to begin with.

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Worth Playing

Gameplay is paramount, and I would say that PSU is a better game than the original, but not necessarily up to the same level of quality.

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VideoGamer

Even clearly noticeable repetition and developer laziness can't fully erase what is in essence an almightily addictive and emergent base structure.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Just more of the same thing: simple dungeon crawling. It's fun online; it's not fun offline. This is a hard one to rate, as it's pretty convoluted.

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GameZone

The single-player game is not that deep or compelling and the network portion is repetitive without a lot of variation in either missions or environments.

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PALGN

Phantasy Star fans will adore the new title, but after Phantasy Star Online the development of the series isn’t as groundbreaking as the aforementioned title, and often leaves you questioning whether the time and money is worth spending when other titles provide much more.

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PC Format

If you want an RPG or an MMO, you can do better. Greater focus might have saved this shambles from total mediocrity. [Feb 2007, p.62]

Game Informer

The missions have a shocking lack of variety, mostly just forcing you to do the same handful of things, but with stronger foes.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

The single-player is a fun new addition but is plagued by frustrating design choices and idiotic AI, while the multiplayer is very hard to justify paying £6.99 a month for, especially as the game doesn't even come with a free trial period.

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IGN

Not enough was done to the Phantasy Star Online formula for this newest title in the series to feel fresh. Simply adding new weapons and techniques, changing the environments and adding a few extras such as the bedroom isn't enough when the online RPG has become a fully blown phenomenon.

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GameSpy

A disappointment of near-epic proportions. Sega ripped out the very heart of PSO's legendary addictiveness, replacing it with a repetitive, tedious grind that shows no signs of ending.

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GamingExcellence

Nothing has been improved in the six years since PSO. Worse still, PSU actually managed to take steps backwards (level design, story, online play, mission counters, equipment, mags, etc) and ruin the memory of the Phantasy Star legacy.

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PC Gamer UK

Spoiled by repetition and muddle. [Jan 2007, p.100]

PC Gamer

With about 5 more updates, PSU might be capable of holding one's attention. [Feb. 2007, p.72]

Computer Games Magazine

Put aside the dated mechanics and grossly clumsy interface, and you're still left with a fairly half-assed port of a Playstation 2 game, barely gussied up for the big show. [Mar 2007, p.66]

PC Zone UK

Phantasy Star Universe is nothing more than the laggy, repetitive tranvestite cousin of "Zelda." Avoid this like a Paris-Hilton-borne strain of bird flu. [Feb 2007, p.78]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nikita K gave it a3:
This game is very, very bad. It's incredibly repetitive, the combat system is even worse than the original dreamcast PSO's, which is a good game to compare it with seeing as even graphically they're nigh identical. I'm a huge fan of Phantasy Star but until Sonic Team gets their heads out of their asses just steer clear of this pile of feces. Oh, and the voice acting in the even more poorly made single player is like nails on a chalkboard in hell.

Kaleb M. gave it a3:
The horrendous voice acting, pitiful graphics, and bland storyline did not appeal to me here. First the voices: What were they thinking here? It seems like they tried to use good actors, but their voices kept cracking during production. Then theres the graphics. I played and owned the NGC version of PSO, and I have a had time distinguishing any differences; the poor textures, fuzz monsters, stiff animations, and muy mucho clipping really seemed to hearken back to the Dreamcast days. But not in a good way. In a bad way. The plot, like the graphics, is bland and flavorless as well. I mean seriously, it's 85% cliche. And the sounds are pretty bad too, as they often cut out, are repetitive, or low grade. This game wants to be good, but whenever it tries to say, get an A+, it spends all night studying the wrong material, doesn't get any sleep, falls on it's head in the morning, vomits up its breakfast, poops its pants, misses it's bus, and blames it all on the family puppy, which it promptly kicks.

Adam D. gave it a9:
This is the best Phantasy star I have played, and tops ep's 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the combat system has some fun new features, it could use some better graphics, but it is overall a fun and entertaining game.

Bob G. gave it a9:
Almost everything that makes an MMO good is missing from PSU. So what DOES it have? The same thing PSO had. An immersive, entertaining, flexible combat system thats almost as fun to watch as it is to use and which has no learning curve whatsoever. You can focus entirely on getting the most out of every hit one moment and lazily coast along, still fufilling your job in a party but holding a conversation or two at the same time the next moment. The game should not be looked at as an MMO, for by MMO standards its terrible, but as a fun, relaxing, and attractive background activity to play with a few friends while socializing it excels, just as it's predeccesor did.

James L. gave it a10:
By far one of the best games and mmo's to hit the market. Though with a few issues with content release, there is enough currently available plus much room for expansion. The game is streamline and cleaned up from it's predecessor Phantasy Star Online. Anyone who enjoy PSO or wants to pick up a quicker paced style of MMO, this is your chance.

Daniel G. gave it a9:
I've been a fan of the series since the first Phantasy Star on the master system. This one borrows a lot from Phantasy Star Online, but brings a lot of surprises from the older four games, like the planet hopping where the camera positions itself behind the spaceship just like in PS4. The story mode is also good, albeit a bit corny though at times. Compared to PSO, it is much faster paced and the system is just awesome. As usual though, it seems like Final Fantasy is stealing the show from a clearly superior, underrated "ph"ranchise.

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Phantasy Star Universe

Game Info

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What The Critics Said

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