.hack//G.U. Vol. 2: Reminisce

RPG Fan

The plot is compelling, the combat is exciting, and the aesthetics are excellent as always.

GamerNode

Fans of the .hack series will feel quite comfortable in revisiting the world again. But there aren't a great deal of enhancements to the game.

GameZone

An entertaining, but altogether incomplete and, at times, incomprehensible adventure.

Cheat Code Central

Reminisce adds only a few things to keep the returning fans locked into the gameplay, but with a setup like this, where the story and progression of characters is broken up over multiple titles, the story is what matters most. Here, Reminisce delivers quite nicely.

Digital Entertainment News

It's so firmly steeped in the style and mythology of the series that fans already know if they'll like it or not. New players ought to start with the original, or at least volume one of the current series.

The New York Times

Reminisce would be better if there were some way to customize the challenge of areas you must traverse to further the story.

Game Revolution

If The World were released as a game by itself, it would be fine, but ultimately not that special. But by creating a game outside the game, the makers of .hack//G.U. Vol. 2: Reminisce (a studio called CyberConnect2) have created a world that’s a lot of fun to explore on many levels.

GameTrailers

The time and effort they’ve already invested will keep dot-hackers from logging-out of this mediocre series, and while casual RPG fans may find some decency in the game, its repetitive elements and flawed content keep it from feeling whole.

PSM Magazine

Its intriguing premise (involving "The World," a futuristic MMO besieged by a deadly virus) is muddied by repetitive dungeons, stale combat, and lengthy cut scenes--which sorta describes the first series, actually. [July 2007, p.84]

G4 TV

A decent dungeon-crawl at heart. Once you’ve escaped the very first couple of hours, which have some of the longest and worst talking-heads bits, the game leaves ample room to ignore the plot in favor of hacking around the random levels.

1UP

The repetition waters down the game until you're left with the ridiculously overdone story -- which, admittedly, is all the die-hard fans really want and probably good enough for the financial bottom line. So to say "fans will love it" is not a lazy end to a review -- in this case, it's the plain truth.

Games Radar (in-house)

The predictable and disappointing list of "seconds" in volume two muddies Reminisce’s otherwise unique presentation.

DarkStation

Fans of the series don't need to hear me say go out and buy it, because I am sure that is already done and over. But for those who may have been interested in getting into the series, I would say move elsewhere, this game just doesn't have all the necessary ingredients to make it worthwhile.

GameSpy

But for those who were hoping for an evolution of the franchise, or those who have had no exposure to it in the first place, this is not the game for you.

Game Informer

If you liked the boring, archaic gameplay in the first volume of the new .hack trilogy, you can look forward to more of that junk here.

GameShark

At the end of this game within a game, Reminisce isn't bad at all - its biggest problems are that it is just too familiar to .hack players and many of The World's areas feel a little too recycled.

GameSpot

If you haven't played the previous games, you won't know or care what's going on in the latest one, but if you have played the previous games, you'll feel like you're paying almost full price to play the same game over again.

Worth Playing

If you're a really big fan of the storyline of .hack//GU, then that is the only reason to keep playing this franchise. Even then, the plot is both incredibly predictable and filled to the brim of clichéd characters and logic holes that make it very difficult to take seriously.

IGN

Reminisce doesn't utterly fail to do that, but it doesn't do a steller job of it either.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Reminisce feels like a long-winded anime with mediocre RPG battle mechanics grafted on just so they could sell the thing for more money. [June 2007, p.92]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Terrible voice acting claims another victim. It's high time that video games cut the cord with anime dubs when it comes to localizing dialogue. So long as legions of anime fans settle for this breathless junk, the rest of us will continue to suffer.