Remember the dreamcast? Wheren't those the days? Playing PSO all night long with buddies and strangers alike. Well thanks to good ol' sega we can soon relive all the awsome glory of PSO without being tetherd down by those pesky AV cables and and a 40lb television set. PSZ (phantasy star zero) is the same old phantasy star that you know and love but squeezed onto a DS cart for portability.

PSZ starts out like all other phantasy star online games, first you make a character, then you name em' and finally you choose a voice for em' (which is only heard when they attack or take damage). After you've done all of those neccessary steps you are shown a short cut-scene in anime fashion (which changes depending on the class you choose), once the cut-scene has passed you're free to roam the world of PSZ.

The game's world isn't really any different from any other phantasy star world, you got your shops, npcs, and mission desk. Missions are started by talking to a girl at a desk, once a mission is accepted the player is taken through a portal which leads to the field. Now this is where a few new features come in, the one that stands out the most is the new dodge action that can be activated by pressing the "B" button. The dodge is basically a barrel roll that your character will use to avoid costly damage to your ever so precious HP. If you think this isn't a big deal, then obviously you haven't played PSO, which is also another good reason for you pick up this game. Unlike other PSO  installments, this game gives a very noob friendly tutorial (which can be skipped if you've played before).

The game also has an awsome multiplayer aspect, which, unlike its PSP counter-part has a huge online component (see? told ya it was PSO all over again). While online you can add people to your friendlist, get new missions that are only available online, play other PSZ owners, or simply chill out and do a few missions while you wait for others in lobby mode.

In lobby mode your friends will be able to see you online and they can even join and leave on the fly during your missions. Sadly, you can't use any voice chat on this game (although you do have both picture and text chat). For those of us who don't have any friends with this game sega's got us covered too, simply select the option to play with strangers and you'll quickly be connected with other players around the world (up to 4 if I'm correct..).

So, with over 100 weapons (both new and old), 3 races to choose from, 14 classes, and awsome (and for the most part lag free) online play theres no reason for any DS owner not to pickup this game (and totally pass on the psp one) when it hits U.S shores on 11/10/09!!!

Oh!! and if you have a jap copy and wanna play sometime tell me

Tags

Phantasy Star Ø Nintendo DS