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Phantasy Star Universe comes as a PlayStation 2 exclusive which was
shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) as a demo build.
There were two different arena’s available to play, each very
different from the other.
The
first was an open air arena and unfortunately the edges of the area
were  very
well defined and the whole of the arena seemed too enclosed for my
liking, although its not in the style of game to do so maybe. This
didn’t distract from the action at any point though, it was all
right there in front of you.
The
second looked like some sort of underground cave structure which
housed some harder creatures. This was done really well and
although, yet again gave a very small space to explore, seemed
believable enough.
You
have four characters with which you play, you take control of one
and the others will do as you do, if there is an enemy lurking
nearby they will very quickly go and attack it and not just running
around waiting for you to deliver the first blow. They take a while
to re-generate and aren’t any better than me at self-preservation
(and I’m not good) so you can find yourself working one handed
for a while.
You
can use a variety of weapons, some heavier and more difficult to
move like the big sword and others which take shorter time to
execute a move. You can use magic spells too, if your weapon has
magic capabilities so you would be able to customise your
characters
attacks quite readily. The only downside to the combat is its
overall speed. The controls don’t seem very responsive and
performing moves takes a while. You can perform combos but these
have to be timed very well, button bashing doesn’t work here.
This
seems not too far removed from Phantasy
Star Online: Episodes I&II,
it doesn’t seem like it takes any leaps away from its
predecessor and I feel that is the games biggest downfall. The
possibility of a large plot line and the assumption it will be
online are the only things which make it standout.
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