Downloadable Gamecube Games Article

Publisher: Sega

Players: 1-4

Release: Available Now

Genre: RPG

ESRB: T

You have those fans to thank for PSO’s arrival on GameCube. The core game itself hasn’t changed much, but it’s been expanded a whole bunch; the smaller additions include new character classes and items and some tweaks to the game’s interface and functionality. The more significant additions take the form of an entirely new second “episode” in the saga (which you can hop into at your leisure), and a split-screen multiplayer mode for the broadband-challenged. The second episode isn’t quite as long as the first (which, for all intents and purposes, is the PSO that thousands already know and love), but it’s definitely a bit more challenging. So yeah, there’s a whole lot of meat here. No question about it.

Problem is, Sega wants to charge you a crapload of money to play the game as it was intended—namely, online. Paying $ per month is a crapload, right? Well, it is, considering what the game doesn’t give you—a persistent world (like in EverQuest), or any sort of ranking system. To its credit, Sega promises a bunch of downloadable content for online subscribers, such as a version of the Saturn classic NiGHTS that’s playable on a GBA. But seriously, is that enough? You’ve heard of the PC game Diablo, right? PSO is basically a cooler-looking, console version of it. But Diablo is free. PSO should be, too. If you’re willing to shell out the cheddar, then you’ll probably have fun with this. The thing is, you shouldn’t have to.

PROS

Online play never gets old

Myriad interface improvements over Dreamcast version

CONS

$ per month to play online!

Offline mode is kind of mind-numbing

EXTRAS

Downloadable GBA mini-games

NOW RATED: B-