GAME OF THE MONTH COLLECTION!
PHANTASY STAR II
(Sega,
1990)
A 1000 years has passed
since Alis successfully defeated the evil Dark Falz. The Algo solar system
was enjoying centuries of peace and prosperity under the control of one master
computer system simply known as the Mother Brain. Lately though there have
been monsters and rebelling humans showing up to terrorize anyone on the three
planets and it is up to you find out why. You play the role of Rolf; a young
military soldier sent on this dangerous mission, fortunately your good friend
Nei and 6 others wants to help you.
This game won tons of praise for being one of the top RPG's of the early nineties
and for being a great sequel to an underrated game. Originally on the Sega
Genesis, this was the first ever 6 Meg video game cartridges for consoles.
With more of that cartridge memory here Sega spiced up some of the graphics,
beefed up the sounds, and they even changed the game play a little too.
Phantasy Star II has several new additions to the game play like the ability
to equip both the left and the right hands with weapons if you like. This
is extremely useful especially for characters like Nei at the beginning because
if you give her two Steel Bars and then equip them, she can be a real force
to be reckoned with. "Trust me, it helps a lot!" Another new thing
about PS2 is when you visit back to your place, you may see if anyone wants
to join you on your mission for the Mother Brain. Some characters are good
with certain weapons, others are good with magic, and one girl is even good
at stealing. Although you can only have 4 in a team, it's up to you to create
the perfect team, and there nothing saying that you cannot switch some fighters
with others anytime during the game. That really helps in the replay value.
Phantasy Star II pushes some cool new graphics like improved buildings that
don't look quite as flat as before and the town's people no longer just stand
there doing nothing. Sega also done away with the 3D dungeons but Phantasy
Star II still has some nice parallax effects to show off that new 16-bit processor
for its day. Although the battle scenes have the same black and blue grid
background, wait till you see the giant enemies and huge end bosses.
The music is exactly the same as the Genesis game and certain players will
not mind the stuff here while others may find older Sega tracks too annoying,
especially with these weird sound effects. Does all this make Phantasy Star II better than the first, that's debatable,
but this huge game is still one of Sega's finest achievements with an unforgettable
storyline. Phantasy Star II is one phine game!
| Conclusion: | |
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*Battery back up game saves up to 4 files! PHANTASY STAR II overall rating: 95/100 For 1 player only graphics: 8/10 sound: 7/10 gameplay: 9/10 replay: 7/10 -StarSoldier1 2008 (Ryan Genno) See the other Games of the Month |