.Hack
Mutation Part 2

Review by Chi Phan

Let's get started with the review. .Hack Mutation is the direct sequel to .Hack Infection. Overall both games are part of an rpg game that's broken down. Nothing has changed much from Chapter 2 to Chapter 1. So this review is pretty much a mirror reflection of the review in .Hack Infection. I could easily cut and pasted the review of .Hack Infection and apply it here. But I'm not that lazy but to get a full and better picture of the game, you might want to read the .Hack Infection review first. Shall we begin then?

My Desktop Who are you? Chapter 2 starts off right where Chapter 1 left off. Let's do a quick recap of Chapter 1. Kite's friend Orca fell into a coma after playing the MMORPG called, "The World". In the year 2013, it appears that players can play rpgs in a virtual world where they assume the role of fictional rpg characters inside the actual rpg game. Kite decided to do some investigating on his own to find the cause of Orca's coma by playing "The World" himself. At the end of Chapter 1, Kite and BlackRose managed to defeat a boss called Skeith. But a new boss called Cubia showed up and defeated both Kite and BlackRose in "The World". Chapter 2 begins with Kite and BlackRose logging back into "The World" after being defeated by Cubia. Here the two players resume their search to find out more about Cubia and Skeith. As the two progress in their search, they discovered a possible cause to the infection that was creating havoc in "The World". It appears that fragments from an old game called Epitaph of the Twilight still lingered inside the system network. These fragmented datas appeared to be corrupting the entire network system that "The World" is run on. What is the Epitaph of the Twilight about or base on? That is what the Kite and BlackRose intend to find out as they make their journey in Chapter 2. They do know that Skeith, Epitaph of Stone, is a Phase 1 boss from the Epitaph of the Twilight. And that there are more Phase bosses out there that are lingering in "The World". And for the most part, if Chapter 1 was the introduction of "The World", then Chapter 2 is the search for the meaning of the Epitaph of the Twilight. The cause of the corruption of "The World." In the end, what do we know so far from Chapter 2? A little bit more but still not a whole lot. We do know or have been given a hint as to why BlackRose is hanging out with Kite. We also know that .Hack the video game story takes place in the same timeline as .Hack/Sign the animated tv show and .Hack Animated DVDs that were included in both .Hack games. But more light needs to be shedded on "The Epitaph of Twilight". But that will happen in the later chapters. I have to admit that the story is becoming very interesting but still incomplete.

Crossover with .Hack Sign .Hack Infection started out with 8 characters. Kite, BlackRose, Natsume, Gardenia, Sanjuro, Elk, Mia, and Piros. Then you have Aura, Helba, and Balmung as the non playable characters. All of these characters have return in Chapter 2. Not like they went anywhere to begin with. But this time around, Chapter 2 added in a few more characters. Nuke, Rachel, Moonstone, Marlo, and Wiseman. Bringing the total of playable party members to 13. And added a non playable character in Lios, one of the system administrator. Despite the introduction of new characters, nothing has change in terms of overall character developement. Each characters are fictional rpg characters from the MMORPG called, "The World." These character's personalities are represented by the Players playing "The World." In terms of differences and uniqueness, each characters are indeed unique and different from one another. But in terms of background developement, it's not there. Who are these Players that are controlling and playing these characters, we don't know. Whatever character developement in terms of who these Players are, is held at a limited interaction through e-mails. And that's it. So basically we don't really know anything much about these characters playing "The World." One thing is clear though is that the 2 main characters of .Hack storyline are Kite and BlackRose. Everyone else is nothing more than just tag along game partners. We do get a little bit of a hint as to why BlackRose is playing this game. It's for the same reason as Kite. She has a friend that's in a coma too. Who this friend is? Who BlackRose is in real life? We still don't know. At this point in the second chapter of .Hack, I find the non playable characters such as Balmung, Helba, and Lios to be more of the intriguing characters. I'm more interested in finding out who Helba is and what is Balmung up to than any of the so called main characters. I also fail to understand why the need to add on 5 more new playable characters in Chapter 2. Especially when you already have 8 characters from Chapter 1 that are still underdevelope. Adding on 5 more undeveloped characters isn't going to make it better. I guess at this point, it's quantity over quality. Great personalities but little to no character developement on the Players of "The World." It's the same point I made in Infection one review.

Data Drain is at hand. Graphics are the same as Chapter 1. Not surprising since it's basically the same game as the first one. I'll make the same point as I did in .Hack Infection review. The overall gameplay graphics isn't very defined to providing detailed look to everything. The colors in the game are a little too shady for my taste. The overall designing of what "The World" looks like is too simple for my taste. You now have one more town or server to add to your towns/servers to explore. Bringing a total of only 3 towns/servers from the combine Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 games. Dungeons for the most part look the same with the exception of different variation of colors to them. The only time where you really enjoy the graphic is during the CGI movie sequences. The CGI movies are alot better this time around but overall most of the movies aren't great movies that you want to watch over and over again. I don't think it's the fault of the graphic engine that the graphic shouldn't be as good as it can be. I just think that they design the overall look too simple. And not wanting to flood it with too many different background scenaries. Maybe that's what they wanted to do. But nevertheless, the look of "The World" is too simple for my taste. I prefer to see many different towns, people, and background scenaries.

The arrival of Helba As with Infection, the main focal point of the music is the dungeons and battle themes. It depends on your taste but I'm not very big on dungeons and battle theme music from rpgs. And this game dungeons and battle themes are a little above average at best. It's the story themes that I prefer. Unfortunately there aren't alot of story themes here. Nor are there alot of town themes. But not surprising since there's only a total of 3 towns period. Character themes are present in the game but not strong enough. Still there is one theme that does catch my attention. And it's the Lios theme or System Administrator theme. I really like that theme and right now it's the stand out theme for me. But overall not enough varieties of musical themes and not enough musical themes that are stand out ones.

I'm a Grunty. Pumpkin Madness! Game Information    Genre: Action Rpg    Publisher: Bandai    Disc: 1 DVD Disc    Memory: 706 KB    Players: 1 Player Mode    Vibration: Yes    Dual Analog: Yes    Digital Control: No    Rating: Teen    Release: May 2003 Gameplay is once again the same as .Hack Infection. I'm going to review it base on the fact that I assume you've played .Hack Infection before. If not then read my review of .Hack Infection first. You should just be able to pick up right where you left off in Chapter 1. Before playing the game, you can convert your save file from .Hack Infection over to .Hack Mutation if you want to. It's best to do it if you have a save file. While it's possible to play the game new without a save conversion, it's not recommended. The game is now officially harder than the first .Hack game. I'm not sure why the sudden difference in level of difficulty. You're notice it right away when you start to get into battles with just plain normal enemies. These normal enemies can wipe out your party very easily if you don't have a sound strategy. The basics of the gameplay are still here. Dungeons, Affection, Data Drain, Grunties, and Skills. You now have a new server to explore plus the two previous servers from .Hack Infection. As before you can buy your equipment from shops but it's recommended that you trade for equipments with other players in "The World" as that's where the good weapons are. You can of course begin raising your Grunties right away if you have the needed food for them. Grunties are basically Chocobos but uglier. Travelling to different fields and dungeons will require either Gate Hacking or inputting Keywords at the gate portal. 100% of the time, the Keywords will be provided to you by either through e-mails or from the message board at your virtual desktop. Once again, your skills and magic will be defined by the equipment that you have equipped as that's the main source of what skills and magic you have. So choose what equipment to equip carefully as it's not always best to equip an equipment base on it's level but base on what skills and magic it offers. Affection level of your party members toward the main character have returned. The limit is now set at 500 affection. Up from 250 in .Hack Infection. So you will need to start raising the affection levels of all your party members over again by interacting with them through e-mails or by giving them equipments through the gift options. Data Drain is back. But this time around you can Data Drain multiple monsters at once. As before, if you use Data Drain too much, you may end up killing Kite. Fields and dungeons are the same where you have magic portals scattered about. Monsters will popped out of the portals if you get too close. Battle mode will begin once that happens. Monsters are alot harder to defeat this time around. But the good news is that dungeons are now only 3 floors deep as oppose to being 4 floors deep in .Hack Infection. Make your way to the end of the dungeon to either fight a boss or collect the rare items from the Gott Statue. This is the main objective of the gameplay. The battle system is the same as in Infection. It's an action rpg so you can control Kite only. For your other two party members, you will need to assign an action for them to take. And they will assist you the best they can. Nothing new is in the gameplay. If you haven't played .Hack Infection for a quite sometime then it might take awhile to jogged your memory loose but once you do remember. It should be smooth sailing. It's the same gameplay as .Hack Infection so .Hack Mutation get the same score.

Score: 8/10

Prepare for deletion! The extras and sidequests are basically a repeat of the first .Hack game. The Goblin sidequest is back where you have to challenge 4 Goblins to get Goblin equipment. Once you do you can summon a stronger Goblin. But like with the first Goblin summon, it's not that great. Once you finish the game, you will have access to a small bonus dungeon. Just like with Chapter one. In this bonus dungeon, you can fight an extra boss. And lastly the return of the 7 Book of Ryu. Just the same in Chapter 1, you have to finish and complete each of the criterias that are set up in the 7 Book of Ryu. Each time you complete a criteria, you will unlock either an Image Wallpaper for your virtual desktop, a BGM music theme, or a movie sequence. All of these extras and sidequests are pretty much identical to what was in Chapter 1. The only thing that is new is Flag Racing. Basically once you are able to raise 3 different type of Grunties on whatever server, you can then enter in a Flag Race. Flag Racing is racing your Grunty within a set time limit. If you beat that set time limit, you will win a prize. Not as simple as it sound. That's about it in terms of extras and sidequests.

Oh wow. Look it's the same score as Chapter 1. LOL. Well that shouldn't come to a surprise. It's basically the same game here. Same everything. Just a second chapter of a long story. More mysterys and intrigues than answers to questions in the story plotlines. And as usual, a good cliffhanger to finish it up. It's not recommended to get this game unless you get .Hack Infection Part 1. Final Score: 7.2/10 Time to complete: over 25 hours for complete game. Difficulty: Hard Favorite character: Mistral Hottest character: Helba Best fighter: Piros Most useless character: Natsume Best music theme: Lios Coolest feature: Data Drain Best advice: Learn how to trade Best magic skill: Ola Repth Best offensive skill: Life Drain Also try: .Hack Infection Part 1 Up next: Breath of Fire V

STORY A good second chapter that moves the plotlines along.	8
CHARACTERS Too many playable characters and not enough individual developement.	6
GRAPHICS Game graphics is good but the game graphical layouts are too simple.	7
MUSIC/SOUND Dungeons and battle tunes are good but lack the characters and towns tunes.	7
GAMEPLAY The same gameplay as .Hack Infection but much harder in terms of difficulty level.	8
EXTRAS/REPLAY Repeat performance. The same extras and sidequests that were presented in the first .Hack game makes are return appearance.	7