E3: Phantasy Star Portable 2 Hands-On
When I played and reviewed the original Phantasy Star Portable I never thought I’d be writing about a sequel not long afterwards. That isn’t because of the quality of the original – it was a pretty good version of the Phantasy Star formula – but because I thought it’d turn out to be too niche to sell well.
As it happens clearly a ton of gamers still have fond memories of the original Phantasy Star Online games, as Phantasy Star Portable sold fairly well and shortly after release Sega announced that a sequel was in the works.
Most of our stories about the game so far have concentrated on the whacky Japanese marketing and cross-over stuff in the game, like Pizza Hut branded weapons and Coca Cola vending machines making an appearance in the hub world, but at E3 2010 we finally got to get our hands on the game briefly to check out the improvements.
In terms of how it plays, it’s definitely more Phantasy Star Portable. The controls didn’t feel any different to me in particular and though it’s been a while since I’ve played the original as far as I could tell the button placement was more or less the same.
Another thing that’s the same is definitely the ‘feel’ of the game – characters still move and animate in the same style and manner as the previous game, giving it much the same feeling when you’re playing. Phantasy Star Portable had a pretty good feeling to it and a decent weight to the characters, with that deliberate character animation that characterises many Japanese games, and that returns here as a style that works well in the online RPG format.
In terms of online play, Phantasy Star Portable 2’s new systems will feel familiar for those who played the other recent Phantasy Star release, the DS Phantasy Star Zero, the online play will feel familiar, with a lobby-style system rather than the massive MMO environments.
In addition to joining a lobby and partying up with other players you can hit up Battle Mode – essentially a PVP environment to battle other players and Challenge Mode, a selection of deadly, difficult levels that’ll take time, skill, planning and a little bit of luck to complete.
Some of these features will be familiar returning features to fans of the original Phantasy Star Online, and in general these new features and the fact that all the online play is free makes Phanstay Star Portable feel like a far better value package than the original.
As well as the modes there are also a number of weapons, items and locations that are inspired by the original Dreamcast title that took the Phantasy Star series into its MMO format, while also challenges and locations from the original Phantasy Star Zero also return to allow players to take their new items and weapons into old situations.
Sega reps told us sadly that some of the crazy promotional weapons, items and vending machines won’t make it into the final version of the game due to rights issues, but others – especially Sega promotions like the appearance of a playable Resonance of Fate character – will remain.
Phantasy Star Portable 2 looks like a solid improvement on the offering from the first game and appears to be adding more value and more features to the original, which was pretty damn good to begin with. It’s out this Fall.