.hack//OUTBREAK (Part 3) Preview

Developer	CyberConnect 2
Publisher	Bandai
Genre	Role-Playing
Release Date	10/10/03

The next to last chapter in the .hack saga, OUTBREAK doesn’t break much new ground and will play virtually the same as the first two. For fans of the first two games, the new gameplay additions and the continuation of the complex yet intriguing narrative should make OUTBREAK to be the best game so far in Bandai’s four-part series.

It also is turning out to be the hardest game in the series yet. The extremely difficult Sigma server is now open, and it will test your battle skills more than ever. All that hard work will not go to waste, however, because the Sigma server contains powerful level 60+ items. Even the enemies in the old servers are noticeably tougher than in the previous .hack installments, so using your saved game file from MUTATION will definitely put you at a welcomed advantage. If you somehow lost your MUTATION save flag, OUTBREAK will still start your characters at level 50, but you won’t have any items that you may have gotten from the last game.

Also new to OUTBREAK is an added ability for your Grunty called “Grunty Search”. The Grunty Search option lets your Grunty search for groups of enemies, key food items, and other items on the field. The endless search for battles and the tedious task of collecting grunty food seen in the last two games seem to have been eliminated with this new Grunty Search command. Just make sure you sufficiently raised a Grunty in the previous games.

.hack fans will really appreciate OUTBREAK’s storyline. It totally blows open what MUTATION just started to expand on. Greatly improved character development, plot twists, and the fleshing out of the more sketchy subplots are all found in OUTBREAK. The cutscene count is greater in OUTBREAK than it has ever been to narrate all the craziness that is bearing down on “The World”. Many characters in your party will also leave in an attempt to avoid any hardships they may soon suffer as a result of playing the online RPG gone astray, so you will be meeting plenty of new faces and will have a chance for them to replace people in your party who left.

Extras in OUTBREAK include better side quests (in both size, quantity, and difficulty) that ensure this .hack to be the longest one yet, if you take the time to make it so. And of course, OUTBREAK comes packed with Part 3 of the OVA DVD series .hack//LIMINALITY, which shows what is going on in .hack’s universe outside of the “The World” game. OUTBREAK is on target for a October 10th release.

Preview by Nick Pappas