Playstation 2 - Hack//Mutation

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Bandai
Developer
Bandai
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
RPG

(dot)hack//Mutation

By David Rasmussen
28th Apr 05

The (dot)hack Quadrilogy continues. This time out it’s Part 2, Mutation, as the series reaches the halfway point and a major turning point in the game itself.

You are Kite, and you are not having the best of days.
You were just brought into “The World” to enjoy some MMORPG fantasy swords and sorcery style with your pal Orca (who may or may not be related to that OTHER female Orca from (dot)hack//DUSK) when he is “data drained” by a weird red wand carrying creature.

You try to investigate, only to discover that those who should be helping you (mainly the corporation behind The World) are instead out to keep you from learning too much. So it is in this setting that the first battle against the avatars of the “Cursed Wave” takes place, and the war begins.
Along the way you make new friends and allies, begin to build your very own “Fellowship” of the Bracelet to fight the coming darkness (which is comin’ about once again to haunt The World and all those who walks within said “World”), and get the hang of playing (and fighting in) The World.

However, at the end of your first major battle, as you lay to waste your first major “Avatar” of the Cursed Wave, your victory is taken away from you as said enemy evolves in “deletion” to become the major nemesis Cubia who almost destroys you (if it wasn’t for the intervention of Helba).

You had started the chain of events, put all into motion, and now stare into the coming stormclouds of a major “War” to come. A war between those who will stand up against the Cursed Wave to save those already in life threatening comas because of said wave, and the darkness that shrouds the Cursed Wave, and Aura (who has been shattered into pieces with three fragments scattered throughout the World).
But that was Infection, this is now…. Mutation.

Oh. Remember I said you needed to come into this game at Level 25? Well, after completing the bonus “world” rewarded after finishing Infection, AND opening up seven of the eight Book of 1000s (which you “open” after so many uses of the bracelet’s “data drain” function) and not to mention doing all the legwork to gain all the extras available for this game? I ended the game with Level 32 with over 20 hours of logged in gameplay. Not bad if I do say so myself.

(dot)hack//Mutation
As the game begins it looks like you’re new name is “Chico”, since it seems you are now workin’ for “the Man”! Get it? The… ugh. Yeah, yeah, that IS an incredibly old series reference, sorry.
The “Man” in this question being the World’s System Administrators, known in The World as Lios.
At first Lios (who ends up recruiting you after his attempts to eliminate you fail) sends you out on missions as they come in, but as you go on you can’t get anywhere with Lios, can’t work things out with him, can’t make him happy. The battle with the 2nd Avatar of the Cursed Wave doesn’t work for Lios either (since it seems everytime you tangle with a Cursed Wave avatar the effects of the battle seems to send shockwaves throughout the whole World). In short it looks like you’re brief employment in the side of big business will last about as long as an invitation to this coming year’s pharmacutical company’s major christmas parties to one Michael Moore.

Anyway it looks like you won’t need “him” (Lios) as you uncover new secrets, and open new areas, and once again delve deeper into the chaos of the Cursed Wave (which carries on where the chaos of (dot)hack//SIGN left off some years ago.)

All you need now is to power on through the levels as you level up, and finish it off. Simple, eh.
Not so fast! This time out you’ll need to get to Level 50, and you’ll need to confront twice as many “Avatars” of the Cursed Wave as you did in Infection (two this time out).

But this time out you’ll be adding new friends to your list of allies, as well as finding out new information about the Cursed Wave AND (at last) you‘ll finally get a few chance encounters with the cast of the original (dot)hack//SIGN! Not much, but it‘s a start!

Of course your temporary alliance with Lios won’t last, but then again you probably figured it wouldn’t since he doesn’t seem very open towards confronting the Cursed Wave and it’s allies head-on.
Then again maybe he has good reason for his reluctance as this game ends, heading into halftime, as it looks like every step forward in your war against the Cursed Wave is followed by two steps backwards.
How you’ll ever make progress seems to be something that can’t be figured out at this time, but as you leave Mutation (nearly 50% of the Cursed Waves “Avatars” wiped out) you’ll find that the battle for The World has reached a turning point… as the tide of war turns, and rages even stronger in the aftermath of your third major conflict.

Gameplay is same as before, and whatever new tricks this game has over Infection isn’t much to talk about.
Doesn’t mean the game isn’t solid though, because it is which is a good thing in my opinion!
This time out you’ll need to end in Level 50 (as I said above), but don’t expect the kind of “bounce” you got from Infection. I finished this game just barely making Level 50, the momentum I got from finishing Infection seemingly gone as I made it across the finish line of Mutation.
Hopefully that momentum is back when I cross the next level finish-line (Level 75) when I wrap up my review of Outbreak in a few weeks.

The gameplay is the same solid experience that it was in Infection, and it will continue to be that way as it rolls from Infection to Mutation, Mutation to Outbreak and finally Outbreak to Quarantine. There are a few new tricks here and there, and for the most part the game is still a solid experience no questions asked.
The game is good, so don’t ignore it OK? OK! Okay. Breakdown time.

(dot)hack//Breakdown the 2nd (Mutation)
What’s Hot? - Gameplay is as solid as it was with Infection. Nothing’s changed, but now you have access to better gear and more allies so that can only be a good thing!
The game continues to deliver a solid gaming experience, and with the new tricks you have in this game the game can only get better and better as you roll out of Mutation and head towards Outbreak to start the second half of the Quadrilogy.

With quirky characters, an interesting story as well as good gameplay, graphics and solid gaming overall? This is one major series well worth owning from beginning to end (in my opinion)! A must have!

Now, once again as I mentioned last review we still have the rumored online version to look forward to. With the recent Matrix Online world coming online it should be (hopefully) only a matter of time before people can start checking into “The World” for real. When? I don’t know… soon, I hope!

What’s Not? - Still don’t like the needlessly hard work that comes with Grunty raising. Would it have been so hard to have added a Grunty Market for purchasing Grunty Food? That and the recent addition of Grunty Racing is another thing I don’t have much to say about in a positive light. It’s just not my thing.
Now, to add to that, I also found myself no longer liking the whole Goblin dueling thing (one on one)!
Both of these are just time wasters while you work on the main game, or just things to fill time as you play. Either way they’re not major playing elements so they’re not worth any major attention.

The second thing I am still not so enamored about in terms of this game is it’s unusually low amount of time it takes to finish each game! As I wrapped this game I only managed to reach the 50 hour mark, far different from other games which takes longer to finish.
At this rate I will probably top the 100 hour mark, which is the time two really good and deep RPGs would take to finish. Anyway I guess it’s not like this (or the points above) are worth talking about, or having any major or serious complaints about, so why stress about it? They’re small time stuff so leave it that way.

Moments to Remember? - Once again there’s a ton of memorable things in this game, like before.
You can’t go wrong with this game, so don’t even bother… ah… it’s good.
And, yes, once again there’s another bonus DVD with the second part of the (dot)hack//Liminality anime!
That’s gotta be good in my book!

What to Ignore? - Maybe the Grunties? Maybe the fact this game is abit harder than Infection?
No, the one thing to ignore is the present “difficulty” of this game in terms of having it all.
Until BANDAI puts together a (dot)hack Quadrliogy bundle to sell all four games in one package? You’ll have to do your homework and dig about for the games, but maybe that’ll happen once the Online version of The World becomes available (hopefully soon)!

Overall? - It’s the second of four parts, and the game is still as good as ever. With the storyline continuing this game rolls into Part 2, heading into Part 3, all the while continuing to be good at what it does? I can’t think of a single bad thing to say. Which brings me to one Morgan Webb of X-Play.
With all due respect, Miss Webb, somehow going on and on about the “computer-speak” of (dot)hack, and ignoring everything else about the game that makes it solid and right on is abit of a shame… and sad too.
Do you know what the computer speak in (dot)hack is? Repeat after me… “window dressing”!
That’s not important. The story, plot, and the gameplay. That is just the start of what is truly important about this game. Who needs to know computer slang or jargon when you just need to know what the heck is going on, where you need to go to fix what’s going on, and so forth. That’s important.

Final word? With a few new tricks here and there, not to mention the game continuing to play solidly, so I don’t have much complaints about the game? It’s all good. Really.
As for the next game? It’ll take another few weeks to wrap it up but it’s looking good.

-- David Rasmussen 28th Apr 05

Playstation 2 Hack//Mutation Images