Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Monday20 November 2006
The universe of Phantasy Star has always been a unique one. Its refreshing sci-fi style breaks the swords 'n' sorcery RPG mould. Phantasy Star Online's networked approach, whichtranslated preset chat sentences into many languages allowing truly international gaming, was highly addictive and gave fans a reason to fall in love with the long-running series all over again.
But, no matter how stunning Phantasy Star Online was, gamers love single-player, story-driven RPGs. The intended solution was Phantasy Star Universe, which promised to contain both fully-realised story and online modes, to give fans everything they've ever wanted.
Unfortunately, this isn't the case.
The first thing you have to understand about Phantasy Star Universe is that the story mode isn't up to speed - this is no Final Fantasy killer. For a game that covers three whole planets, it's a letdown that conquering the universe will take you about 20 hours.
Planet exploration is minimal - typically, there is one town and less than a handful of dungeons picked off a map screen. It makes it all seem small and limited, which is the polar opposite of what this 'universe' promises.
More info
| Genre | Role Playing |
| Description | What are you looking for in the Phantasy Star Universe experience? If it's an online dungeon crawler, then this will do the trick. If it's a compelling story, though, we can't justify traveling to this universe. |
| Franchise name | Phantasy Star |
| UK franchise name | Phantasy Star |
| Platform | "PC","PS2","Xbox 360" |
| US censor rating | "Teen","Teen","Teen" |
| UK censor rating | "","","" |
| Release date | 1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK) |
Ex-Bethesda dev turned indie says "good things often happen by accident," like that time Skyrim players convinced themselves the RPG's foxes were leading them to treasure
Palworld dev says the studio went dark for months because "the team was getting burnt out from all the social media stuff, I was getting burnt out, our CEO was under attack in Japan"
Metaphor: ReFantazio had to dial back an early battle system inspired by a notoriously brutal 2003 JRPG, because 20 years later, players found it "irrational" and "just not fun"
