When you hear Nintendo and online in the same sentence you mouth starts to water and high hopes come to your mind. Well Sega has realized everyone's desire and so did Nintendo. Therefore Sega decided to bring their smash hit for the Dreamcast, Phantasy Star Online Version 1 & 2 to the Nintendo Gamecube. For anyone who doesn't know, Phantasy Star Online is a role-playing game based around its online capabilities. Although Nintendo hasn't really announced any plans for the online modem, Sega has said they are just waiting for Nintendo to complete the modem. So that being said, Sega must have Phantasy Star Online almost ready. In Phantasy Star Online you tackle dungeons in either one-player mode or connect with a friend or just hook up the wire and find some people online to play with. This being Nintendo's' first game announced to be online many people won't want to miss this title.

One thing the Gamecube version has over the Dreamcast is you get two new character classes to choose from. Also exclusive to the Gamecube version will be two extra worlds to explore. Here are just a few things to get you really excited. Explore through six different worlds including the two exclusive ones to Gamecube. There will be a four-player split screen so you and your friends can do battle instead of having to be online. Meet up with people all over the world and trade items, fight one on one, or play soccer matches. Create what your player looks like and his or her abilities. Also with the more battles you do, the stronger you player will get. Fight with some a huge array of neat and astonishing weapons.

It's hard to judge the graphics from screenshots, but so far they don't look too much improved from the Dreamcast version, but they still look nice. From the screenshots I have seen, the game has some decent detail, but Sega could do much better. The movies I have watched and from what people who have had the luck to play the game says the framerate runs very smooth so don't expect many slow downs. There is fluid animation with some great spell effects. When casting a spell the characters movements and the surrounding area are very nice in detail. Including all the spiffy special effects when casting a spell like the glowing around the character's hands. Since the game was last showed at Space World 2001 I am sure they have improved the graphics and texture greatly. Hopefully Sega will put the GameCube's' hardware at it's full potential and show other systems what the Gamecube is capable of doing seeing as many company's aren't doing that. I personally will accept the graphics for the way they are but I wouldn't mind for Sega to tune up some of the sharp edges from the monsters and maybe a little more detail on some stuff. In the end, if Sega doesn't touch up the graphics it will be fine by me because I don't pay much attention to them anyways. Check out some of the screenshots on your right so you can see the graphics and judge them for yourself.

Since Phantasy Star Online released on the Sega Genisis it has been one of the best role-playing games around. Then Sega released the Dreamcast version of Phantasy Star Online and it was a huge success. Everyone went around ranting and raving about its superb gameplay and wonderful online playing capabilities. Phantasy Star Online is of course the first game to be announced to have online capabilities so it already has a lot of hype. Phantasy Star Online will play as a third person view- over the shoulder - via Zelda. The movies I have watched showed some great elements of gameplay. But people who have played the Gamecube version has said the controls are a little sluggish and slow but I am sure Sega will get all those problems worked out while they are waiting for Nintendo to release the modem. Now lets break down the gameplay as see if Phantasy Star Online is all it is cracked up to be.

At the beginning of the game you create you character. There are three different races you will be able to choose from; human, android, and newman. These characters are separated by their fighting skills; each one is based around a certain fighting type including Hunters, Rangers, and Force. The characters are easy to tell which has what kind of fighting ability because of their name. Their names will have the first two letters of the fighting style in it like; HUmar, RAcast, and FOmarl. Now I will break down what each fighting style will be like.

The Force will be the ones doing all of the magical spells during the game. These will be very important people to have on your team so look for people good with Force characters. These characters will be responsible for knocking down flying creatures such as dragons and ETC. The character names of the Force are Fomarl, Fonewm, and Fonewearl. The Hunters are the ones who will charge the enemies with their swords and daggers. These are the guys who you want to keep alive because it would be virtually impossible to beat some of the creatures without the Hunters. The names of the Hunters are Humar, Hunewearl, and Hucast. Last are the Rangers, they are capable of carrying weapons including rifles to attack enemies from long distances. This race is needed for the element of surprise on your enemies. The character names of the Rangers are Ramar, Racast, Racaseal. Don't forget the other two exclusive races for the Gamecube version. Rumor has it, that the two races were originally suppose to appear on the first Phantasy Star Online but Sega dropped them, but they are making a return for the Gamecube version. These two classes are the Fomar (Force) and Hucaseal (Hunter). As you battle with other opponents online in battle mode your character gets higher in levels. I think the highest level you are capable of is around 200 but I am not for sure.

Phantasy Star Online is based in worlds, there are six of them for your unique character to explore and master. You will have a choice to grab three of your friends and play through the world or go get three of your Internet buddies and play. Which playing online with Dreamcast owners of the game will not be possible. That is definitely a major disappointment because a lot of people probably won't be getting this game because they already have it. Maybe this here preview will help them change their mind though.

Anyhow this is no Pokemon Stadium fighting (none of that turn-base battle system) this is either sword fighting or spell fighting according to the character race you pick. You and your friends will have to have different types of characters because the bosses of the levels will have to be hit with a variety of attacks including spells and sword attacks. For example; the dragon. When the dragon is in the air the people who are able to perform spells will attack it and knock it to the ground allowing the sword dwelling men to tear him to pieces on the ground. Phantasy Star Online will involve a lot of teamwork and is said to be very difficult which is a great thing for role-playing games.

Once you beat the game their is still plenty of things you can do in the central lobby like trade items, duel, and have soccer matches. Of course dueling is one way to get your character higher in his or her levels. When I first started hearing about Phantasy Star Online I was wondering if they were going to have dueling and I couldn't find it anywhere where someone announced but now I have read about it being in Phantasy Star Online and that is just one more thing that makes this a great title.

I would like to talk about the battle mode some more, seeing as it is -in my opinion - one of the best features in the game. In battle mode you can get a maximum of four players in one arena and you can set the rules to close combos, long range combat, or hand to hand combat. There is something called a Ultimate Mode where only players who have their characters above level one-hundred can enter to play. This is a recommended way to get your character even higher in levels.

Outlook:

Although it is said that one player mode in Phantasy Star Online gets boring once you beat it there is still plenty of stuff you can do. Like duel or have soccer matches. Or the thing I am going to be doing the most, playing the game online with friends. With the nice visuals and fluid gameplay Sega is giving us this is going to be one must-have title for the Nintendo Gamecube. And to put the cherry on top this is going to be one of the first online games for the Gamecube. The game is scheduled for a release sometime in 2002 but it is up to Nintendo when they decide to put the Gamecube online. Remember E3 is later this month and Sega has already announced that it will be showing Phantasy Star Online for the Gamecube and Nintendo will be announcing their online plans for the Gamecube so stay tuned in with Cube-Europe for the latest news on this wonderful title and Nintendo's' online plans. All in all this game in on the top of my most wanted Gamecube games for 2002. With great competition such as the newly announced Final Fantasy 11, which is rumored, to have online capabilities also let's hope Phantasy Star Online is the consumer's choice. Overall my anticipation level for Phantasy Star Online is a great 9/10.