Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP)

The original Phantasy Star Portable is one of the best games on the PSP system, offering a lot of content, lovely graphics and sounds and the Phantasy Star hacking, slashing and shooting that made the original Dreamcast/Gamecube PSO so addictive.

I was pleased to discover that Phantasy Star Portable 2 is considerably better than the first version.

There is a lot more content this time round. Sega have dropped the (acceptable but still stilted) voice acting which has no doubt saved a lot of disc space. Instead there are many more missions, more kit to get and a higher level cap.

However, there are now three very significant improvements:

- the "between missions" sections are actually 3d, with you walking about on a space station visiting various shops, communal areas and your own room (which you can personalise). This feels much more like PSO and somehow makes the whole experience more satisfying than the admittedly quicker but less ambitious flicking between maps from the first Phantasy Star Portable.

- the gameplay has been rebalanced. It's harder this time. The game isn't throwing kit at me anything like as easily as the predecessor, and monsters take a bit more damage. Plus they've reduced the number of items (mono/di/trimates etc) that you can carry. The bosses can actually kill you now! This is good news as the first one was a bit of a cakewalk. They've also rebalanced the PP link with weapons and changed the upgrading paths considerably. There are now more important stats to upgrade (access to weapons/techniques/type abilities/weapon strengths and so on). This means that there's much more reason to keep playing at higher levels and that meseta are still relevant even at higher level, unlike in the prequel.

- last, and possibly most importantly: you can play this online. So it's a real MMO now, just like PSO.

There are lots of little improvements fixing little quirks and niggles from the first game: your AI buddies don't get stuck on the scenery as much; you can send items straight to the item box without needing to actually go to your room; health recharge points work in one shot rather than standing around waiting and so on.

My seven year old son is in love with the first game - we've spent hours playing together with him running around in his squeaky Rappy suit. He's going to love this one even more.

A big thumbs up from me. This joins the original and the various Monster Hunter games as the best games on the system, from my perspective.

Since the day i wait for this game to release im very excited and now that i have this Phantasy star portable 2 one thing i can only say this is very very good rpg game the graphics are so great and now more levels to choose the only one problem is the action replay in not working to my psp and my character is still level 118.Over all i really like this game and i reccomend it to every one hope that it will have a next Phantasy Star portable 3

Phantasy Star Portable 2 is an action RPG title where you create your own character and run through hundreds of missions, leveling up and collecting all kinds of goodies along the way.

What makes this RPG different to others on the PSP is that it has an actual online mode! Meaning that with just an internet connection you can play with others from all over the world. That's right. No need to use xlink or Adhoc Party like in many other PSP games that just BEG to have an online mode.

The single player mostly acts like a tutorial most of the game, it offers a somewhat decent story with pretty cool characters. But to me, the singl eplayer mode's really just there to help you reach up a decent amount of levels and get used to the game before you jump into the addictive multiplayer mode.

If you're looking for a RPG for when you're on the go or just a PSP game that has a online mode and you love to hack and slash your way through thousands of enemies and collecting a lot of goodies then I highly recommend getting Phantasy Star Portable 2. Hell, the online mode alone is a great reason to buy it.

And no, they're no monthly fees.