Given the fact I've never had a gaming PC (and still don't to this day sadly), consoles have been my only gaming addiction, and Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast was my first ever taste of a MMORPG…and I was addicted. I remember creating my character Scythe like a Sephiroth clone, and reveling in the day when I actually got a scythe to swing around. With the next installment about to hit the Xbox 360, it looks as if that addiction is about to come back full force.

Every good MMORPG fan out there knows that you always start out by creating your character, and with Phantasy Star Universe (PSU from now on) that fact hasn't changed. For starters, you'll start by picking what type of race you want your character to be. For the PSO faithful, these should be familiar, though there is one new character race as well. You'll be able to choose from Humans (seem to be average in all categories), Newmans (magic user specialists), Casts (ranged weapon specialists), and Beasts (up close and personal tanks). After you choose your race, you'll then get to pick their class, which are broken down into Hunters (melee weapon combatants), Rangers (long range weapon combatants), and Forces (mainly magic users though able to use some Hunter and Ranger weapons as well).

Once you make those initial decisions (I chose a Beast Hunter) it then comes down to choosing the character's visual traits. I'm a huge fan of Japanese culture and samurais, so I went about trying to make the coolest looking futuristic samurai that I could manage. You can choose whether to have a male or female character, and then you can adjust everything from their eyes, to their hairstyles, to their facial features, to the size and girth of a character. After all that, you'll then be able to determine the clothes they'll be styling. Much like the original PSO, the game doesn't feature a very robust character creation system like many of the EA games, but there is a fairly good amount of options for each category, as there were about 28 faces for my Beast Hunter to choose from.

After your character is shaped to your heart's desire, it is then time to logon to the servers and get cracking. When you first logon, it would be mighty advisable to proceed to take the tutorial, as not only will it point out several of the key factors of the game that you'll need to know about, but it will save you some time as you'll know where everything is and not have to run around aimlessly like a chicken with its head cut off.

You first start in your room, which you'll be able to customize with decoration the way you want, store items, etc. The coolest feature of your room, however, is your little robotic buddy. Similar to the MAGs of PSO, you'll bring gathered materials from the field of combat, which your robot will able to use to upgrade items and create items. You'll also be allowed to sell these items to other players (even when you aren't online), making your room like a specialty store. You can also upgrade your robot by giving it materials, and after it advances enough, it'll even be able to join you in the field during combat.

Once you've left your room, you'll find yourself in what amounts to a giant mall. The mall consists of several different levels. On the first level is your general hangout/interest area, where you can hang around, meeting and chatting with new people, or waiting for a buddy to come on. On the second level are the shops, where you can buy items, weapons, and armor. On the third level is where you can go to customize the look of your character and synthesize items for better weapons and armor. On the fourth level is where you'll be able to head out on missions to different planets by taking the transit system. And on the fifth level is the Hunter's Guild where you'll be able to get missions and other Hunter based topics. The five level setup is extremely easy to move about and it all loads lickety-split. Also, spread out among the levels are glowing cubes, which will allow you to move between the servers, should you find yourself on one while your friend is on another.

Communication in PSU ranges from the easy to the hard. On the easy side, you can voice chat over the microphone with only your party members, which eases the frustrations of someone just acting a fool in the lobby, saying whatever they want. If you have a USB keyboard, you can also plug it in and type as fast as you normally can. If you don't have a keyboard, there is a virtual keyboard system you'll be able to use, but it can be quite difficult to use depending on what you need to ask about. You've also got predetermined lobby presets, which allow for your character to non-verbally express emotions to get its point across. You can have your character sit down, laugh, cry, taunt, spin, pose, and the one that seemed the most popular…dance! I can't recount the number of Michael Jackson from his "Bad" days wannabes. You can also send mail to fellow players and submit your player cards so they'll be able to find you again at a later date should you want to meet up.

There are several ways to go about completing missions. If you want, you can choose to go out alone, which is ideal if you want to level up early, as you'll get all the experience for every kill, plus all dropped money and items will be yours for the taking, which you'll be able to equip, use, or sale. Otherwise, you can form up a party, with a total party max of six people. You can choose to form this party in the lobby area of the game or by searching for missions, and joining one in progress, which will auto join you to that player's current mission. Once you join up, should you find yourself needing/wanting to leave, it is really easy to abandon a mission and let the rest of the party go about their business.

Combat in PSU mixes the MMORPG elements of a World of Warcraft with the hack and slash adventures of a Dynasty Warriors. To do combat in PSU, all you have to do is hit the X-button, though it can become more advanced, once you add a modifier to your weapon or a photon attack, which in this case is mapped to the Y-button. The photon attacks are much like they were in PSO, though they are more accessible, acting more as an actual attack maneuver rather than a summon, plus they are individual and only attach to the one weapon you want them to, which means that you can have multiple photon powers attached to different weapons if you want. If you are a long range weapon user, you'll be able to go into a first person shooter mode for aiming if you like. Otherwise, all players will stick with the lock-on system, which works pretty well, though sometimes it is hard to focus on the target you really want.

There also seems to be more weapon types this time around, as you've got short swords, large anime/manga broadswords, double sided swords, double sword wielding, staffs, rifles, shotguns, longbows, etc.

If you played PSO, the setup of the levels should come as no surprise. You'll maneuver around linear progressions, meaning there is no wide open world to explore, but rather confines that move you toward your ultimate destination, making sure you are always running across both items and enemies to combat. As you move about you'll find both doors and laser grids lit red, which won't allow you to go any further until you find the key you need to unlock them. The keys needed are usually nearby, and only appear after you eliminate all the targets from that area. Once your mission is completed, you'll be able to go back to the city and pick a new one to begin.

The lobby system during missions is quite interesting, as during a mission you can go to a specified lobby, which allows people in the same position as you to meet up. Also, once a mission is complete, you'll go to a whole other lobby, where once again, you'll meet people in your exact same position. The tiered lobby system makes it extremely easy to find people in the same place as you, meaning you wont have to hangout in the main lobby, quizzing every player about what they are going to do, just to find a party to team up with.

That is just a taste of what we got to experience with PSU, though the game is set to have a completely offline single player adventure if you don't have online or want to pay the $10 a month to keep playing the online. There will also be various modes of transportation, mini-bosses, end level bosses, and what looks to be much, much more. If you are used to the PC brand of MMORPGs, the more streamlined approach might not be your cup of tea, but for those who fell in love with PSO on the Dreamcast and other systems, there is a great chance you might get addicted all over again.