You need to play the first 2 games to fully understand how great Redemption is.
- Best story of the G.U. series
- Good amount of new dungeon types, items and weapons
- Gameplay still packs some fun
- All great things in the series are here
Negative
- Repetitive with a lot of which has seen before
- Needs some knowledge from previous installments
By reading reviews online you will see that this series is underrated for what it is really. Dot Hack Redemption is the best of the series but has everything that Rebirth and Reminisce had, meaning gameplay, dungeons, characters and items minus the story of the two. The story is the most engaging of the trio with the addition of some new characters and a lot more.
This is the last volume of the G.U series and it starts immediately after the end of Reminisce and like before we were left with a big question mark. Redemption ends the series with the best story so far. Some info from the previous G.U. installments may be required to fully understand what is going on but the game does explain some things. After the incidents involving AIDA, Yata has gone missing and Sakaki has taken control of G.U. and has taken the authority to mess "the World". A new law was introduced and it's that one can do PKing in towns now as well (guess who's behind this). A new tournament awaits you as before, the Sage tournament and of course Haseo and co. are gonna do whatever they can to win. It may be a bit confusing at first.
At first the gameplay is the same you've seen from Reminisce. It's still simple, repetitive and monotonous and it's slower because of a little frame rate problems. The new additions are that instead of the Divine Awakening you have a new one. The Avatar Awakening is the new awakening that is only in this game. Just like the name describes Haseo uses his avatar to attack but you don't have to press anything since the power increases by level. By using it frequently the growth will increase and you will also obtain virus cores. By going in the Hidden Forbidden Sacrament Stage unlike Volume 2 you increase the level of your weapon. You can check this from the pause menu and check Lost Weapons. There are a lot of new weapons starting from LVL 101 and onwards and almost everything else. Also for the Avatar Awakening the morale must be full to perform. It looks great and a worthy replacement for the Divine since you don't have to worry about pressing the X button at the right time.
The outer dungeons are one of the additions. Pi takes you the first time and you will visit this unusual dungeon a couple of times. This is basically a place where you can't normally enter and a lot of rare items are found here. This is no field or dungeon and the enemies can't be fought elsewhere. Another new addition is that you can find distortions and get items from them. When in dungeons your screen makes a noise, press R1 and find the distortion and press X to obtain an item. This is how you enter outer dungeons.
The cutscenes are always the same but are a bit better than those of Reminisce. The production values are just the same as better and basically nothing has changed except for a couple of things. ALL previous dungeons are here along with new ones. You also get a new town, a lot of new weapons, items, and bike parts. You still have to log out of "the World" to watch your e-mail but you still can change the desktop image and background and there are a lot more to choose from of course.
Graphically looks exactly like the previous G.U. games with only new areas and town. The enemy design has now become ultra repetitive and the graphics are starting to get old somewhat. You've seen everything before, but everything was well-made. The music is same as great with a few new tunes. The voice acting is still fantastic. Sound effects rock.
This disappointingly rated RPG is the best of the series. Even with a few tweaks of the series, Redemption feels great. If you have been playing the series so far, Redemption is more than just worth playing, but if you never played the G.U. series before don't play this because it ain't worth. By now you may not be playing this series for its gameplay but the story is more than worth following.
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Graphics = 7.9
Mostly recycled graphics with some new dungeons. Enemy design has exceeded limit but Haseo gets a new look.
Sound = 8.3
Music is now on top with the same great voice acting and music, and of course some new.
Presentation = 8.2
Nothing changed about how the cutscenes, camera and controls work. Same for the production values, but everything was made good enough to sustain 3 games in a row.
Gameplay = 8.4
Haven't played much to give a full summary but at first it's basically the same as Reminisce. I don't mind that.
Story = 7.9
For me it's the best of the bunch. It ends here as well.
OVERALL = 81 / 100
You need to play the first 2 games to fully understand how great Redemption is.