The second title in the .hack//G.U. series, .hack//G.U. vol. 2//Reminisce, delivers some pretty solid gameplay but the overall product may feel a bit recycled for old players and new players (who have never played this Japanese RPG series) may find themselves lost in the plotlines and characters that the game assumes you already know all about.

The .hack series has always been an interesting concept: you are playing a massively multiplayer role-playing game called The World as a character with "real world players" that are really non-player characters. It is kind of like playing an MMOG without the real world annoyances associated with it like newbie players and in-game salesmen, griefers and other such losers spamming you with their stupidity.

In the game, players jump into the boots of Haseo, a "real worlder" playing in the virtual world. The game picks up where Rebirth left off, with The World being affected by glitch that has locked players into the game. And when I say locked in, I mean literally. The players of this virtual world can't log out because this virus has paralyzed their real world selves as well. I don't know about everyone else but if a game paralyzed me and made me stayed logged in in any capacity I would probably take up a different hobby - like checkers... or doing tax returns.

Once the story unfurls a little, The World's players figure out that they need to reboot the system and manage to do so on a backup server. One of the charming parts of the game is that you do actually "log out" and get put into a virtual desktop representing your real world computer system. Here you can do a myriad of little activities like check your email, read forums, browse the web, etc. Some of the wacky real lifers you interact with in your desktop adventures may even appear in "The World" which is kind of a cool occurrence.

Reminisce uses the same battle system as rebirth - in fact the only real difference between the two are improved animations, some battle tweaks, and the story. The battle system is comprised of regular button mashing attacks, along with cool combinations that do a bit more damage. The special attacks tend to have a slick animation associated with them, so players can sit back and watch the carnage being unleashed on enemies. This is probably the most exciting aspect of combat, though some battles can tend to take a bit longer to complete than they should. As you'd expect from any respectable RPG, there is an exhaustive list of things that you can collect to enhance your character's stats and battle prowess including exotic items, rare equipment, and awesome power-ups.

The World itself offers a lot of randomness, though after a few hours players will start to notice that many areas look familiar. For players of Rebirth, you'll really notice a lot of the same areas and monsters have been recycled for this game. There are probably three or four different types of areas you'll find yourself in and they don't vary too much after you've played the game for awhile. To unlock and access areas the game has you use a combination of keywords. While these combinations seem endless, the aforementioned lack of variety makes it seem like you are traversing the same areas over and over. If you can get past that fact then there are plenty of quests to fulfill and areas to visit to power level and a new hover bike component adds a tiny bit of nuance to the game that is fun.