Go ahead, put down your m16 for a second. Its ok. There you go. Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere.

Now that I have your attention, and before I lose you to the “best game ever“, I would just like to take this opportunity to let you know about the release of Sega’s Phantasy Star Zero for the DS. Though it will be swimming in the shadow of all the great release’s of this month, you shouldn’t pass it by. Since I was that nerdy kid who had a Dreamcast and a sega.net account dialing into Phantasy Star Online games while watching the horribly dubbed Outlaw Star on Cartoon Network(too much information..?), this is a game I personally have been really looking forward to. I must have logged hundreds of hours into PSO and therefore when hearing a true sequel (all those other Phantasy Star games are dead to me) would be coming to the DS, i got really excited.

Phantasy Star Zero, according to Sega’s Website, is described as follows:

The first true sequel to the award-winning Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Zero is an online RPG for the DS that brings back everything fans loved about PSO. From the reintroduction of timed combat, the revival of the small robotic creatures known as Mags, and free, global online play from anywhere in the world - Phantasy Star Zero is back to break some barriers, and is the game that PSO fans have been clamoring after for years.

So essentially, yes, it is a dungeon crawler. But what makes the original PSO (and hopefully this game) so much fun is essentially why WoW or other MMO’s are so addicting; constantly improving upon the building of your character. I love that growing aspect of MMORPG’s, but can never get into them because of the sheer amount of content and dedication needed to play. With Phantasy Star though, you get all the cool parts that the MMO’s have to offer with the simplicity of a console experience as well as the story driven gameplay of a JRPG. Modern Warfare what?

I will be honest, my DS has a layer of dust so thick that I might have to dig it out with a shovel. There just is not much that can really hold my interest when it comes to portable gaming. With that said, I am hoping that this game is the one that pulls my DS back into my pocket on a daily basis. Lets just hope Sega doesn’t screw this up like it did with that other series, something to do with some kind of hedgehog knight…

Just great, now i went and made myself sick. Way to go, Jordan.