Going away next week, which is a good excuse for a new handheld game. There are three reasons why I decided on this.

1) It’s new.
2) Nostalgia, based on playing Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast.
3) I wanted something like Monster Hunter, but less hardcore, for want of a better word.

I agonised over what type of character to create and decided on a CAST (i.e. robot) ranger (i.e. shooty guy). I’m not regretting the decision yet, so hopefully it was a good one. There’s a lot to take in, with different parts and items and upgrades and a million shops and different types of mission, etc. I think I’m getting it though. Except my character level and ranger level seem to be different, which I don’t quite get.

My main trouble at the moment is the controls. Specifically, the lock on for enemies seems to be very sensitive and doesn’t work in quite the way I think it should. I’m getting more used to it, but it’s a bit weird.

It’s a bit early to say whether or not I like it, but going to down to a bright green planet and shooting some monsters certainly gave me the nostalgia fix I was looking for, even if it’s not online.