PSU expansion hits Live

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 November, 2007

PC/PS2 versions also dated.

SEGA has said that PS2 and PC versions of Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus will be released on 11th January 2008 - but Xbox 360 owners can buy it online right now.

The 1.92GB expansion is available on Xbox Live Marketplace and costs 1600 Microsoft points (GBP 13.60 / EUR 18.60), and introduces new single- and multi-player content.

New missions see you (as a custom character, if you like) looking into a fundamentalist group called the Illuminus, while new levels are the Ruins of Old rozenom City and the Granigs Mines.

You can read more about the changes in our original report, or you can refer back to our Phantasy Star Universe review for more on the game as a whole.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 4 years ago

    >Didn't this bomb quite heavily?

    It has a very active group of players that have played this game for years/months.

  • Tweakmonkey #2 4 years ago

    I'm gonna buy it coz it's supposed to have overhauled gameplay mechanics.

  • Toothball #3 4 years ago

    I bought it, but I'm a very active player who has been playing this game for years/months. The new missions and mechanics have been going well for the most part.

    There many other Phantasy Star players around these parts? It's always a surprise to see a news story about it outside of the official and fan sites.

  • jlaakso #4 4 years ago

    I was always interested in PSU due to all the lovin' the DC version was getting, but ultimately found it too pedestrian and visually unexciting on the 360. Oh well.

    Nice to notice that you've put in the Euro costs along with the GBP, too.

  • monkie_king #5 4 years ago

    "PC/PS2 versions also dated" -- yes, very dated ;)

  • DFawkes #6 4 years ago

    I loved the original PSO because you could play single-player with a custom character, so I'm glad it's back. I'll probably give this a look.
    Although the original is sitting on my shelf unplayed.

  • Arcadiian #7 4 years ago

    After spending years of my life playing PSO on Dreamcast, I just couldn't bring myself to pay monthly for a game that used to be "free". I tried the PSU beta, but the game felt old (probably due to being restricted by the PS2), and the game areas too plain and boring. I miss Forest I. :(

    Forget selling Xbox games through Live, Microsoft should sort a deal out with SEGA to release Dreamcast games for the service.

  • speedyscotty #8 4 years ago

    Arcadiian - great idea, I would love to play MSR, f355 challenge or ChuChu rocket in HD, ChuChu would be crazy over live on multiplayer (loved that game)

  • neosalad #9 4 years ago

    there are a few DC games coming to live. Ikaruga and Trigger Heart Exelcia... and REZ... but yes. Chu chu Rocket HD would be pretty special, as it was afterall one of the big online Dreamcast titles

  • miiiguel #10 4 years ago

    Does it bring new Achievements ?

    And - no offense please - I think some/most people are a bit addicted to sales charts, I mean... any game that doesn't sell like Gears or Halo or Wii "bomb" and therefore doesn't deserve attention, and devs shouldn't work on it? C'mon... this industry is mature enough to have niches, and non-mainstream users by now.

    By the way, I enjoyed the off-line quest. Played online for a couple of months, and yes, it has a very commited comunity, and quite friendly (lots of girls too).

    There's life beyond "1 million copies sold", believe me.
    Edited by 1 at 21/11/07 @ 15:37

  • Toothball #11 4 years ago

    It seems to have achievements, but I'm not sure where these show up. We defeated a boss last night and got the usual Achievement Unlocked message, but I have yet to see this on my achievements list. I'm sure it'll turn up sometime. Worst case we have to fight the boss again, but that was an inevitability with a game like this.

  • miiiguel #12 4 years ago

    Toothball, wow! very cool, thx! I want it!

  • Toothball #13 4 years ago

    There's only 250 points of achievements though, what with it being an expansion. And I don't think you can play it offline on the Xbox. It is much better being able to get the achievements online with friends though, as earning them offline was lonely.

  • FortysixterUK #14 4 years ago

    Considering that you already pay for a broadband connection and xbox live, to charge for the game via monthly subscription sucks big time. Guild Wars has it right.

  • DFawkes #15 4 years ago

    Wait, can the expansion not be played offline? I know it has a a single player element, but you don't have to be logged into Live, do you? My 360 is in a seperate room, and I move it to get demos or DLC.
    If it is online only, I won't buy it ever.

  • Toothball #16 4 years ago

    FortysixterUK: You don't need to have a Gold account to play Phantasy Star. It also runs on Sega's servers, rather than the rest of the Live servers. And you can't factor broadband costs into it, as they apply to anything else you do on the internet, including other MMOs.

    DFawkes: The Xbox version only seems to be available online. There is already an additional story mode available online, known as Episode 2. Episode 3 is to be released in instalments, but as yet none have been released. I think the PC and PS2 versions contain Episode 2 on the disk, but will have to wait for the third. It mostly adds content to the online mode anyway, so there probably isn't much point buying it just for the story.

  • DFawkes #17 4 years ago

    Cheers Toothball. That'd have annoyed me if I'd wasted money on an expansion I couldn't use. I'll just save a bit more for Shivering Isles :)

  • Toothball #18 4 years ago

    Still, it's a pity that you won't see the online stuff. It's worth having your Xbox online all the time, not just for this.