.hack: G.U., Vol. 1: Rebirth

People new to the .Hack franchise (or who never saw the precursor anime Roots, both applied to me) need not be concerned about missing story: all you need to know will be presented to you through a gorgeous if faintly lengthy introductory segment of some of the best cinematics I've seen on the PS2 (most can be skipped if you want). Some players may find Haseo rather steeped in teen angst, and .Hack fans seem to line up to either hate or love Atoli, but pretty much everybody has understandable motivations and history that you can often relate to. Good as this may be, like many beginnings of a series, the story and characters don't truly get fleshed out until later in the trilogy.
Story: 8/10

Graphics are sharp, while not brightly colorful nor are they drab and muted. Character models are all interesting and the areas you'll spend much of your time do a fair job of depicting random area generation. Magic looks nice and I virtually guarantee that you will never get tired of slamming the enemy with Rengeki heavy attacks.
Graphics: 8/10

The sound effects are well done, everything from blade clangs to footsteps changing in pitch from the tap on stone to the softer push against long grass. Your only control options are for stereo or mono, though, which led me to drop the score slightly.
Sound: 7/10

I listen to all kinds of music, but rare are the times when a soundtrack snares my attention from the beginning and holds on all the way to the end - the work here composed by Chikayo Fukuda is even more stunning than the visuals and was so good I bought the soundtrack for the whole trilogy (it comes in two volumes with every song in the games) from a music import shop. It's true that the music can sound a little repetitive after a while, but as fitting as most of it is it shouldn't be much of a problem.
Music: 9.5/10

Leveling up is slightly easy, but the enemies will still challenge you throughout the story, and there are always interesting bonus enemies like Haseo's Doppelganger (your level plus 8, with enhanced gear that you can gain yourself in later volumes). Most items can be customized, though like many series, Rebirth will tease you more with hints of the things to come. You can charge in quickly and challenge yourself at lower levels, and people who want an easier time can over-level without too much tedium. The pace is great and combat remains energetic from your first trip with Gaspard to your last battle against Azure Kite.
Gameplay: 8/10

Like all .Hack games, after finishing the story you can continue playing to level-up, completionists can hunt for items, and you even get a bonus boss to tackle. However, there's really no-where to go but forward. Still, the variety of things you unlock by doing things like filling out the enemy bestiary and unlocking wallpapers, music tracks, and videos are neat. Unfortunately, some of the videos are short and miss a couple of the most dramatic narrative segments.
Replayability: 4/10

This is an excellent series and anybody interested in action/RPGs will probably enjoy this a lot, but be aware that it's really a package deal: if you get one, you'll have to grab the whole trilogy or else the sense of incompletion will be obvious. Go for it. They are that good.
Overall: 8.5/10Get more detail about .hack: G.U., Vol. 1: Rebirth.