It's a shame really that we Europeans had to wait for an extra six months for Star Ocean: The Last Hope, the latest installment in the Star Ocean franchise developed by tri-Ace, and published in by Square Enix like we're used to.

Better late than never we say, as we take a closer look to gameplay, characters, story, environments, and all that which you should know before plunging heads first into the store to buy this game.

You should know that no matter the effort, due to limited time I spent on the project, I was only able to play a fraction of the huge universe Star Ocean has to offer. Still, I think it's enough to form an opinion and to let you know what you should expect from it.

Story says that even though the Third World War ended in 2064, its repercussions were so severe that humanity had to focus its attention to space, in order to find a new home. The newly formed Space Reconnaissance Force, or, in short SRF was in charge with ship development and space exploration. The big breakthrough came in 2087, with the discovery of space warp, a faster than light way to travel across long distances. This wormhole was named because of its looks the Star Ocean.

The beginning of space exploration age caused a general reboot in how we mark time, and thus year 2087 AD became space year 0001, or 0001 SD.

Our game takes place ten years after this major event, and thus is a prequel to the original Star Ocean.

But, fear not, it still features a lot of its trademark elements like lush and powerful colored graphics, a complex real-time battle system even if the game is a complete RPG in every way, midi-like instruments music, and anime looking characters.

That doesn't say much however for the newcomers to the Star Ocean universe. The "starter kit" for a Star Ocean newbie should inform her that this particular RPG is an interesting mixture between Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with much heavier anime influences than your average Final Fantasy. So this kind of reads "not for everybody". But if you do like it, and especially for a Final Fantasy fan chances are you will, Star Ocean can offer an everlasting experience, hundreds of gameplay hours, a lot of customizable and evolving RPG characters, and a meaningful experience in general.

The main hero in this story is Edge Maverick, and he is accompanied from the beginning by Reimi Saionji. Of course, the characters repertoire expands further as you progress through the game, and you can actually play with four characters in your party further on. You can also switch characters live and replace them with the ones that aren't in that party and are "sitting on the bench".

Given the complexity of the game it is a relief to find out that you can only control one character at a time, and the computer AI takes care of the rest. Still, the computer is pretty efficient in using abilities and you'll only be annoyed a little because he spends a bit too much mana or resources on trivial fights.

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Monsters are visible on the world map, and Edge can sprit in order to reach them from the back, thus initiating a pre-emptive strike. This way, monsters will take time to react and usually they are long dead before they even know it. However, they can also surprise you and give you a fair run for your money if they attack from behind.

The Battle Exalted Action Type (BEAT) allows you to choose the specific fighting style for each character. There are three types of BEAT: S, N and B.

BEAT S is an offensive attacking style, based mostly on blindspot attacks. Executing a special key combination at the required time will cause your character to slow time and circle around its enemy. He will deliver a critical backstabbing blow for increased damage.

BEAT B is a defensive style that is well suited for casters and ranged attackers for example. Special abilities are unlocked as they take damage via the Rush system. They also sustain less damage from attacks.

BEAT N is the regular combat mode, and doesn't give any particular weaknesses to a character, but no attack or defense bonuses either.

As you take damage or hold B to concentrate, a Rush bar fills. Once full, you are able to unleash your character's full fury in a series of special attacks.

When finishing an encounter, several colored jewels will be added to your right bar. These aren't random, but depend on what action you took during combat. For example, cleaving and killing more enemies at once will result in a golden jewel, increasing gold received from monsters by 10% on the next fights. In a similar fashion, more experience can be gained, or mana and hit points can be regenerated by a percentage after each fight. There are quite a few jewels that are obtainable through various means, so you will have to experiment and see what they are and what is best for you at a certain point in the game.

Unfortunately, if you get critically hit at a moment you risk losing some or even all of the jewels. So this will keep you on your toes even when fighting relatively easy enemies.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope prides itself, just like its predecessor, with a complex and advanced weapon crafting system where you will create not only different weapons depending on what materials you add to them, but weapon bonuses will also be related to the crafter's personality and skill. Yes, there is a crafting skill, amongst many others, that can be increased in order to be able of obtaining the greatest weapons known to man.

Characters level up individually, and gain stats automatically: hit points, mana points, attack, defense, etc. They also gain skill points, which can be spent by you to improve various skills or spells. Some skill points are collective, and you have to choose which character is worthy to spend them on, and some are bound to each character, to insure that no one falls behind and is too weak...

Save and load often, or better yet as soon as you see a save point, because not only they are rare, but something might surprise you throughout your adventures. Same goes for weapon crafting, because you have a chance of failing.

Once you've learned a bit how to play, you are granted access to a ship and are able to explore several planets. The item creation skill can also be used to build various things that will help you customize the interior of your ship.

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Conclusion

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a unique game that you either like it or dislike it. There are plenty of fans around, and plenty of people who will never play such a thing ever. I only showed you a few insights into the huge game universe, but ultimately it is a game that you should try out for yourself and make your own call.

Gameplay: 79

Detailed, brightly colored graphics, with anime characters and a massive universe to explore and play can only begin to describe Star Ocean. You can tell it's big just by the raw size of the game: three dual layer DVDs. You know, there are more look-alike games now on the market than the stars in the skies maybe, but Star Ocean isn't like the rest. I can truly claim this is a unique game as a whole, and can only respect the developers for that, although because of that exact thing some players will never touch it. I hope this helps explain the odd mark I gave it...

Graphics: 86

Size does matter, and because of it Star Ocean brings brightly colored, detailed textures and very good looking characters and environments. But since the game tends to be repetitive now and then, especially when you're sent to fight countless battles to get some crafting reagents for example, some backgrounds will inevitably be revisited by you more than a couple of times...

Sound: 84

It's impossible to get full voice dialogues in a game like this, but nearly all major events in-game are spoken. The actors manage to do a nice job and I did recognize some voices from The Last Remnant. Music is specific with electronic beats that reminds me of old console games. Again - hit or miss.

Multiplayer: N/A

Hardware: N/A

There is no objection here, load times are acceptable, but if you do plan to play it for a long time, I suggest you copy the game to your hard drive...