Review - Star Ocean The Last Hope: International

System: PS3
MSRP: $59.99
Release Date: February 8th, 2010

Has the PS3 port of a 1-year-old Xbox 360 game become better or worse?

Graphics

The graphics in Star Ocean The Last Hope: International (SOtLHI) are beautiful. The characters and creatures are drawn well, the cut-scenes are excellent, and the environments are nice, too. The attacks that you and your partners can pull off are flashy and vibrant. Considering all that can go on during a fight, there were no graphical issues such as tearing or slow down. However, I do want to point out that there have been reports of other people experiencing issues such as freezing and crashing.

- 18/20

Sound

The soundtrack in SOtLHI is great and fits the game well. Also, Square Enix has included the original Japanese voiceovers with English text and the English voice actors are actually really good and enjoyable.

- 18/20

Story

The year is A.D. 2087. In the aftermath of World War III, Earth has been ravaged and the population decimated by a deteriorating environment. The countries that survived have joined together to form the Greater Unified Nations and turned their eyes skyward... to space. You play as Edge Maverick as he and his childhood friend Reimi Saionji (and a few others) are chosen as pioneer members of the Space Reconnaissance Force, which was created to seek out new worlds beyond the stars.

Their ship, the Calnus, takes its place on the lunar launch pad along with four other starships of the first reconnaissance fleet. These ships - humanity's last hope - blast off one-by-one and sail into the awaiting wormhole that leads to the vast star ocean. And so, Edge and his crew begin their voyage in search of a new haven for humanity...and a second chance.

The story is written well; however, some cut-scenes can take close to 20 minutes near the beginning as everything is introduced to you. Also, it seems that some of the conversations could have been much shorter and to-the-point than they were.

- 16/20

Gameplay

Outside of battle, you control Edge and wander around fairly large maps finding treasure and fighting monsters. During the battles, you control one character, but you can switch to any of them on the fly. The AI fights great on its own, so you don't feel like you have to micro-manage every character. All of the characters and enemies can move around freely and fight when they choose to in a large pre-determined area. The gameplay is fun and energetic; thanks to the competent AI that controls the other characters. Also, you can earn bonuses like extra items or more experience depending on how well you battle.

- 18/20

Replayability

This game will take you around 40 hours to complete. There are many different items and weapons you can create through recipes, too. Like with most RPGs, there is a decent amount of replay value; it just depends on how you want to play the game and if you want to acquire everything.

- 16/20

Conclusion

For those of you interested, here are the differences in the PS3 version compared to the Xbox 360 version:

• Choose between the English (3D) and Japanese (anime) portraits and menus
• Manual Targeting with the start button
• Reduced number of discs
• New treasure chests
• Modified some recipes making it harder to make strong weapons at lower levels
• Reimi has been toned down, slightly
• Much better lighting
• Inclusion of Japanese VA with English text

The PS3 version of Star Ocean The Last Hope (International) is definitely better than its older Xbox 360 counterpart. Overall, Star Ocean The Last Hope International is a great Japanese RPG. It stays closer to the traditional JRPG format than any other JRPG released this generation. However, I am concerned over the issues that others have encountered. Star Ocean The Last Hope International has a decent story, excellent sounds and great graphics with a very fun combat system coupled with a competent AI. With the poor reception of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan, I think this game is definitely worth a buy.

Final Score

- 86/20

Justin Hubbell
February 22nd, 2010