Star Ocean: The Last Hope International for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

This installment of the Star Ocean Tries to branch out in a number of ways, new camera system, new art direction, new ways to use skills. Any positive I can give seems to be completely trounced by a greater number of negatives.

I'd be ok with the art direction if the camera wasn't so squirrelly, its difficult to find a camera angle and zoom level that works. The worlds are vibrant, but more often then not its dificult at a glance to determine monsters from the background in the overworld. Its a nice change to be able to skip battles if I would like by being able to see and avoid random battles, but its difficult to tell on many non standard looking enemies whats front and whats back. Additionally, I find the combat to be either razors edge hard or barely break a sweat easy, there doesn't feel like an inbetween. Finally, the voice acting is TERRIBLE, especially for that tart Lymle. Every time she spoke I just wanted to turn off the game. No one else was much better really.

All in all, there are some new ideas here, but the rest is a cold rehash of numerous japanese RPG tropes. Unless you are a die hard fan of the series, which I thought I was... I'd recommend a pass on this one.

I'll preface this by saying that I've always been a fan of the series. Star Ocean: Second Story(Evolution) is still one of my favorite games ever.

Pros: Good old JPRG grinding fun. It's what makes these games so fun. Within each series, they really play the same. You come to a new game not for innovative game play elements, you come for a new story. And while yes, Star Ocean: The Last Hope did introduce some new elements (like the BEAT battle system), at the heart of it, the real-time battle system (which is, for me, what made this series superior to Final Fantasy) remained unchanged. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Add in good old cut scene humor and character dynamics, and I'm addicted all over again.

Cons: The series itself does have it's flaws. The most glaring of which is that it's long-winded. On all of the major cut scenes, my controller turned off, which makes them all at least 5 minutes long. Couple that with taking out the ability to save in the wild: let's just say make sure you have nothing else to do.

All said, this game live up to the series. The game play remains what it should be, and they even kept the flaws. Besides, we all know you're not here to play a game, really. You're here to watch a movie. And Star Ocean: The Last Hope delivers.