Reviews

STAR OCEAN: The Last Hope International Review

By Ron Burke

Posted on August 6, 2010

By now most gamers who are into Japanese role playing games (JRPGs) have already played and beaten Final Fantasy 13. Their time spent guiding Lightening and crew to victory may have caused them to miss another excellent JRPG produced by Square Enix. Star Ocean: The Last Hope- International, was developed by Tri-Ace and is actually the 4th game in the Star Ocean series. It was originally released on the Xbox 360 in February of 2009, but the PS3 version has received the director

From there, the story plays out almost like a season of Star Trek. You will be given main storyline missions which take place across a planet. Once that main storyline is finished you will be given another planet to go to with its own missions and unique storyline. Each planet is a little bit different than the last one and each has their own self contained storyline that feeds into the overall plot. It

Another new aspect of the gameplay in this version is the Rush Gauge. The Rush Gauge is a lot like special attack meters in other games. It will fill up during battle and once it is full you can activate it to perform a special attack for more damage. Your characters also have the ability to perform Blindside attacks. These attacks occur when you counter attack an enemy by dodging behind them and dealing more damage. Overall the fighting feels fast and is very action oriented due to the real time nature of the combat.

Excellent Visuals

Visually, Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Full Voice Options

One big complaint that people had with the Xbox 360 version was the English voice acting. The PS3 version still has the same English voice dialogue and yes, it

Another reason to travel around the various planets is to collect raw materials for crafting. Star Ocean offers a fairly deep crafting system which allows you to make everything from weapons, and armor, to consumable items. Ingredients are obtained by killing enemies and item gathering at designated locations around each planet. What

Better Than Final Fantasy 13?

Having played Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Ron Burke

Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief | [email protected]

Ron Burke is the Editor in Chief for Gaming Trend. Currently living in Fort Worth, Texas, Ron is an old-school gamer who enjoys CRPGs, action/adventure, platformers, music games, and has recently gotten into tabletop gaming.

Ron is also a fourth degree black belt, with a Master's rank in Matsumura Seito Shōrin-ryū, Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, Universal Tang Soo Do Alliance, and International Tang Soo Do Federation. He also holds ranks in several other styles in his search to be a well-rounded fighter.

Ron has been married to Gaming Trend Editor, Laura Burke, for 28 years. They have three dogs - Pazuzu (Irish Terrier), Atë, and Calliope (both Australian Kelpie/Pit Bull mixes), and an Axolotl named Dagon!