Star Ocean: Second Evolution for PSP begins by having you choose between two different characters: Claude C. Kenny and Rena Lanford. Claude (the son of Ronyx J. Kenny, the hero of First Departure), finds himself transported mysteriously to Rena’s home world of Expel, which is far less technologically advanced as Claude’s world. Therefore, Claude embarks on a journey with Rena to find his way back home while helping Rena discover the mystery of a meteorite that had recently landed on Expel, known as the “Scorcery Globe”. While the two characters will spend the majority of their journey together regardless of which you choose, your choice will have different effects on the storyline, and even give you different endings depending on your interactions with other characters that join your party.
For players who played through the recently released Star Ocean: First Departure, the overall layout will be immediately familiar. The game uses the same updated interface as its predecessor, and is stylistically very similar. The game has all of the familiar trappings of old-school RPGs, namely big towns, dungeons to explore, a world map, random battles, and so on.
The combat unfolds in real-time, having your characters navigate the battlefield and then attacking your enemies using the face buttons to perform special combos. You can use melee attacks, magic, or a variety of Special Arts. The combat is pretty fast and doesn’t drudge along, but unfortunately falls a bit short by feeling overly simplistic and repetitive.
Graphically, the game looks pretty good, and is a marked improvement over the PS1 version thanks to some high-resolution sprites and environments courtesy of the PSP’s big, beautiful screen. While the game won’t tax your PSP’s graphical prowess with detailed 3D graphics (the game is mostly 2D sprites on pre-rendered backgrounds with the occasional 3D areas), it still retains the original feel of the game on which it’s based while providing a pretty solid aesthetic.
The music in Star Ocean: Second Evolution is very well done, with some nicely implemented pieces to the score that stand well along other entries to Square-Enix’s franchises. The voice work in the game is fairly plentiful, with tons of written dialogue. The majority of the voice acting is well done, but there are quite a few instances of awkward deliveries and some poorly written lines.
Star Ocean: Second Evolution is a solid update for a title that many RPG gamers may have missed out on the first time around. While the game doesn’t really bring a lot new to the table (a lot has changed in the genre since Star Ocean 2 first hit the PS1) and the combat is pretty simplistic and repetitive, it’s still worth a look for hardcore RPG purists.
>>Archives>> |
QUICK LINKS
