Reviews

With this being the fifth and final entry in the Star Ocean RPG series, it really is the last hope for tri-Ace to win over the fans. Last Hope is a prequel set before the events of the other Star Ocean games and this time the hero is Edge Maverick, a commander of the SRF deep space ship The Calnus.

The opening scene of nuclear war is so stunning that we get it twice - once over the credits and then later with narration. It depicts Earth in 2064 as World War III leaves the planet in ruins and the remaining factions reluctantly unite to form the Greater United Nations, who in turn create the Universal Science and Technology Administration, who create the Space Reconnaissance Force. Got that?

What? It's my ears isn't it?

The Calnus, with its revolutionary new warp-drive, is SRF's first big mission to find new habitable planets and on board is Edge Maverick. Though Last Hope contains familiar Star Ocean real-time battles and epic landscapes, it continues moving along the sci-fi route rather than earlier fantasy fare like Star Ocean: The Second Story.

After crash-landing on the forest planet Aeos, along with several other ships - one of which is captained by Edge's over-achieving older brother - the captain orders you to do a sweep of the crash-site. As with a lot of the mission objectives in the game the reasoning isn't always clear or sound so you explore Aeos a bit and then return to the captain who tells you to explore some more. When the Calnus is fixed, you'll travel to several different planets at your leisure that each harbour unique native items.

I can assure you, this is not what it looks like...

On Aeos, for example, you'll find green pods that contain fruit and vegetables with regenerative powers, while Reimi, your female partner, can 'harvest' things in certain glowing areas to create similarly useful items. Meanwhile, save points come in the form of glowing pink orbs that you step into.