Star Ocean: Second Evolution

"A great game that suffers slightly in its porting to the PSP"

Star Ocean: Second Evolution is an enhanced port of Star Ocean: The Second Story, originally released on the Playstation. If you couldn't guess, it is the second game in the Star Ocean series, and often (from what I can tell) hailed as the best of the three - soon to be four. In the upcoming days before the fourth installment is released, Square Enix has put together this port in hopes of garnering more interest - and giving any who have yet to play this entertaining game a fresh start.

The game follows Claude and Rena on their travels through Expel, a planet rocked by a mysterious and dangerous force. They journey to collect information on the Sorcery Globe, a meteorite that struck the planet's surface and has been causing havoc every since. They meet friends and new allies on their way to investigating the true source of their problems - and neither are fully prepared for the answers.

Second Evolution gives you the choice of starting out as either Claude or Rena. The story plays relatively the same regardless of which one you choose. The key difference is that you will see many scenes through a different perspective - shedding further light on the story as a whole. As if the choice of main character wasn't enough, you are also given control of the remaining party members as well. Throughout a normal playthrough it is easy to come across at least a handful of characters. But there are circumstances and requirements to recruit them all, and multiple playthroughs are a must should you want to complete this task.

Each of the optional characters (that's everyone excluding Claude and Rena, technically) has little to do with the main story, but instead they all have their own side missions and will pitch in from time to time in order to assist the two adventurers. The newly added character Welch (who appears to be a new icon for the series) is humorous but never really shines in battle or story. But the main story relevance of these other characters is not the most important part - Private Actions are where your party members shine. Upon entering a town, you have the option to split your party up. Some will check out the sights, some will simply walk around, and others will partake in mini-events. These scenes are all optional, but provide more development and often just rewards than some of the main quest!

The battle system is a shell of its former self and a direct replica (so I'm told) of Star Ocean: First Departure's. You manage your four party members via basic AI commands, and directly control one of them how you see fit. The battle system has been altered for both good and bad. Melee characters can attack up to three times in a row by pressing the action button - definitely making the battles more exciting. On the other hand, manual targeting is missing and advanced players may find their options limited in response. Accompanying your characters in battle is the ever useful skill system - giving you the option to customize your characters with stats and abilities that are useful in battle and out. Allocating certain strengths to your characters allows them to customize - well, just about everything from their weapons to publishing novels and forgery (my personal favorite). All these are optional, of course, but really shine and are the reasons why anyone should want to pick the game up.

The voice acting in this game is definitely a step up from the original. It is not of the quality of previous Square Enix games such as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, but it is plentiful and enjoyable - almost the entire main storyline is voiced, as are a number of the Private Action scenes. A practical voice collection guide is available to the player and is enjoyable to utilize when you're not playing through the story. The score remains largely untouched. I have been called tone-deaf in my time, but I really could not make out any discernible difference in the music quality of this version and the original. It's an epic score that really fits the nature of the story - my only qualm with the soundtrack is that I wish a music player option (which is a standard feature in SE ports/remakes these days it seems) was available.

The graphics again are largely untouched - the world map has been altered slightly and of course the character dialogue is accompanied with expressive character art - a nice touch touch to liven up the somewhat dull pacing of the story. There are a few anime cutscenes that look great, but are just a bit too few in number to really define as a selling point. I definitely hoped for more of these scenes. It doesn't help that the original 3D cutscenes are still littered throughout - and they definitely look antiquated when compared to the new animations.

The script has been updated, but still retains many of the problems of the original. A majority of the mandatory plot events move at an incredibly slow pace. The characters have a habit of repeating lines constantly, and really makes going through the story (and taking it seriously) a chore. The inclusion of voices and various character pictures during dialogue is a good touch, but it renders almost all of the anime-ish icons that appear above the character sprites useless and/or redundant. It may seem minor, but it really bogs the pace of the story, and that's no good.

So the game becomes a top seller and fans of the old relive their glory days. While I myself have already completed two playthroughs, it was not without chagrin that I plunged through the story both times. The game is engrossing in all of its optional content - the character, the Private Actions, the skill and item creation. The game is dull in its story presentation and pace, its backwards step in the battle system, but still an entertaining foray into the Star Ocean universe.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/09

Game Release: Star Ocean: Second Evolution (US, 01/19/09)