r Ocean: Second Evolution Review - Gamesitefun

With the promising Star Ocean: The Last Hope poised to hit Xbox 360 in February, Square Enix seems determined to pull off a last-minute image makeover to increase awareness for this long-neglected action-role-playing franchise. As an Enix-bred stepchild from the pre-merger days, the first Star Ocean (Super Famicom) languished in Japan until its recent rebirth as First Departure on PSP, and this remake of PS1 sequel The Second Story receives an array of subtle nips and tucks in order to mesh nicely with its PSP brethren.

Although Evolution's tweaks may seem negligible when compared to the radically reworked Departure, this port clearly improves on the 1999 PS1 original. Much like Final Fantasy VII, Evolution still effectively mixes lush, prerendered 2D backdrops and character sprites with fully polygonal battle scenes. Sure, it's a funky graphical mix that hearkens back to that era's 16-bit-to-32-bit transitional ethos, but with the newly widescreen display, minor animation improvements, and an overall sharper sheen, the game doesn't look that antiquated. Plus, a smattering of classy new anime cut-scenes (courtesy of Ghost in the Shell studio Production I.G.) nicely augment the game's existing CG-animated cinemas.