Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Xbox360)

So, as you would imagine, I was not feverishly ramming one of the 3 (yes 3) disks into the ole 360 to fire up a character grinding session. There is a happy ending though folks, fear not, as things (as they do) have moved on a wee bit since the last time I entered this realm.

A.D 2064...Planet Earth was on the brink of destruction as clashes between the World Republic Federation and the various nations that opposed it sparked the outbreak of World War III. Weapons of mass destruction, deployed with complete impunity razed the land in the blink of an eye.

The dire situation forced the two opposing factions to negotiate a cease-fire and an agreement was quickly reached, but although the war may have ended, its effects remained.

With the deteriorating environment, Earth's population was drastically reduced and those who survived lived a confined existence trapped in underground cities. Eventually countries joined together to form the Greater United Nations and turned their eyes skyward, to space. With the establishment of the USTA, the Universal Science and Technology Administration, man began to seek new worlds beyond the stars.

AD 2087...The first year of the spacedate (SD) calendar. Thanks to the success of Professor Trillas Bachstein's warp drive experiments, mankind's dream of a spacebourne existence has inched closer to reality and the USTA secretly began to implement its SRF project, the Space Reconnaissance Force. Now it is SD 0010, and the first official SRF mission and your adventure has begun.

With absolutley stunning cinematics and cut scenes, I was hooked immediately from the intro. I was pleased to discover that comabat was realtime AND I could choose to bypass combat situations and explore the sumptious gameworld that spans space and other worlds.
Set post WWIII mankind has torched the planet (as you do) and now sets forth to find new worlds (yes you get to pilot a spaceship as well) and make things better.

As Edge Maverick it is your job to fight the good fight and lead your merry band to brave new worlds.

Gameplay, Graphics, sound are all top notch as you would expect from such a renowned studio. My only criticism would be that the voice acting and character lip syncing is rather lame.

I came into the game wondering what I had done to upset the game allocation gods, I continue on my quest howeve realising they love me really, and thanking them for introducing me to a genre I have sadly neglected.