"As an RPG fan, Last Rebellion didn't fulfil my needs."
Last Rebellion is an RPG game developed by Hit Maker and published by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan January 28th 2010 and North America February 23rd 2010, and was published by Tecmo Koei in Europe exclusively for the PS3 March 26th 2010.
*****INFO*****
- Genre(s): RPG – Action – Adventure
- Age Rating: 15 +
- Contents: Fantasy Violence – Minor bad language
- Difficulty: Extremely easy
*****INTRODUCTION*****
THE POSITIVES
- Gameplay does have some unique ideas
- Guest illustrations during each loading phase are pretty good
THE NEGATIVES
- Outdated visuals
- Empty gameplay for an RPG game
- Dull sound design
- Awful script writing
- Bad voice acting
- Uninteresting plot
- Bland level design
- Tedious creature ideas
- Redundant in-game conversations
- The game is extremely easy
*****REVIEW*****
Last Rebellion takes place in the world of Junovald, ruled by the Gods: Meitilia the God of Death and Formival the God of Life. Meitilia has blessed two types of people knows are Blades, which wield the ability to destroy physical things, and Sealer, which wield the power to cast away souls. Creatures known as "Belzeds" now plague the world of Junovald. Belzeds are creatures whose soul's are now controlled by Formival and cannot be killed by normal mortals easily. Belzeds will keep regenerating after death; therefore it requires both a Blade and a Sealer to permanently destroy both its body and souls.
The game follows two main protagonists that you play simultaneously thought the course of the game, Nine Asfel and Aisha. Nine lost his homeland nine years ago due to a civil war, which plagued the lands of Junovald with Belzeds. A group of the high order created a barrier surrounding the kingdom to protect the people inside for the Belzeds. King Arzelide summoned Nine whose is widely known as the best Blade in the all the world, to eliminate and find a way to stop the Belzeds. Going with Nine on his quest without he consent is Aisha. Both have to work together as Blade and Sealer in order to save the Kingdom.
Last Rebellion's plot unfolds in conversation like cut scenes where you much press the continue button (X), in order for the scene to carry out.
Last Rebellions overall presentation is abysmal (a word I hardly every use). Dull story, unappealing characters, tedious gameplay, awful sound design, dull level design, and for it being an RGP… it just doesn't offer anything worthy of play.
Extremely outdated. Last Rebellion will make you feel as if you're playing a last generation game, which isn't necessary a bad thing if it was a last gen game but it wasn't. Overall dull textures, terrible level design that consists of empty lifeless environments, unappealing characters and creature designs, and special effects. There are PS2 games that are a lot more better looking than Last Rebellion. On a positive note, some on the digital matte painting do look rather good.
Last Rebellion is a turn-based role playing game with open world elements. As you move through the world map you are constructed within linear level design that give no real room for exploration as you would normally expect in an RPG. Random battles consist of a turn-based system where you and your enemy each take a turn at attacking one another. Random battles consist of the touch and trigger system seen in Final Fantasy XIII, where you can see enemies lingering around on the world map. Simply by touching an enemy on the world map will trigger a battle scene.
You play Nine and Aisha. Both characters can be assigned any magic and abilities as you see fit throughout the game from your open menu. Nine is a Blade therefore is better suited for melee attacks, whilst Aisha is a Sealer and is better suited using magic. Attacking your enemies is a little more complex than Final Fantasy XIII. Instead of just attack an enemy, Last Rebellion's enemies consist of multiple hit targets. Each enemy has a set number of limbs you can attack ranging from 5 to 10 i.e. head, left arm, right arm, body, left foot, right foot, tail etc. Each enemy has a certain order sequence as their weak spots. Triggering a sequence will result in more hit damage, bounce points and more EXP won at the end of the battle. Casting magic is again slightly different from other RPG games. There are two types of magic: Command Magic and Stamp Magic. Command Magic consists of status effects i.e. Haste, Cure etc. Stamp Magic consists of attack magic's i.e. Fire, Lighting, and Ice etc. Stamp Magic can only be used on targets that have been previously hit by a normal physical attack during battle. Casting Stamp Magic at the start of the game will result in your characters awkwardly standing doing nothing, causing a missed turn. Both characters share the same turn and you can switch between them to determine which character attacks first. Last Rebellion features a wide range of enemies including boss fights; each consisting of different hit targets and order sequences. Other than the slightly complex – but extremely easy once you get the hang of it – gameplay, Last Rebellion is a very simplistic A-to-B game that doesn't really please.
The sound design is another aspect about Last Rebellion that is badly underdeveloped. The sound design just doesn't have any, any… oomph. Bland sound effects that really don't sound any better than sound effect you get free online. Voice acting is the key to bringing characters to life. Last Rebellion's acting crew just didn't put enough – or any – soul into the voice talent, resulting in unappealing and emotionless characters that aren't worth caring about. The overall music score is composed of unappealing up-beep Japanese type music that repeats throughout the duration of the game.
Last Rebellion will last you about 12 hours to fully complete, which is pretty short for an RPG. Featuring no extra additional content, it won't take you long to gain a Platinum Trophy, resulting in very poor life value… especially for an RPG!
This is way Last Rebellion is a bad game: The one thing you should never do is think you can outrun any creatures – i.e. enemies – you see as your running around the world map, unless you actually leaving an area. Why? Because it could lead to a serious slap in the face, which is what happened to me. Near to the first boss fight, – which is about 2 or 3 hours into the game –, I was training my characters by repeating random battles, which is what you normally do in RPG game yes? I came to the point where I had enough training and I decided to go and fight the upcoming boss. As I was heading to the boss I noticed on random creature in the world map chasing me, possibly because it saw me. Anyway, I though nothing of it and continued to the boss battle. The battle wasn't pretty tough, but it was pretty long. Towards the end of the battle, I had 9 HP left and I was lucky enough to sink in a critical hit which won me the battle. I was quite happy – as you normally are when you win a boss battle… sometimes –, but how much are you willing to beat that what happens next made me hate the game even more?! After I clamed my reward – i.e. getting items and a lot of EXP –, after the cut scene was over I was confronted with something unexpected. Can you guess what it was? Before I could even restore my health – which you would think it would get replenished automatically after defeating a boss –, the random creature that I noticed chasing me just before fighting the boss fight made contact with me, which triggered a random battle. Now I was presented with 3 creatures to fight, with only 9 HP. Hoping I would at least have the advantage of attacking first so I could use an item to replenish some health, one of the creatures attacked me and… game over. I had to load up my last saved file and fight the tedious boss fight again. That is what I call… cheap!
Putting my feeling aside… as a reviewer, despite how much I didn't like the game, is the game at least playable… yes, but – and there's always a but – it's hard to believe Last Rebellion is a next generation game. Playing it, I felt as if I was playing a PS2 game. The game forces you to pay some attention at cut scenes etc by featuring a tedious feature of pressing the continue button (X) after every sentence so the scene can carry out. You can of course skip each entire scene if you want. Aside for the mediocre script writing – "Our soul is starting to peal away!" ~ "What, like a cheap old layer of paint?" and "I'm back so I could kill the hell out of you!" –, dull plot holes and overall unappealing plot, pressing the continue button after ever sentence may not be all that tiresome at first, but as you get further into the game it may be one of the main reasons for just skipping the entire sequence. Last Rebellion also features many unnecessary plot holes that just lead to nothing in the end, which will ultimately lead you to think, "What was the point in that?"
So, what's the plot about? The main character "Nine" just wants to kill his brother! Man, that's original! The plot does go deeper than that, but the deeper you go the more confused, unsatisfied and brain dead you get. So yeah, the plot is all about the main character "Nine" just wanting to kill his brother!
Overall, I've played many bad games that I just couldn't find it in me to complete. Despite the game being relatively poor, there was something about the game I can't quite put my finger on that made me want to finish. It's not a terrible game… but it is a game I never want to play again!
If you like RPG's, I urge you to find something else. If you're a hardcore gamer, or a trophy whore… rent it. I would not recommend Last Rebellion for purchase.
*****FINAL OVERALL SCORE*****
- Story – 1/10
- Life Value – 2/10
- My Thought Score – 1/10
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- Presentation – 2/10
- Graphics – 2/10
- Game-Play – 4/10
- Sound Effects – 1/10
- Concept – 1/10
*****EDITOR'S OVERALL THOUGHT SCORE – 2/10*****
Last Rebellion Review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]