The game begins on the planet Roak, a relatively primitive world where the inhabitants appear mostly human, except for the tails and pointy ears.
Roak seems peaceful - one of the game's young heroes, Roddick, laments the boredom to be had even as a member of the defense force for the town of Kratus.
Roddick and his friends Millie and Dorne find more excitement than they bargained for when they encounter two strange beings who appear in a flash of light. These beings turn out to be Ronyx Kenny and Ilia Silvestri, humans from Earth who belong to a "Star Trek" Federation-like alliance that has a policy of noninterference with undeveloped worlds.
But Ronyx and Ilia are bending the rules because a petrifying contagion sweeping through Roak was introduced by a rival faction of humans.
They offer to help, and the group soon learns the origins of this disease and its cure lie in Roak's past, and so they head to an ancient time gate to travel back and wrest the cure from the body of a legendary evil. But they have to leave behind their advanced equipment, and then something goes awry in the time trip.
Other Star Ocean games have had a similar mix of futuristic high technology with common fantasy tropes, such as monsters and magic (called symbology here). It's a combination that has served the series well.
Battles are played out in real time. The player can have up to four characters in the party and can switch control among them at will.
When controlling a character, the player can hammer on the X button to keep up a series of combo attacks, use the shoulder buttons to execute pre-selected special attacks or pause the action to choose items and magic. The fighting is fast-paced and can be pretty tough.
PLOT: A time-traveling, role-playing favorite hits these shores.
PLATFORM: Sony PSP
COST: $40
BOTTOM LINE: The graphics are the most obvious improvement.
RATING: T for Teen
Source: Newsday