Platform: Playstation 2
ERSB: Teen (Blood, Violence, Mild language, etc.)
Genre: Action, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: 01/31/2007
Official Website
Writer: Vainya

Rating: 7.0

What do you get when you mix Final Fantasy with Kingdom Hearts? No it’s not another SquareEnix crossover it’s Rogue Galaxy. Rogue Galaxy combines action RPG gameplay like that of Kingdom Hearts with a menu system like that of which you’d see in a turn-based RPG like Final Fantasy. Not to mention they threw in some characters that look like characters from both franchises. All in all Rogue Galaxy is a rich adventure game that will have you playing for hours.

You play as Jaster Rogue, a young man who is tired of living on the desert planet of Rosa (after a while you will encounter his friends). One day beasts decide to attack the normally peaceful planet. It is during one of these battles that Jaster meets up with the legendary hunter Desert Claw who gives Jaster his sword. Simon and Steve from the pirate ship the Dorgenark mistake Jaster for Desert Claw and in
a weird turn of events Jaster is recruited on the space adventure of his life.

Graphics:
One thing is for sure the graphics in this game are interesting. The way the game mixes cell-shaded characters with 3D rendered backgrounds is, in fact, visually pleasing.
Graphics score: 9/10

Controls:
The semi-turn-based action control scheme is very confusing if not overwhelming. There are three characters to control in battle and they each have a menu at the bottom of the screen. At this point the player can choose from the character’s available equipment, items, and abilities among other things. So if controlling up to three characters at the same time and concentrating on staying alive isn’t enough there is also a battle suggestion system which is helpful sometimes but most often is not. This system is activated by using the shoulder buttons when they appear or pressing L3 to ignore them when it is crucial to save your items. Also, because there is no healing magic in this game at all restoration items will be very important.
There are chain attacks which are where the player presses the buttons as they appear at the bottom of the screen. It takes a while to get the timing right and it is even worse trying to get perfect. That in itself is frustrating.
All in all with its confusion and hard learning curve. The controls are what makes the game and once they are figured out the game is that much more fun.
Controls score: 5/10

Flow:
The flow of the game is actually one of the best things about the game. Free from the linear gameplay of most RPG’s the player is free to do what he or she wants. Sure there’s a main story but who cares about that? The player can choose to follow the main story or go buy all the outfits in the worlds, or battle insectors, or treasure hunt, whatever. The possibilities are endless. The only problem with the game flow is that most of the levels are structured the same way, a bunch of seemingly endless tunnels until there’s a boss battle in the end. Other than that the way the game flows is quite nice.
Flow score: 9/10

Fun Factor:
Every game has its frustrating moments and this game is certainly not without them. Sometimes you just want to turn the game off and never play it again. But that’s life. The game is made so that you would never want to do that because there will always be something calling it to you again. Is it fun? Of course it’s fun to those who like a challenge and can pass on every level looking the same. If you don’t like that kind of stuff then the game will be as much fun as being in a desert with no water.
Fun score: 7/10

Female Aspect:
Let’s face it. The female factor in this game is virtually non-existent. There is only one strong female character (Lilika) out of two and she’s half dressed. The other, Kisala, is Dogengoa’s daughter and she usually has the worse weapons and you spend most your time protecting her in battle. There is even this one point where you go to the planet Vedan and talk to a guard and he says “Even women need to be strong to survive in this town.” What on Earth is that supposed to mean? Anyway it’s full of stereotypes about women most of them negative. And this score shall reflect that negativity.
Female Factor score: 2/10

Replay Value:
The way I reviewed this game would make you think that the game doesn’t have great replay value, but actually it does. The game is just too large to do in one go. There are so many more chests to unlock, outfits to wear, weapons to fuse and insectors to battle, among other things that makes this game worth replaying.
Replay Score: 8/10

Vainya’s comments: Wait until this game hits the bargain bin before you buy it. It’s not humanly bad enough to skip but with its slow dialogue during cut-scenes, the annoying voiceovers during traveling from your crew and the sameness of the levels it’s not a must have. However if you are a fan of action-RPG’s or a fan of RPG’s in general this game is definitely worth checking out.