Cosmic Star Heroine

JRPGs are in quite a rut these days, but this harkens back to the classics. It's not good because it apes the 16-bit era of JRPGs, though; it could've been released back then with little altered and fit in just fine as an instant classic. You'll hear plenty of comparisons to Chrono Trigger, and the art and animation are similar, but that's where it ends. The battle system is wholly unique, allowing you 8 different moves at a time, which are used up, but can be refreshed, though it costs a turn. Combined with a gauge that tells you when everyone's next attacks are going to be, this becomes surprisingly strategic. Couple this with weapons and accessories that all have different perks, shields that basically act as equippable warrior classes, and a pretty large cast of characters, and the possibilities are endless. The game can be a bit challenging, too, if you put it on the higher difficulties. It's been a very long time since I've played a JRPG that's been this engaging, and even longer since I've had any kind of a challenge from one; aside from SaGa Frontier, probably since the NES days. The visuals are neat, ranging from alien jungle planets to a dystopian cyberpunk city with a splash of film noir, and the character designs are creative. I especially like characters' facial expressions; I wish I had an emoticon of the protagonist's smirk to use anywhere. The enemies are pretty weird, too; very creative, and bosses have an appropriately large scale. Characters are generally very likeable, too. Except Dave; Dave's the requisite dork. There are gratuitous cutscenes throughout the game, just like back when the technology was new, but it all plays into the overall silly tone, so it's forgivable. The story's nothing special, but it's not actively bad, either; plenty of fun to be had here, so long as you turn your brain off. The soundtrack is excellent; I will be pursuing a copy of my own.

Cosmic Star Heroine is a frantic Space Opera featuring secret agents, robots, aliens and everything you could expect from a sci-fi dime novel. All wrapped up in a 20h long RPG with a surprisingly enjoyable combat system which doesn't take itself too serious. What's not to like about it then? Well, unfortunately this game has quite a few issues: controls can't be changed, no mouse support, and save slots are limited to just 4. Game mechanics are poorly documented, relevant terms aren't used consistenly through tooltips. The internal balance is completely off and the only reason this isn't much bigger of an issue is because they game is way to easy for the most part. I got stuck 2 times and had to save/reload to be able to move again. Another few month of quality testing would have helped this game a lot in my opinion. Still, I don't regret playing it. If you're into this kind of stuff and don't mind low resolution pixel graphics, I recommend to give it a go.

if you are a fan of 90s sci fi anime and rpgs like Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy this is for you.

This game is a lot of fun, especially if you have played any games the studio has made prior to this one. I highly recommend it!

Every now and then a little game comes out that ticks all the right boxes and this one is almost perfect, save for the very short campaign that ends too quickly once you have your classic RPG means of mobility, crew and understanding of the game mechanics checked.