The Last Remnant Review
With Square Enix fans eagerly anticipating the release of Final Fantasy XIII, The Last Remnant comes at a good time for fans of the developer. This game is a completely new franchise and it was also developed using the Unreal 3 Engine; a first for the company.
Speaking of first, it was also the first Square Enix game to have a simultaneous worldwide release, and it was directed by Hiroshi Takai. The question is, does The Last Remnant offer a good enough experience to tide us over until the release of Final Fantasy XIII?
Almost as soon as the game starts we're thrust into a battle with little explanation of what's actually going on. This might confuse some players, as the combat system is a completely new initiative, but others will just plough through anyway and pick it up as they play through the game. This is heavily advised as the combat system is actually surprisingly rewarding. Instead of the typical RPG combat, The Last Remnant uses Strategic elements whereby the player selects which actions he wishes each 'union' (collection of units) to perform. Following confirmation that the actions are correct, the two sides then collide and for the most part, the combat goes out of the player's hands. There are some quick time events though added to spice things up, and these can either cause critical damage and altered attacking order as a bonus for hitting, or the chance to counter an opponents attack.
While the combat is an enjoyable experience, it comes at a cost. Unlike in normal RPGs where the player gets complete control over what actions he wishes to take, this isn't the case in The Last Remnant. The AI decides which commands each union is allowed to pick from based on the current climate of the battle. So for example, the option to heal rarely ever comes up if everyone is on full health, although it does come up sometimes. Presumably this was done to make the game easier, but it actually has the opposite effect. Sometimes when a union is almost dead, they don't have the option to cure themselves, despite having healers. Other times, they have the option to heal, but not to break deadlock (a situation where two unions are forced to attack each other). This presents a problem, as the person curing might go last, and the union will die before he can heal. The other scenario is that a union can heal another union, but if two need healing (for example, one at 20% health and one at 80% health), you have no control over which is healed, and in some cases the 80% will get healed instead of the 20%.
Other new gameplay elements include a new take on the now expected form of random encounters and obviously the ability to have multiple unions at any one time. Like in Final Fantasy XII, Rush can 'aggro' monsters when he is walking around areas. However, he has the ability to slow down time, which enables him to get the jump on enemies, or run away from them. If an enemy gets the jump on Rush however, they start the battle in command, which can cause problems, especially if multiple enemies attack.
