Cosmic Star Heroine (PS4) Review

Take to the stars.

 Cosmic Star Heroine is an action/role-playing game from Zeboyd Games, creators of the mildly entertaining indie hit Cthulhu Saves the World. Packing a futuristic cyberpunk premise, we follow a renegade group of operatives on the run after learning of a secret corporate conspiracy. Cosmic Star Heroine was funded through Kickstarter back in 2013, raising over $130,000 during its run. I've had my eye on the game for years and I even bought it during launch week, only to be thrown in my long yet-to-be played games, but I digress. Playing Cosmic Star Heroine instantly reminded me of the battle system of Chrono Trigger and even Final Fantasy VII with its futuristic art-style. It's clear that the developers tried to emulate the feel of Square Enix's old-school JRPGs, and to a certain extent they did.

 Taking place in a dystopian future that's inhabited by both humans and aliens, the Agency of Peace and Intelligence (API) seeks to provide order and harmony throughout the galaxy. We follow API operative, Alyssa L'Salle, who's on the run after learning the API is involved in a secret conspiracy that's posing as a global threat. Joined by her fellow friends, Alyssa will face near-death momnets, meet unlikely allies, and battle a whole lot of enemies in an effort to ultimately save the galaxy. The story was fairly entertaining and well-paced. However, it's the weakest aspect of the game as the plot losses steam halfway through and the characters are underdeveloped. Square's classic hits such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI had you caring for their cast of characters as if they're real people, despite their 16-bit appearance. In Cosmic Star Heroine, you won't be getting any of that. The closest thing you get for character development are through optional missions that you might miss. It's a shame when the likes of the suave Clarke and enigmatic Arete could have benefited from some. Even the heroine of the journey, Alyssa, isn't fully realized towards the end of the ride.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the story

isn't all that great.

 Cosmic Star Heroine is a turn-based role-playing game that has you navigating your party through 2D environments and overworlds to progress to the next story event. Core gameplay has you taking on enemies in a turn-based manner and gaining experience in return. Some RPG enthstaists might notice that Cosmic Star Heroine looks a lot like Chrono Trigger in layout, minus the Active Time Battle system. Unlike many RPGs battles aren't random as enemy will appear on-screen, giving the option of confronting or ignoring them. There are over 11 characters to recruit over the course of the game. Each character has their own abilities such as the standard attacks, special moves, buffs, debuffs, and the occasional healing. Buying equipment and equipping certain accessories can also give characters unique abilities from them to use in battles. Some standouts I liked were Chahn with her gun-based and support abilities and android Clarke, whom primarily specializes in suicidal attacks. The game also features a "style" system which functions similarly to the traditional mana points (MP). The higher style you obtain in battle, the higher the boosts and immunity your character receives. The game also has it's memorable moments that I loved like a battling an oversized frog-monster while piloting a giant mech.

The gameplay is entertaining, thanks to a wide 

selection of customizable characters.

 Cosmic Star Heroine is surprisingly long for an indie RPG, which is great since there's a decent amount of side-quests to tackle and optional, but tough secret bosses to battle to obtain rare items from. The game on standard difficulty isn't tough by any means, much of the enemies won't give you a hard time though most encounter tend to drag as time moves on. Still, those looking for a more punishing difficulty won't be disappointed as the game features a pretty challenging difficulty setting that'll satisfy even the most hardcore of RPG players. One thing I loved when playing the game were the various references and nods to other games such as Resident Evil and Zeboyd's own works, which made exploring a lot more fun.

 For the most part, Cosmic Star Heroine is a great looking game. One aspect of the presentation that I feel could have benefited from some extra polish were the game's cut-scenes, which there are plenty of. They're really rough around the edges and feels like bad 1990's animation. Still, I found myself liking the colorful environments and character models as they completely nail the retro look of the old SNES games. There's no voice-acting in Cosmic Star Heroine, which is kind of odd since it puts a focus on the story and could've added a neat dynamic to characters. HyperDuck SoundWorks, who were responsible for Sonic Mania and Dust: An Elysian Tail's stellar scores, compose the game's soundtrack. It's one of the my favorite things about the game as much of the tracks are great and found myself liking the normal battle and boss themes the most.

The presentation, for the most part, 

is well put together.

 Cosmic Star Heroine was a lot of fun and made me a fan of Zeboyd Games. While lackluster in some areas, the addictive gameplay and catchy soundtrack made up for it. It's also worth the $15 price as its a lengthy game, taking over 13 hours to beat. I'd definitely recommended to RPGs and sci-fi fans as it managed to deliver an entertaining experience.