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Technology news and Jobs arrow Radioactive IT arrow Review: Rogue Galaxy - A whole galaxy to explore
Review: Rogue Galaxy - A whole galaxy to explore E-mail
by Mike Bantick   
Sunday, 28 October 2007
This about the third time I have tried to kill off the PS2 with an epic swansong game, but "the most successful game console of all time" keeps coming back.  Rogue Galaxy is a value for money RPG for the aging Sony workhorse.

Rogue Galaxy was a long time coming - Local Sony PR quoting the game as due over a year ago.  Probably a good thing it did not come this time last year, as fans of Japanese style Role Play Games (JRPG) may well have picked up a PS2/Rouge Galaxy combination instead of a PS3, with the only real contender for the JPRG on the Next-Gen platform being, at the time, the rather bland Enchanted Arms.
 Rogue Galaxy
 roguegalpack.jpg Developer
Sony
Publisher
Sony
Rating
PG
   
PS2


So it is hear now, and you will need to set aside a large portion of social, work, eating and sleeping time to complete the game in a reasonable time.  Given all the hoo-har surrounding the amount of content that can be stored on the PS3 Blu-ray disc, it is refreshing to note that developers, can, with clever programming, pack upwards of 150 hours of game-play into the "old" PS2 disc format.

This is the case with Rogue Galaxy, giving players a complex world, indeed galaxy to explore through a story line that George Lucas would be proud to re-utuilise.

Playing initially as the young Jaster Rogue [Luke Skywalker] the learning curve of this new IP from the makers of Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2 takes a little to come to grips with.

There is a lot to do as you guide Jaster from his home desert planet [Tatoonie], via an over the top pirate space-ship (complete with sails!), crewed by a polite robot [C-3P0], rodent creature with Scottish accent, suave experienced pirate looking out for himself [Han Solo] and young girl. 

Captained by a big talking, snow white cat, it isn't long before Jaster and his new found pals find themselves marooned on the first of many planets - initially a jungle planet [Endor] followed contrastingly by the complete city planet [Coruscant].

Star Wars references aside, the story line of Rogue Galaxy flows well, with plenty to do at each location and liberally scattered points providing the dual benefits of save position as well as teleport locations to help ease the burden of travel.

Graphically Rogue Galaxy probably suffers from packing a heap of content onto the disc.  There is a definite comic book approach to the design, which works well for characters and monsters.  Though each location has a distinct feel, and is absolutely huge, there is a certain bareness to each local. 
roguegal2.jpg
The inhabitants wander the geography, providing somebody to talk to (or houses to raid, in front of there very noses), but there is no compelling need to converse with these one and only moving features.

Puzzle wise you will find no real challenge with Rogue Galaxy; each particular task has its answer easily telegraphed to the player, and from that perspective is not up to the tasks presented in games such as Blue Dragon.

So why is Rogue Galaxy so compelling?  Read on to page 2


 
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Radioactive IT - Exposure to Hazardous Interactive Entertainment
Wriggle into your Hazmat suit, pick up your Geiger counter and journey into the dangerous world of gaming and interactive entertainment. Mike Bantick will be your guide.