Last Rebellion

Last Rebellion does at least try to differentiate itself with the soul swapping and appendage selection systems. The former relates to how Nine and Aisha share the same soul, so they can't remain in existence at the same time, and in battle you have to decide who will perform their actions first and who will go second. What's strangely baffling is that despite being the best fighter, Nine has access to over 50 spells whereas Aisha has barely a dozen.

The two also share the same health, magic and Chain Point gauges, with the latter determining how many attacks the pair can perform in one round of combat. But rather than slicing each enemy straight down the middle, the player has to decide which body parts to attack and in which order. So if you're facing an Orc Solider, who has 10 different parts ranging from left horn to right leg, you can use your pool of Chain Points to do a maximum of 10 melee attacks each.

To maximise damage you have to order your attacks carefully, as each enemy has a unique combo sequence that you gradually unravel as you try different combinations. So if you hit the Orc Soldier's chest fifth and his head tenth, you will see a "Bingo" message pop up to indicate that you've guessed correctly, and the game will save this information to the enemy profile so you don't have to write it down. Thank god for small mercies.

The magic system also works in tandem with the combat, as each time you attack a body part it will be Stamped so you can follow up with a Stamp Magic attack. But although these are fairly numerous, many of them are identical save for being slightly more powerful and in a different colour - i.e. you get Arrow, Sword and Axe spells which come in Bronze, Iron, Silver, Mithril and Adamant flavours. I also take no pleasure in saying these attack animations are less impressive than those in the original Pokémon Stadium on the N64.

Even after you've burned and carved up a demon through relentless attacks and magic, you still have to close the deal by choosing Aisha's Seal command, which sees her locking away the soul permanently. Otherwise they just keep coming back to full health. This system is irritating; it just adds unnecessarily to the amount of time you spend in each battle. It wouldn't be such a big deal if the Seal animation was skippable, but it isn't.

So although Last Rebellion's combat is its strongest feature - which is really saying something - it can't compete on any level to even the most mediocre of current-gen console RPG standards. It doesn't help that the game goes from mildly challenging to ridiculously easy within the space of a few hours, and once you hit level 50 nothing in the game will pose any kind of threat. This is further exasperated by Last Rebellion's complete lack of side quests. Aside from the linear story, there is literally nothing else to do. There aren't even any traditional villages.

As harsh as this review reads, I nonetheless ploughed through those 12 hours experiencing the odd glimmer of enjoyment, although that could just be because the game is so short that there just isn't enough time to develop a sense of loathing. You feel the story is building up to something big before everything ends prematurely, but rather than disappointment you'll probably be in a state of indifference.