Cosmic Star Heroine

Cosmic Star Heroine

Once again, I am taking a detour from old school gaming to more modern fare.  Well, sort of.  

Cosmic Star Heroine may have come out relatively recently, but it has old school RPG written all over it.  From the pixel art to the narrative to the style and atmosphere, this looks exactly like something that would have came out on the SNES in 1995.  It plays like it too, which is a very, very good thing.  

Make no mistake about it, CSH is a very, very flawed game.  Much of it is simply a function of it being a kickstarter funded indie game designed by a small team.  Making a video game is hard work and you can’t expect the same level of perfection you can from a developer that has a 1,000+ man team.  Some of the flaws were design based and there is room for improvement, but it doesn’t change the fact that I want to see more games like this.

The story puts you in the shoes of Alyssa La’Salle, one of the top members of the Agency for Peace and Intelligence (API).  An early mission leads to a dark secret that sets into motion a series of events that lead you and your team on a quest to save the galaxy!  Sounds like standard 90’s RPG fare because, well... it is.  CSH is a game all about embracing tropes rather than running away from them.  The simple yet straightforward story really adds to the atmosphere and it makes you feel like you are playing one of the games you grew up with.  I really think the story needed to be fleshed out more, but we will get to that later.  

We have to discuss the character development, or lack thereof, first.  About 10 characters join your party and at no point do you ever learn much more about them other than the fact they are traveling with you for some random reason.  One character joins as Alyssa’s long lost cousin and you never learn more about him than that.  The character design is interesting, so its a shame they don’t ever really evolve.

And that’s because this game is entirely too short.  It’s yet another function of it being an indie game I guess, but at 12-15 hours, this is one of the shortest RPGs I have ever played.  Hell, you are introduced to a new character almost every hour.  They tried to cram so much into this game but it just needed more time.  The combat system is interesting and engrossing, but by the time you really get the hang of it the credits are rolling.

So why bother?  There are two big reasons to take the time to play through CSH.  First, they just don’t make RPGs like this anymore.  If you don’t have a handheld, your options are limited to Persona and Tales titles.  If you aren’t a fan of either of those series, it narrows it down even further.  Most of the games left are filled with scantily clad, obnoxious fan service anime crap.  CSH definitely has anime undertones to it, but the key here is undertones.  If you don’t like anime (and I don’t really) you are stuck with western RPGS.  There isn’t any middle ground like their was in the 90’s where games like Final Fantasy, Legend of Dragoon and Vagrant story eschewed the anime esthetic while delivering awesome RPG experiences.

The other is personality.  This game has it in spades.  From the unique, colorful backgrounds to the personable characters, the world feels lived in despite the fact that there is very little deep development.  The enemy designs are cool and the characters’ abilities really fit them.  The dialog is good, although its a bit limited due to the length.  It may not be your thing, but I love the callbacks to classic video games, especially all the random Resident Evil references.  CSH is serious when it needs to be without taking itself too seriously, which is something modern games lack pretty much across the board.  

I highly recommend CSH, but I can’t really rate it higher than an 8 because of the lack of character development and short length.  If you played a lot of RPGs in the 90s, you will love this game.  If your first gaming console was an XBox or PS2, you probably won’t find as much to like here, but its still and enjoyable experience and a great gateway drug into old school RPGs.

8/10

Play this game if:

You love old school RPGs, but anime fan service makes you cringe

You are looking for a nice quick play through

Your favorite Final Fantasy title falls somewhere between 6 and 10

Avoid if:

You need your RPGs to be 40 hour epics

You are put off by games that are a little buggy

You don’t play any games without EXPLOSIONS!