Let's cut to the heart of it - Square-Enix's The Last Remnant does stumble and trip up on occasion, when one considers that this is a return to the single-player RPG on the PC by any company with word "Square" as a prominent part of the company name, the missteps are forgivable for the experience delivered.

Ok, for those who don't pay attention to the console market, The Last Remnant released in 2008 on the 360 and had a bevy of bugs that diminished the game experience. For the most part, those have been addressed and the PC version is a bit glossier overall.

However, initial impressions, when the game first launches, are not that favorable. Why? First, you will need a Steam account to launch the game – which is not a big deal. The game comes with a code to register online with Steam, and each time you launch the game, Steam initializes. But after the initial cut scene (fraught with some graphical problems as well as audio problems), you will quickly discover that you can’t use the trusty old mouse and keyboard to play this game without adjusting the defaults. The first battle did not respond well to the keyboard inputs, nor did it like the Logitech Dual Action gamepad. The game’s default control scheme is a 360 controller for PC. And while you are configuring the settings, you will need to adjust the default sound settings simply because the voices are seemingly the last thing that was given attention to. You will see lips move, but the voice is so low in relationship to the rest of the sounds that you won’t hear what is being said half the time. The initial cut scenes are fraught with blurred images, jumpy frames and refresh lines that scroll through the screen. (For the record, the system this was run on was running an nVidia 9800 GTX Black video card, so there was more than enough GPU to handle this game.)

So first impressions are less than exhilarating. But once beyond these, you begin to get a feel for what is being offered here, and this is much like the Square-Enix’s epic adventures on the PlayStation console system, but geared for the PC. If you have a machine that can handle all the high graphic settings, turn them up. The lighting, textures and environmental nuances are delicious bits of eye candy. Too bad the first impressions of the central character, Rush, are not as appealing.

But that’s getting a bit ahead. First to the storyline … Rush Sykes is living on an island with his sister Irina. Their parents are scientists working on deciphering clues to the Last Remnant, one of the remaining powerful artifacts from a time long past. That the Remnant is the source of great power is known, but even as Rush’s parents seem on the verge of unlocking a clue that will benefit the world, darkness awakes and challenges for the control of the Remnant (and ultimately casts in doubt the future of civilization as Rush knows it). And it begins with the kidnapping of Irina. That sets Rush on a course to find his sister, a trek that traces through a world that is part fantasy with the underpinnings of religious fanaticism, political intrigue as well as that whole good-versus-evil power struggle thing.

As the story begins to place itself in the hands of players, Rush finds himself looking over a vast field with two armies marching to engage. There is a brief bit of combat, then the Marquis David (pronounced da-VIHD, not DAY-vid), unleashes the force of a weapon (which is a remnant of a different type) that opens a hole into the land, and both Rush and a dual-wielding woman warrior named Emma end up in the caves below. This is the real introduction, and tutorial, to the combat system.

The combat can be involved, if you have never played this type of RPG on a console before. Essentially you encounter foes in a turn-based setting. The group that initiates the combat is the side that gets the first attack options. Your side is comprised of entities called units, and units formed into organized groups (or parties) are unions. When in battle, you use your turn to command all friendly unions by issuing battle commands. Now as a combat evolves, you will see words flash across the screen; ‘deadlock’ refers to the close quarters and locking on a target, and you have choices on how to attack. You can, for example, attack straight out, attack with combat arts, charge, use magic, heal or play it by ear – which means each unit decides what it should do (essentially, you are putting the combat in the hands of the game’s AI).  

In addition to the combat, there is also morale to consider. Two gauges show up, showing your union’s morale, and the morale of your enemy. Morale measures the will to fight. The higher the morale, the stronger the attacks.

The first union you will get involves Rush and Emma. The initial encounters are geared toward teaching the player how to use the control scheme in combat, with victory a given.

But more than merely familiarizing the player with the game, there is also a sense of the main character in the game – Rush. Ok, he’s a bit of a jerk. His cause may be true, but he is ill-mannered, and there is a lack of the sense of focus one would expect from a young man willing to travel as far as it takes, or to battle whatever stands in his way to find and save his sister. He refers to the Marquis as ‘Dave,’ and seems totally unprepared for the challenges ahead. He is flippant, arrogant, a bit unsure of himself at times, and generally less than likeable.

While the game is a graphical treat, for the most part, it’s not all sunshine. There are some jerky movements at times, and the overall control scheme could have been a bit better. You can use the WASD keys for movement and the mouse for free looking, but so many keys are bound to the gamepad that you may find yourself alternating.

While the game has its main story arc, like many Square-Enix games, there are side quests you can undertake to level up Rush. The strategic element comes into play as you form your union and determine battle plans.

The sound has a great musical score but the voice acting is hit and miss in that it is there in certain places (notably the cut scenes) and absent in others – leaving players to read the narrative.

As a general rule of thumb, you will need to save often. If Rush falls in combat, it’s game over. Saving often allows you a benchmark to go back to in order to resume the adventure.

The story has a few failings, but generally provides the foundation for a solid adventure. Overall, the battle system is one of the highlights of the game, and while the characters are somewhat hard to get a feel for, the game tries to cover it up with well-worn plot devices that simply fail to drive the story in the latter part of the game. The game starts off well enough, but soon begins to bog down. Given that, though, The Last Remnant is graphically appealing and with such a dearth of single-player RPGs on the PC, it is worth a look.

Gameplay: 7.3
There are a lot of cut scenes to work through to get to the action, and the battles can be a bit repetitious, especially during dungeon crawls, but the control scheme works well enough, and the game does have a tactical element.

Graphics: 8.5
There are some glitches in the first cut scene, and the character animation can be a touch jerky at times, but generally the environmental textures and lighting are very well done.

Sound: 6.5
Sometimes there are voice-overs and sometimes you have to read the narrative. The musical score is solid throughout and the battle sounds are fine.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.5
Some stock elements and a few stumbles, but generally this is an improvement over the console version and is graphically very pleasing.

Overall: 7.2
Taking the game for what it offers makes for a nice diversion in the single-player RPG genre. The game has a few failings, certainly, and those occur in repetitious, grinding battle sequences, a storyline that takes a few hits as you move deeper into it, and characters that are a tad flawed. While a lot of the action is managed by the game’s AI, this is still an entertaining vision.