Last Rebellion from ‘Hit Maker’ is a twisting tale that puts you in the role of Nine and Aisha, two characters who find themselves in the unlikely predicament of sharing one body. Yes, Last Rebellion isn’t your typical tale. This one could have only come Japan, and only with the help of publisher NIS America. Feeling the need to rebel? Then hit up or review of NIS America's latest, 'Last Rebellion.'

'NIS America' keeps up their faithful duties to help another “lesser” known RPG make its way over to North American shores. In this case we are looking at ‘Last Rebellion’, an eccentric blend of action and role-playing in a very dated shell. What I mean by dated, is that ‘Last Rebellion’ is visually dated by its in-game graphics and its presentation-- not to mention it also dates itself with its old school role-playing roots. In all honesty, 'Last Rebellion' looks and plays more like a PS1/PS2 game, and not a real sharp PS1/PS2 game either. The typical gameplay trappings are ok, but it is the lack of graphically prowess that will instantly set most gamers back. If you are persistent and empathize with its blocky graphics, you might enjoy the mechanics and fiction that 'Hit Maker' showcases in ‘Last Rebellion.'

Even if you shy away from the "lack" of graphical sheen, ‘Last Rebellion’ isn't easy to get into. I found the game very trying at first, and not exactly what I was expecting. This isn’t necessary a bad thing because ‘Last Rebellion’ has a lot of inventiveness going for it, and if you can stomach it in the early stages, you might come to enjoy this obscure tale. If you are familiar with other "alternative" Japanese styled games than 'Last Rebellion' won't be too "surprising". However, if you are not too acquainted with the "strange" than 'Last Rebellion' and its dimensional twisting tale of life and death might be intriguing.

Life, Death, and Zombies
The tale behind ‘Last Rebellion’ is a little hard to follow, and really, I am not sure if all the "logic" plays out, but for what they have, it is an entertaining twist that sets it apart from other RPG. The story takes place in 'Junovald,' a world that is governed by two gods, the god of death, 'Meitilia,' and the god of life, 'Formival.' This branches out to two types of people with special powers, 'Blades' and 'Sealers' under the power of 'Meitilia.' The Blades have an unparalleled ability to destroy things physically, and the Sealers have the power to seal and destroy souls. These two groups also plays off with the two main protagonists, 'Nine Asfel' (Blade) and 'Aisha Romandine' (Sealer).

As expected the darkside in 'Last Rebellion' is 'Formival.' The god with the power to revive any dead objects, including people! (yea, zombies?!) In ‘Last Rebellion’ logic, the only way to defeat the revived creatures (called Belzeds) is to use the power of both a Blade and a Sealer, to destroy both their body and soul. This leads right up with a war between a power tripping Formival and Nine and Aisha two followers of Meitilia who want to prevent Formival’s necromancing ways. As you can tell the storyline is a little discombobulated, but it gives a good enough excuse to slice and dice the arcane.

Hey, Cheer Up Sunshine
The attitudes behind our heroes fall into the typical reluctant bratty styled male character who is paired up with the reassuring strong willed female character (surprise! /sarcastic). Aside from the bizarre nature of the plot, ‘Last Rebellion’ falls into some typical dialog lines with some normal apathetic characters that lives up to the J-RPG stereotype. The big twist is that both Nine and Aisha exist in an alternative reality, and to enter the normal world they have to share one soul— (huh, what? exactly!) This twist only confuses issues more and the plot gets more muddled as the game progresses. You really have to be a J-RPG enthusiast to keep rolling with superficial plot trappings—not to mention the dialog doesn’t help the plot any further as it is a clichéd as they come.

Thank You, Ayaka Kato
I already pointed out that the graphics are poor, and frankly so is the music and voice over-work, however, one small glimmer of positivity peers out from the graphics in the form of its art style. The character design is good for the most part with some beautifully hand painted designs from Ayaka Kato. The look of the static image helps ‘Last Rebellion’ stand out a little, but this should be nothing new to those who follow NIS America published- or developed titles.

Limb by Limb
The combat system, which plays a huge role in the game, is going to be half the draw to ‘Last Rebellion.’ It follows a turn-based system that lets you target particular body parts of an enemy and hit them in succession. Each turn in the combat feels air of tactics to your selections, although battles can take a little bit of extra time because of this. Connecting with the right order is essential to hitting big number points, which makes the characters seem extra powerful. The point system is an unique and will take some adjustments, even for the more hardcore bunch. A little time, a little trail-and-error, and in no time you should be dominating the dungeons.

Not So Easy in Junavald
Aside from battling, you will go about navigating ‘Last Rebellion’ is familiar fashion. The design is linear and sadly the world feels recycled and dull. It is a shame that the creativity seems to have stopped with the original concept. The whole save point, dungeon crawling business is there flushed out – standard J-RPG 101%, strait up. Also, the difficulty is marginally above-average, which is great if you are up for the challenge, but it can also make ‘Last Rebellion’ feel a little stand-off(ish). ‘Last Rebellion’ is already pushing gamers patience with its below standard production, its outlandish storyline, and overly convoluted combat system. Having the game a little more difficult is not helping things either-- I won't look here to boost your PS3 Trophy list.

'Last Rebellion' makes it hard for us gamers to get into its world of shifting souls and reincarnated monsters. The production, gameplay, and storytelling mechanics all scream 1997, and 1997 is when ‘Last Rebellion’ should have been released. Compared to the lot of games that have come out on the PS3 as of late, ‘Last Rebellion’ is an embarrassment. It is not that Hit Maker's RPG doesn’t have anything going for it, but it just doesn’t belong with the current crop of games. Strange enough ‘Last Rebellion’ seems even a little too far on the outside even for NIS America. Unless you really enjoy old school, "alternative" J-RPGs, I would stay clear of 'Last Rebellion.'

Gameplay:5.4, Graphics:4.0, Sound:5.0, Innovation:6.0, Mojo:5.8  Final:5.2 / 10