I guess I'll start off this review by saying that, in my opinion, this game is the best thing to come out of Squaresoft in over a year and a half. Of course, with the more recent offerings such as Saga and Chocobo's Magic Dungeon, that isn't exactly saying a lot, but it does let you know that Square didn't go nuts after FF7.

I guess a major pulling point of this game for a lot of people will be the FF8 demo that's packed in with it, and so it doesn't rudely int errupt later on, I'll deal with it right now. The demo itself is quite a bit longer than the one included with Tobal No.1, and is, admittedly very impressive. The texture mapped battles look very nice, and seem to be running at an even higher frame rate than FF7 if I'm not mistaken. The Guardian Force Leviathan is just spectacular, and whips the pants off the FF7 version. However, with the SD characters gone, you just can't help but feel that the FF series has just transformed that much further into a game that is entirely different from the feel and attitude of the former series, and, in my opinion, is not entirely for the better. The game itself looks amazing, but it just feels like the soul is getting sapped right out of Final Fantasy with each new installment, and that Square should have just split the series, and had this as a set of side-stories. On to more positives, the movies look absolutely incredible. The CG seriously is starting to rival that of a motion picture, and aside from a brief spatter of digital distortion towards the end, is extremely clean as far as video game video sequences go. I'll buy it, sure, but I'd really like to see the series make a full around turn to the SF FFs with the next installment.

That said, on to Brave Fencer Musashiden.

I'll try not to ruin too much by saying "Oh..this was so cool..."... I guess the main thing that I can say about the game is that I noticed myself saying several times while playing "Hey...this is what real fun is". The story is all but thrown to the wind... Musashi has nowhere near the depth of the FF7 characters, but nor should he. The story is for the most part light-hearted and fun, although not necessarily humorous, and the general feel of the series is somewhere between Secret of Mana and Super Mario. Basically what I can say without spoiling too much for you is that you play as Musashiden, a famous samurai from Japan's past, only in another world bearing no connection to feudal Japan. He controls basically like Link only a little more sluggy along the ground (not in response... Musashi controls well enough, but his dash just isn't that fast). As you progress, you can accumulate various skills pertaining to the elements (fire, water, wind, sky, etc.), along with skills that you can temporarily borrow from the enemies. There are tons of neat little things here and there, but it's so much nicer discovering them on your own (I'm not being lazy..honest)

The graphics of the game are outstanding. The colors of Musashi's world are extremely vibrant and there are more transparencies in this title than I've perhaps seen in any other. Everything is polygons, and while it isn't the highest resolution I've seen, it's more than passable in my opinion, and I'll take frame rates this smooth over sharp resolution any day. There is occasional slowdown, but I only remember 3 instances or so. Musashi's world is very well put together, with a really solid appeal (aside from the trees in the village), and the textures are some of the best I've seen, especially in the outdoor areas.

The music really is a mixed bag. The theme is one of the best songs that I've heard from a video game in recent memory, with an appropriately heroic ring to it without getting irritating. However, with some of the songs you could swear that the composer was reading a book on how to write annoying music. The really annoying part is that they happen to be stuck in spots where they're on for a fairly long time or they are in a particularly hard dungeon, but overall it's not a huge problem. The intermediate music I would place all at a range much higher than the average video game, up somewhere between Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy. This review sounds negative in this part, but really, aside from maybe 2 or 3 songs it's all great stuff.

I guess my main problem with this game is that it seriously lacks in terms of length. While I have to admit that I didn't talk to the townspeople quite as thoroughly as possible (I was playing through with a friend, and you know how annoying repetitive talking can get when you're not doing it), I wasn't hurrying at all and managed to finish at just over 17 hours. While this might turn some of you off right away, let me just say that this game offers during that time far more entertainment than many 40-50 hour games. I guess the best comparison would be Super Metroid, which had less than 10 hours of gameplay, but which I would buy over again at $100 in a flash. Musashiden is a lot closer to a Mario-style game than Secret of Mana was, and it's important to remember it as that. If you do, I think you'll find that it contains more than enough entertainment for what you paid.

I do realize this review doesn't tell you much, but I really think it's better if you experience this game for yourself (wait..it needs to be said.. I'm the Godzilla Professional (no link to the god-awfulmovie)). There are so many original and fun ideas that have been poured into it that it would just ruin the point to spill them all out here. The fun in playing a game like this is feeling like you're discovering new territory, and it would just ruin it for me to tell you things like "Oh, this part when ******* happens... it's soooo cool!"

As a finishing note, I'll talk for a bit about the Japanese barrier. The actual Japanese used in this game could probably be understood by a person with a year or two of Japanese under his/her belt. That said, if you don't know Japanese at all, you ARE going to get stuck, a LOT, and there is no way that you're getting out with just guesswork. There are the standard mazes where you have to follow clues to a specific pattern, and also specific moves that are described for you as the game progresses that would be very tricky to figure out without at least a little Japanese behind you. My advice is that if you don't know very much is to wait for the American release, because it will honestly be a lot more fun.

Musashi is, imo, a great game, full of new ideas, a great presentation, and as a big plus that goes along with the short length, there are no draggy parts that take forever to finish. It's a hell of a ride while it lasts, and on top of that, there seems to be a lot of replayability (you can continue your game after you finish to find all the secrets, but I only had a week or so to finish it). I'm very glad I bought it, and is easily up there with the rest of the must play games for the PSX, like Parappa, Castlevania and FF7. Before Christmas, buy this game.