Since Final Fantasy XIII is only a week away from release in Japan the first review has been done by Weekly Famitsu.
One editor wrote: "The story being told is very deep and uniquely charming, not at all like FFs up to now. The battle system is innovative and has a lot of strategic elements. Being able to rewind back to just before the current battle is really nice."
The reviewers also had good things about the graphics ("without a doubt, the state of the art in story cutscenes") and the battle system: "It's built both for beginners and seasoned players. Things proceed speedily and since you're always rated, every battle has a sense of tension to it. The ability to switch Optimas instantly and use a wide variety of skills and magic simultaneously in battle is exhilarating."
Despite that, the game received a 39/40: three editors awarded the game with the perfect score, but editor Yamamoto Penki gave it a 9. He wrote "Given the quality all around, it's a bit of a shame that the story is a straight path until the midgame. I'm also concerned about the lack of [gameplay] gimmicks before the midpoint."
Source: 1up
Other Final Fantasy XIII news: Square Enix has announced that there will be two differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version. The Xbox 360 version will feature compressed audio and music, while the PlayStation 3 version will feature it uncompressed. Also the PS3 version will be larger than 25 GB.
