| Overall Rating | |
| Graphics and Sound |
  
Even in the unfinished demo, Jade Cocoon's graphics are great. The models are very detailed both in-battle and out, the pre-rendered back and foregrounds are gorgeous, and the special effects are great. Spells look good, summons look good... everything looks good. The sound is excellent as well. The sound effects are top-notch and fit well, the music [well, the tribal drum beat] adds to the splendour of the setting, and the voice-acting is some of the best I've ever heard. There's lots of it, too.
| |
Gameplay
| The game plays very solid. Being a demo, there's not much plot revealed, but from what I can tell there's a plague of locusts descending on the area/earth/universe/whatever, and you're trying to save the world, Altruistic Hero (tm) that you are. The battles are extremely well integrated into the game, with the monsters in full polygonal glory chasing you around on the map to get you to fight [no random battles, woo!]. The only problem I had was with the control of the main character while walking around -- the 'press triangle to run forward and turn with the d-pad' needs a bit of work to make it fully usable, but it IS a demo.
|
| Difficulty level | Most of the enemies are easy, but since this is a demo of early in the game, that's expected. There are still a few encounters you'll have that'll give you a run for your money. Be prepared.
|
| Game Mechanics | Other than the slightly sloppy game controls, everything looks tight. The menu system is clear and concise, everything is easy to find, the statistics and such make sense, the translation is good, and except for a slight loading time when you go to view charater's status, the load times are almost invisible. This is definitely a game to watch out for.
|
