Japan Review Check: Tales of Xillia, Deus Ex

A selection of the most interesting games due to hit Japan next week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine:

- Tales of Xillia (10/9/10/10, 39 points): Undoubtedly this is the big console release in Japan right now -- a game that's already racked up more preorders over there than any previous game in the Tales series. As expected, Famitsu had nothing but good things to say about it. "A lot of attention's been paid to how different this game looks from the rest of the series," one reviewer said, "but actually try it out, and you'll find the real surprise lies in how easy it is to get into and play. The tempo of battle, in particular, is excellent."

"The battles encourage you to work combos for the most damage," added another writer, "which results in a fast-paced and fun little system. They did a great job on it. The relationships your characters slowly develop through their chats keep the midgame from getting boring, too. They really thought of everything."

- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (9/9/9/9, 36 points): Square Enix's big RPG release of the month (who would've imagined it'd be something like this in Japan a decade ago?) seemed to earn a great deal more genuine enthusiasm from the editors than Tales. "Customizing your hero's abilities depending on what style of gameplay you prefer is really neat," said one. "From tackling missions to talking with NPCs and figuring out what items to keep with you, you're asked to make a lot of decisions that have actual portent behind them."

"At its core it's a first-person shooter," reasoned another reviewer, "but you're capable of a great many things, from sneaking around to martial-arts combat. The enemy AI is pretty smart, so the thrill of trying to stealth your way through missions is unmatched. It's really one of the few successful attempts at combining RPGs with FPSes."

- Resistance 3 (9/8/8/9, 34 points): Insomniac's latest doesn't do quite as well as the other big-name titles of the week, although 34 points is still nothing to sniff at. "The setting and situations are pretty neat," Famitsu said. "Having to refill your energy with items is a little on the hard side, but now that you're back to carrying multiple weapons, there's much more strategy to the action. The online play is nothing surprising, but I'm glad that health refills automatically in net play."

"Each weapon has its own fully-defined function," agreed another editor, "and switching between them depending on the situation offers a great deal of strategic gameplay."

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