In a market filled with licensed shovelware based on Japanese animated franchises, Brave Story can be quite a surprise. For one thing the game is not actually based on the animated movie of the same name being released in Japanese cinemas in the same month, for another the developer behind the game is none other than Game Republic - the studio founded by ex-Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto. Also notable is how impressive the game's graphics look, and combined with the fact that the Playstation Portable is literally starved for good proper Japanese role playing games that are not ports from consoles, this title was promising from the start.

As already mentioned, Brave Story is not directly based on the movie tie-in it was named after. Instead Game Republic has created an original tale based on the world of Vision where the movie takes place in, complete with an original cast of characters. The game's story tells a tale of a boy whose friend has fallen into a deep coma and he is told the only way to awaken her is to travel to the world of Vision and seek the tower of the goddess to fulfill his wish. The tale is told like a classic fairy tale, with the hero travelling in a fantasy world with strange races and magical beings, not unlike the Neverending Story. The characters are extremely pleasant and the dialogue is well written. Unfortunately, outside of battles the game contains no voiced sequences at all, even in cutscenes, but the actual expressions of the characters are charming enough to capture the feel well enough for that not to be a major issue.


Even in PSP games they play PSP!

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Graphically, this is one of the better looking games on the portable system. Then 3D models of the character capture Akiman's original character designs extremely well and truly brings his art style to life. The animations are very fluid, especially in battles and the overall design of the world and monsters definitely feel like a top class production. Everything is modeled and textured with loving detail and attention, and reek of charm and atmosphere. The locations are varied, and there is a very nice range of unique monster designs as well as excellent boss designs to be seen and appreciated. The weapons and armor are also visible on the characters, with the weapon changes being obvious while the armor changes being more subtle, ranging from character to character. For example a certain character's armor type might be a shield, and hence his shield design will change as you equip new ones, while another character's armor type might be an arm guard and that would be the single component that changes as you equip new ones. Still, it's an extremely nice touch that many games do not bother to implement.

Brave Story is also supported by surprisingly good sound design, from the good musical tunes that fit well with each scene and location, to the great sound effects in battles. While the story in the game suffers from a lack of voice work, the battles are pretty much fully voiced with each character having voice samples for attacks as well as victory announcements. While the music fits the game really well as you're playing, I do feel that the tunes are not particularly memorable outside of the game. It seems more fitting as background tunes than something you would listen to outside of the game, but pleasant all the same.