Buy this game.

Buy this game.

Buy this game.

No seriously, I just got my first taste of it and playing this game is like playing a painting. This is not a game, this is art, and if you are a connoisseur of the finer things in life you are not complete without playing this game.

My only gripe is the game is severely crippled by the PS2; why designers fail to make games like this on the more capable XBox, Gamecube, or SNES I don't know. Your view is severely limited much like in many other PS2 games and I don't enjoy the blurring that is frequently used as an effect. Judging from how it is used in other PS2 games I'm assuming it disguises some artifact but it is really annoying.

And don't tell me that cel-shaded games are just hard to do right because Capcom did Viewtiful Joe just fine on the Gamecube without any of these problems, and Namco pulled off Tales of Symphonia which had equally impressive visuals without the problems I've mentioned.

Anyway all things aside this is probably the best game I've played in a long time. I'm a fan of Japanese art (the old art not anime) and playing this game is very much like watching a movie done in that style.