"Good and actually fun to play, however, does not live up to the greatness of what Squaresoft can really create."

Another one of Squaresoft's excellent games have arrived however, it sadly cannot be known as one of their masterpieces. In this game you are a tough, well rounded hero named Brave Fencer Musashi summoned to a troubled world by a desparate princess. Now you must save the Allucaneet Kingdom from total conquest by the evil Thirstquencher Empire with the assistance of two magical swords.

This incredible action/RPG game brings you an experience equal to that of Zelda. In this massive 3-D world you will face challenging puzzles and a two-handed sword fighting style in which you must defeat countless enemies and mystical bosses. You, as Brave Fencer Musashi, also have the ability to absorb nearly dozens of your enemies own techniques through a unique Fusion skill that could only have been thought of by the brilliant creators of Squaresoft. Brave Fencer Musasho features real talking by all characters during key scenes and offers an awesome fully polygon world that changes as if it were in real-time. This is the best feature of Brave Fencer Musashi. While hours and days go by, Brave Fencer Musashi will face such normal, real-life situations such as tiredness from fatigue and hunger which will require him to eat and sleep when the time comes. You are also required to save certain key characters who have been captured by the Thirstquencher Empire in order to proceed in the game. To do this, you will be faced with the job of finding these charaters and freeing them.

The music within Brave Fencer Musashi is pretty good but gives the impression of the game being a bit childish to the player. It greatly enhances the interaction with the the player and what he/she is doing with the game, however, I feel that Squaresoft could have done a a better job with it. As for the graphics, they are pretty good as well, however they also seem to give the player the impression of the game being a bit too childish just as the the music does.

Well, overall, all I can say is that this game is good and actually fun to play, however, does not live up to the greatness of what Squaresoft can really create. Perhaps it is due to the fact that this is Squaresoft's first attempt at creating an action/RPG game such as Zelda (they in fact, did a good job at it too) but in my opinion, they could have made it even better. Another good addition to Brave Fencer Musashi is the added bonus of the Final Fantasy VIII demo which is a must to try out if you haven't gotten the game already!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 04/26/01