"Do you want beautiful graphics with fun gameplay? Look no further this game is it."

Brave Story: New Traveler is a beautifully mastered PSP game. Some people seem to like to complain about the main characters age but it won't hinder gameplay at all. This game has a traditional turn-based battle system, so it resembles games like Final Fantasy (before ATB). Anyway...

Story: 8/10
The story in this game,starts out like any other RPG, a friend of the main character gets knocked out by something and while in the hospital the main character learns she won't be waking up. So he goes to the roof and a mysterious female voice tells him if he wants his wish granted he can become a "Traveler" So he goes into a world called "Vision". In this world he meets many people some friend some foe. Your purpose is to find five gemstones to put into your sword and ask the goddess your wish. Every time you find a new Gemstone your sword also gets more powerful. All in all a pretty alright story but used all the time so not perfect.

Graphics: 9/10
This game simply blew me away. This should set the standard for what all PSP games should look like. The characters are well polished and look incredible in battle. The world map looks incredible as well you can easily tell the difference objects and everything stands out nice. The attacks the characters do in battle runs smooth and looks amazing, although the attacks can get repetitive. Also you cannot customize characters armor or weapons so it always looks the same, now this may not be a bad thing but it's something I've always liked to do. The graphics are amazing and this is what PSP games should look like from now on.

Sound: 7/10
The music in this game I personally liked. The sound effects like the characters voices...that's another story. Like I said I like the music just listen to the opening video it's awesome but when you get into battle that's when things go bad. Now the voice actors are good but it's just the grunts and groans and "hiyahhs" the characters make get pretty repetitive and annoying. Especially the main characters, it's not so bad that you'll have to mute but it got to me after a while.

Controls: 10/10
Not much to say here controls are pretty basic. In the field (out of battle) The cross button is for your actions, the triangle brings up the menu,the circle lets you run, the left trigger opens your map, and the right displays help on what to do next from your teammates. In battle the cross controls everything. Very basic and easy.

Gameplay: 9/10
The game play is amazing although you may not be able to get to into the story the battle system will have you with it's simplicity and just plain coolness. The battle system as stated before is traditional turn-based battles. If you've never heard of it before then you just have your team on one side and have the enemies on the other, what you do is you take turns hitting each other. It's decided by speed so you might not always get to attack first, and the powerhouse you might have might not be able to attack until everyone else (including the enemy) attacks. This makes for some good strategic battles. Also instead of MP or magic points you have BP or battle points also you don't caste magic you use bravura skills, each time you hit an enemy you get BP back so it's kinda hard to lose it all. Also my favorite feature is unity skills. You learn these skills when a party member is in your group long enough ( I think from my personal experience). Unity skills can only be used with the main character and a teammate and these skills have great animation. I think it's a great feature to have in a game and it should be incorporated in future titles. Okay that's for battles, in the world map you just walk around into towns, caves, buildings, just basic RPG features nothing special. Next up is mini-games, I think there is only one called Goalfinch. What you do is catch birds then fight with them, To catch a bird just swing your net if you want them to get bigger give them food then catch them. Try to catch as many as you can cause at the end they fuse together and that decides its stats and color. I'm not to fond of this minigame and I don't really like it but some people might I guess.

Replayability: 8/10
Now don't get that score wrong I don't think you'll want to play it a second time, I gave it that high because I think you'll want to finish the game. Now me personally I don't like to finish games but I will want to with this because it's just that good. I think many people will want to finish it and who knows maybe someone will play it through again just for fun.

Buy or rent: Buy
For people that love turn-based games with beautiful graphics and smooth animations you have to buy this game. Even people new to the genre will love this game so from me it's a definite buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/07