Here we are then: Final Fantasy XV's received its 421st demo. While we've covered previous instalments, this is actually your humble host's first time playing the title. So does the Japan-only Judgment Disc – which spans the first hour or so of the release – deliver?

Let's talk about the production values first: this is an extraordinary effort. You can practically feel money pouring off the screen in some of the title's cut-scenes, and while this doesn't appear to represent the final PlayStation 4 Pro build, the image quality is still quite good.

The combat's decent, too – it feels more like an action game than an RPG, which is no negative. Some of the animations are a little overbearing, which means that jumping feels flaky, and the performance isn't quite as smooth as we'd like – though word of a 60 frames-per-second PS4 Pro option should help.

The worry, then, is that Square Enix is going to squander the title's genuinely impressive presentation with shoddy characters and even worse writing. This demo shows enough promise that we've got our fingers and toes crossed that doesn't turn out to be the case, though.

[source bit.ly]