Japan Review Check: God of War, Crysis, Super Robot Taisen

A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine:

- Crysis 3 (9/9/8/9, 35 out of 40 points): "The beautiful graphics and 'you are there'-ness are amazing," wrote Famitsu editor Atsuhiro Fujiwara. "The presence of the nanosuit gives you this great feeling of being some kind of super soldier, but you aren't just blindly shooting your way through; you also have stealth and a lot of other tactics at your disposal. Multiplayer's also laden with modes and maps, making for a reliably fun experience."

"The visuals and animation are particularly excellent," added Urara Honma. "The campaign gets you into the world nice and easy, making this remarkably accessible even though it's the third game of a trilogy. The game's set on a pretty high difficulty for most people, but there's a lot of unique fun on hand here."

- God of War: Ascension (9/9/9/9, 36 points): The high scorer of the week by a nose, Ascension charmed the pants of Famitsu's editors. "The overwhelming show you get from the word go pulls you deep into the game very quickly," Fujiwara said. "Nothing's very new with the gameplay, but the exhilarating, exciting action is attractive as always, and the fights against massive enemies get your pulse racing."

"The dynamic, impactful visuals made my jaw drop," wrote Honma. I was just overwhelmed by them. Kratos is capable of a lot of amazing moves; he just feels good to control. Battles against minion-level foes and search-oriented sections can get a bit samey, but the boss fights are superior fun."

- Super Robot Taisen UX (8/9/8/8, 33 points): The first Nintendo 3DS entry in the long-running robot strategy series, and one that seems to satisfy expectations, although it offers little very new. "The system's the same as always, so series fans definitely know what they're getting here," wrote editor Reona Ebihara. "The number of new units in this game is relatively high, so even younger anime fans should be able to get into this. The in-battle animations are lovingly rendered, and this is also the first of the DS games to have full voice, so it gets pretty exciting to play."