Final Fantasy XII is just one short week away from release in Japan, and today, the first review scores became public as early copies of this week's issue of Weekly Famitsu, Japan's most well-known gaming magazine, went on sale. The verdict? A perfect score of 40 out of 40.
Although Famitsu isn't especially known for its conservative scores, the multiple reviewer aspect of the cross reviews makes it difficult for games to score perfectly. Only five titles have attained such elite status before: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for Nintendo 64, Soul Calibur, for Dreamcast, Vagrant Story, for PlayStation, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, for GameCube and Nintendogs, for Nintendo DS. Japanese forum-goers have observed that only one perfect review has been given out for each platform to date, and for the past couple of years, many have been predicting that Final Fantasy XII would be "the one."
Each of the four reviewers praised the graphics, scenario and game system extensively, in particular the freshness that the latest entry has brought to the Final Fantasy series. Interestingly enough, this is the second time a Yasumi Matsuno game received a perfect score from Famitsu; he was also the director of the critically-acclaimed PlayStation epic, Vagrant Story. Although he's no longer being credited as the man in charge of Final Fantasy XII, his influence is still very obviously prevalent throughout the game.