Incredible visual design and amazing character development add up to a highly satisfying game. (Possible Spoilers)
Now about my rating on the difficulty. This game is not particularly hard to beat, especially if you are good at these types of games. But what does raise the difficulty level so high is the final boss. There are three different sections to beat him, each one progressing in difficulty. The first section wasn't the hardest boss you'd had to fight in the game, but he definitely was still a pretty hard boss for most standards. The second one jumped up an entire difficulty level. Unless you could pull of rolls timed exactly right and knew how to get past his defenses, it was nearly impossible. The third and final stage of the battle brought it up another level by adding new attacks and using old attacks quicker and more frequently. This led up to one of the hardest boss fights I have ever had the pleasure to beat.
The games graphics are probably the best I've ever seen. You can see each character expressions in tremendous detail. When looking at Bohan's design, you can actually see wrinkles on his face, showing his age, as well as Nariko's father. The realism placed into the environment also goes to a new extreme in level design. Each area is created with so much attention to detail, it can be staggering at times. Overall, this game surpasses my expectations. Although it is short, that is not a big problem in this games case. The game puts quality over quantity which proves to be a very wise decision. If you are not willing to buy this game for some reason, rent it. You will be able to beat it, and still get the enjoyment out of this game.