Scout vs tank. This happens to me all the time.

Just a very quick update to say: today is a very good day for those frothing excitedly over Valkyria Chronicle. As reported last week, the two-level demo hit the Playstation Store today, so fire up the PS3 and start downloading. When the demo has brought your anticipation to boiling point, you will be glad to know that you can get your hands on this interesting blend of J-RPG, strategy, and sublimely beautiful graphics two weeks earlier than anticipated, on October 31st.

The demo is only a measly 581 MB, but contains a quick tutorial and one skirmish, which is enough to give you a taste of the gameplay. It also answers a few niggling questions that have been plaguing me with doubt. Firstly, the voice acting, while not superb, is not atrocious, and there is an option, locked in the demo, for changing language. I can't tell if this is just subtitles or actual voice overs, but I suspect that, as hoped, you can switch over to the original Japanese voices if you so desire.

Another couple of points in Valkyria Chronicle's favour is absolutely smooth transitions between the three player phases. Obviously the demo is not enough to make a final call on, but from the moment installation finished, I was not aware of a single loading screen. I'm sure loading does happen, but it happens under clever disguise, in the form of, for example, a music change and banner announcing the enemy turn. Speaking of transitions between phases, one very nice graphical touch occurs when shifting from action phase to command phase. Almost too quickly to notice, the characters and scenery morph from full colour to the sepia tones of the command phase map as camera pulls away. It's barely noticeable, but just one more tiny little feature that makes the all round presentation of this title simply gorgeous.

I'm not a strategy nut but I picked up the idea fairly quickly; with a little patience, even total noobs like me would no doubt get to grips with this one, so RPG fans should not be put off. For strategy fans, no doubt there'll be a lot less of the "medic!" scenes which so shame me, because they'll have a better tactic than "charge". get on to the PSN and grab the demo yourself. I suspect this is one that'll be making its way onto Christmas lists - if you can hold out that long.