I cant believe there isn't a topic about this game yet, so I'll start it
I got this game on saturday and havent really been able to put it down much since. I absolutely love the artwork in this game, while I think the main character isn't exactly coloured correctly (in comparison to the concept art) everything is beautifully designed in this game, the creatures, the attacks, the weapons the environment, it's all stunning. The gameplay is sort of hack and slash, but it also has a very zelda-like feel to it, it starts out slow and playing for about an hour after the intro mission it seems rather linear, but once you start aquiring new moves and new weapons and encountering different enemies it soon starts getting good. You get a bunch of different secondary weapons as you go through the game, all with their own uses, combo etc, and all link rather nicely into the combat mechanics. The combat is simple, but varied, and can be extremely rewarding, my only one flaw with it is there's a lack of the need to block in this game, but thats because the dash is more reliable and you cannot block certain attacks from bigger enemies. There's a lot of puzzles in the game, some are very nice and clever, but sometimes become a bit tiresome since they can be rather long, but the quality of them never falters and keeps it varied and interesting.
The story is really good for what it is, I'm not too sure about the plotline so far (though i havent finished it yet) but the characters and the lore behind it are really compelling, and through those long frustrating puzzles, it's what keeps you going. I'm about 10 and a half hours through the game, and I've done several "dungeons so far" and i'm now trying to gain access to the last dungeon, which requires 8 items, each come from a dungeon themselves. They vary hugely in variety from jungle like areas, sand worm ridden deserts, creepy spider infested towns etc. There's a world map, and you may explore it however you like, except for when doing a mission.
I would go on and on about it, but my bottom line is, this game is absolutely awesome, while it does have its flaws it has a hell of a lot to make up for them, and I personally have found this one of the most satisfying purchases I've made for my ps3.