Sega's Otogi for the Xbox finally made its North American debut at E3 this week. The build on offer is a little limited in scope, so it's difficult to get a good idea of what the final product will be like. That being said, the demo does offer one full level and the chance to take the battle system through its paces.

The demo starts off with choosing the main character's weapon. Then it's into the demo proper, for ten minutes of pure hacking and slashing, in the best and most frenetic sense of the phrase. The action on screen is fast, with no noticeable slowdown. Your character can do double jumps, and by holding in the jump button, he floats back down to the ground. This comes into play later with some of the enemies who stay airborne all the time. He also has a dash ability, two strengths of attack, and a magic ability. As enemies are killed, powerups are released and automatically absorbed: Think Onimusha, with its soul orb.

Graphically, the game is a joy to behold. The enemy designs are complex, intricate and colorful. There weren't too many different enemies available in the limited demo, but killing them is still a hell of a lot of fun. One interesting and fun feature is the ability to destroy environments. And I mean destroy. When I was done with the demo, there was one building left standing out of the 30 or so that were around at the beginning. The animation of the attacks is awesome, and the feeling of floating down after a high jump feels just right.

There's not too much in the way of real RPG elements right now, but that's beside the point. As long as the rest of the game has more depth to it, and the story is more than just a tacked on afterthought, Otogi might just surprise a couple people when it sees release later this year.