Wild ARMs 5

"Gun slinging adventurers duel all foes to save the Wild West"

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, MediaVision releases Wild Arms 5, the latest installment in the Wild Arms series. Not only does WA5 fix the flaws found in Wild Arms 4, but also provides fan service, a run-of-the-mill save the world from being destroyed plot, and an ambitious cast of characters. While the game retains many mechanics from earlier installments, is this game worth picking up or is it more of the same? Read to find out!

Story:

Do not expect for the story to be about gun-slinging cowboys in the Wild West who have to duke it out at dusk. Instead, Dean, who seems to be an ordinary boy, loves to search for Golems, or the remnants of lost technology from 12,000 years ago. His best friend, Rebecca, accompanies him as he sets off on a journey to find this lost technology. On their first day, of course everything goes haywire. The duo goes inside a cave where a Golem arm falls from the sky. Yes, a stone arm, weighing thousands of pounds, falls from the sky. Furthermore, when the fingers uncurl, a woman emerges from her cold sleep. The woman whispers, “Johnny Appleseed,” which is the only thing she remembers, besides her name, Avril. Dean, being such a nice young lad, decides that it is his responsibility to help Avril find out what “Johnny Appleseed” is and to help Avril unlock her forgotten memories.

Along the way, as the gamer traverses through vast, empty lands known as the Wild West, or Figalia, Dean, Avril, and Rebecca will meet three other characters who will join them on their quest.

While the story turns out to be “good versus bad,” where the good guys have to save the world from the evil guy who wants to destroy the planet in the most catastrophic way possible, the story is told well. Each character well developed, as he or she will have to confront the past, face old rivals, and overcome many trials and tribulations during this forty hour adventure. The only problem is that some of the characterization feels tacked on, Avril, Dean, and Rebecca get a lot more screen time than the other three characters, and that some of their reactions and conversations are completely unrealistic.

The disappointing part of the story is that it steals several themes and the story structure from earlier installments. When Dean sees the real world, as his hometown was located far, far away from any other signs of civilization, he will meet Veruni, a separate race who have claim superiority over humans. The humans are suppressed, following their every command. Like Wild Arms 4, the game deals with racism, coming of age, and facing problems of the past. While the game seems to target a younger audience, the game does deal with some more mature subject matter, like the concept of revenge and fate.

Another disappointing aspect of the story is the lack of voice acting during important segments of the game.

Sound:

Voice acting appears throughout the beginning of the game, but suddenly dies off towards the middle of the game. What irked me about this the most is that the ending had no voice acting, while the beginning did. Come on, MediaVision, ever heard of a concept called consistency? What bewilders me about the lack of voice acting for 90% of the game is the heavy voice acting seen in Wild Arms 4. To make up for the lack of voice acting is the sound track.

The soundtrack is a bit of a mixed bag. The soundtrack throughout the first half of the game was pretty lackluster, as many tracks were repeated over and over again, not properly conveying the mood of the scene. However, the tracks really picked up during the second half. Additionally, this game has some excellent boss battle tracks and character theme music.

Even though the soundtrack does have its shortcomings, the battle system and gameplay have never been better.

Gameplay:

Refining the battle engine seen in Wild Arms 4, the hex system is back. Using a turn based system, where on the top of the screen the gamer can see the order in which the characters and enemies attack, each character starts in a hex. On the battle field, there are 7 hexes, one in the middle and six surrounding it; however, this arrangement is changed during boss battles. On three of the seven hexes will be “Ley Points,” where each ley point correlates to an element. For example, a hex that appears blue will be a Water Hex, where if one uses the “Blast” skill while on that hex, it will be an ice attack. Utilizing the hex system is the key to victory. You can attempt to trap the enemy by surrounding all hexes its in, or try to use magic to win by protecting the hexes around the mage.

However, in order to even have a mage, or to use magic, one must have a “medium” equipped. There are six different mediums, each with their own abilities. For example, the “Sea Medium” consists of white magic, or spells like heal, hi-heal, and revive. Because there are six members of your party, you would assume that each has his or her own medium? Wrong! Along the way you will acquire “Blank Mediums” which are pretty much duplicates, so you can have two white healers and a black mage in your party if that is what you wish. This allows for great customization. Furthermore, you can customize the medium equipped. Every time a character gains a level, he or she will get 1 “GC” point. So, for example, if a character wants the revive skill, that one would usually learn at level 30, you can actually learn it at level 15. Because by the time you are level 15, you will have 15 GC points in addition to the 15 levels you already gained. 15 + 15 = 30, so yay! You got revive, but unfortunately it's not that easy. Unlike Wild Arms 4, using this system comes with a sacrifice. Each time you use a GC point, the character's maximum HP will decrease. Do not fear, though, as you can subject GC points at any time you desire.

The battle system is very fun and will keep the gamer engaged. You can equip a skill where a character can run to any hex (as long as he or she is not surrounded). You will get characters who can hit an enemy two hexes away or anywhere on the field, while other characters can only hit the enemy next to him or her. The point is that the hex system requires strategy and fully utilizing the system will take practice.

For those who hated the point-and-click world map affair that was Wild Arms 4, you will be pleased to hear that the world map is back. Actually, this game probably has one of the best world maps ever. Split into four continents, Dean will run across the globe going to train stations, dungeons, and towns. Unlike many other games, that use a bird's eye view, world map exploration is like going through a town or dungeon. Everything is drawn to scale so you can see merchants lingering under that tree or hear the train chime as it passes by you. While on the world map, gamers will be displeased to see that the search feature is back. With a press of the [] button, a green ring will appear around Dean which will reveal hidden treasure.

In dungeons, the gamer will have to solve many puzzles. Let me emphasize: there are a lot of puzzles to solve. Got it? How many puzzles are there? Plenty? Yes, that is correct. Okay now that I established that the dungeons are not designed for the impatient who only want to rush to the boss at the end, I will discuss how to get through these puzzle-filled (wait, are there puzzles?) dungeons. Some puzzles will consist of flipping a switch or pushing a block onto a switch plate, but the later dungeons require you to utilize cartridges to hit targets or freeze platforms.

Dean's ARM, the game's fancy word for a gun, can be equipped with cartridges found throughout the dungeons. For example, the fire cartridge will enable Dean to shoot fire balls to light torches. This leads to some very interesting puzzles where the gamer will have to use many cartridges to solve the puzzle.

A feature returning from Wild Arms 4 is “Break Points,” which in this game are called “Soul Niger”. While every gamer can agree that random encounters can become annoying, the Soul Niger alleviates that problem. When activating the soul niger, the gamer will have to fight a strong monster; however, once it is returned, with the press of the R2 button, random encounters can be turned on or off. This usually means that when the gamer has to backtrack through a dungeon or even return, it won't be so troublesome because the gamer has the decision to fight monsters or not.

Graphics:

As a late generation PS2 game, any gamer expects the graphics to look reasonably good. While the game is entirely rendered in 3D and conveys the mood and atmosphere of the game well, the town and dungeon design are pretty bland. There are several towns, but they are very limited in their exploration. Most have 2-3 screens and do not have any houses to explore. Instead, there is just a man or woman outside selling weapons, armors, and all the goodies one needs to save the world. The biggest problem with the town and train station design is that they all look the same. While the Wild West is supposed to represent the meeting point of civilization and savagery, where the surroundings are unbearable and only the strong survive, it does not mean the towns have to be completely barren. As a fan of the Wild West, I was really disappointed to see MediaVision's depiction of it. They could have developed a world that is desolate and barren while giving each town its own unique flair.

The dungeons are pretty bland and consist of the following themes: the cave, the mountain, the fiery cavern, the icy mountain, etc. . . Things we have all seen before. Thankfully, each dungeon is rather linear so seeing the bland design is not too horrid.

Character animations get the job done, as each has a few unique poses. This emphasizes each character well as the ambitious Dean as his “I-will-do-it” pose, while the silent Greg has his “Go-away-don't-talk-to-me” pose.

For those used to the over the top CGI effects seen in Final Fantasy X, no such effects appear in Wild Arms 5. All scenes are rendered entirely with the in-game engine. Like the lack of voice acting, the lack of CGI is apparent. There are scenes where one may think, “Hey, this would be a cool CGI,” but it's simply not there. However, I will never discredit a game for lack of CGI.

Replay Value and Miscellaneous

Because it is Wild Arm's 10th anniversary, MediaVision has provided fan service to those who have played previous installments. Scattered throughout the barren world of Figalia are the heroes from each game. Some, like Yulie, seen in Wild Arms 4, provide the gamer with sidequests. Seeing some of your favorite characters are quite nice and the nicknames each one has is pretty fun, describing their character is only a few words. For example, Arnaud, from Wild Arms 4, is referred to as “Good-looking from the neck up”. Unlike other sequels, I believe having fan service like this is excellent. It does not force the player to play earlier installments, but introduces new players to the cast of characters they have yet to meet (assuming the gamer goes back to play earlier games, as he or she should).

Once the 40 hour game is completed, a “new game+” becomes available, where you can start the game again with a few perks, like carrying over gella, the game's currency. Besides the main game, there are a number of sidequests and hidden bosses available. This allows the player to take a break from the story to explore the vast land of Figalia.

Overall Thoughts and Quick Summary:

From beginning to end, the game was very enjoyable. The number of side quests, fan service, and the strong battle system encourages the place to explore every nook and cranny. The quest will take from forty to forty five hours for the average player and the difficulty is about average. None of the bosses are hard, and after each battle all HP is restored, but there are many situations where good strategy is critical.

To further provide fan service, the game is packaged as a “deluxe” edition where it comes with an art book, providing eighty or so colored pages full of concept art from all five installments.

As an avid RPG player, I would recommend this game. Even though the game lacks voice acting during critical scenes, has bland graphics, the game does have some memorable tracks, a strong story, and an interesting cast of characters. MediaVision has paid attention to detail and the game is a great package.

Score: 8.0/10

Quick Summary (Recap):

Story: A run of the mill story, but it's presented well. The characters are unique and one could easily identify with them.

Graphics: Get the job done, but pretty bland. While the character animations are good, town and dungeon design are subpar.

Gameplay: The best aspect of the game. The hex turn based battle system shows the 20 year old turn based battle system is still full of strategy and entertainment.

Sound: Lackluster for the first half of the game, but picks up towards the end of the game. Memorable character and boss tracks. Voice acting good, but extremely limited.

Replay value: After the 40 hour quest, there is a new game+ and a number of sidequests and optional boss battles available. For those who have played earlier installments, all past heroes are present.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/09

Game Release: Wild ARMs 5 (US, 08/28/07)