Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel

"A game that provides less than what it promises"

After just finishing the first forty chapters of the full metal alchemist manga, I couldn't wait for this game to come out, so when it did I quickly grabbed myself a copy and was somewhat satisfied, but that only lasted the amount of time that it took me to get home from the store and plug the game into my ps2.

Gameplay (2/10)
This game provides fairly interesting gameplay, though gets very repetitive after a while. While this game acts as an RPG it lacks some of the things important for one to have. It lacks the learning of new and/or better moves as you keep playing through the game, and it lacks the change in your weaponry seeing how your weapons never seem to change one bit. The game will be interesting for the first little while until you get tired of constantly pounding at the monsters in the game called chimeras (that have no resemblance what so ever to the original image of a chimera that you may see in myths). This game, though possesses combos makes them way too hard to perform, and at the same time without them you basically have a regular three hit combo. The boss battles in this game are unsatisfyingly easy to the point where you need to aim with your analog at the boss and mash the attack button. At about 7/10 of the game though a boss appears who unlike the rest is too difficult to beat even if you cruised through the game so far.

Story (5/10)
The story in this game has nothing to do with the original story presented in the manga, and in fact is rather stupid as it's based on Ed chasing after a random girl because she called him a shorty. Overall the story does not present any sudden twists or turns and is completely straight forward. Moreover the entire game takes place in about five major areas which you constantly go through (and with each visit they stay the same). One of the missions is for some reason chasing some guy all over town to get a key, though Ed and All are alchemist and could simply turn the door (there is a door they need to get through) into like some open gates or something (using alchemy they can change one object to something else), but no you are lead through about five stages in an area in which you have two boss fights which take no effort. Another of the missions which I found truly amusing (sarcasm) is a mission where you are sent to search through about three areas for flowers. Now it might be just me, but since when did full metal alchemist turn into E. T. (if you are not familiar with what E.T. is about, than its basically about searching for your phone and reviving flowers). Overall the story seems rushed and unsatysfying for the most part, though it may be worth playing it through to the end just to see some of the ending cut-scenes which make up for some of the story's flaws.

Graphics (7/10)
While the games cut-scene graphics are basically clips made in the anime fashion and are mostly very satisfying, the in-game graphics are in some categories ridiculously bad. The in-game graphics with regards to weapons are not too shabby and in fact are pretty good though more could have been expected from a game released at this time, because the graphics are like one of the older ps2 games like Orphen which are not that great. The Backgrounds though sometimes look to plain and lifeless are for the most part suited for the areas and chosen well for the location they are in (as in the rest of the environment in the level). What is a down point in the graphics category is the the heads of the characters. Al's head for the most part is alright due to the bulkiness of the rest of his body, while Ed's head looks like its too big for the body itself and is round, looking more like it was a start to a face but editor never finished his job and left it with the default round basketball-like head that he has in the game. Overall the graphics though could, and should have been better considering this is a game that carries the title of "full Metal Alchemist", are fair enough.

Sound (6/10)
The sounds in this game are for the most part alright. The hits that your weapons make, regardless of whether it is a sword, hammer, or cannon are right on. Sometimes though the hits made from Ed's default weapon sound like its nothing close to steal (or metal) that the weapon is made of. The songs in this game are fairly entertaining and switch depending on what area you go to, but can still make you vomit if you stay in the same area for too long due to the repetitiveness of the tune. What can truly be found bothersome is the way that Ed calls out "Al". It took me a while to understand that it was in fact Ed that was saying this and not some donkey dying off screen. Other than this the sounds are ok.

Controls (8/10)
The controls in this game cant really be commented too much on since they are fine and easy to get used to. Except for some thing like the complicated combos you should be able to adjust to the controls in but ten to fifteen minutes.

Overall (5.6/10 = 6/10)
This game will prove to be a great disappointment to those who have seen or read the manga of full metal alchemist and liked it. The game was rushed and overall seems like it wasn't even complete before the release. If you are aiming to buy this game, than save yourself some cash and get disappointed by it from a rented copy rather than a bought one.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/01/05