"A fun game, albeit short and easy...a must rent"

Fullmetal Alchemist 2 is a fun game for any fan of the series, the gameplay is great, having Al as a companion makes the game somewhat unique and the bits of new animation are a great treat.

The game is not without its faults, though, and they're enough for me not to recommend investing any money into the game beyond a rental.

Gameplay: 8/10

As I said, it's great. The assortment of moves allows for variety in combat, and the use of alchemy moves in the game is executed perfectly. Al is pretty useful, although mostly as target/diversion for your enemies. There are items you can equip him with to change his behavior, although only a few are truly useful. The stats and bonus point system are simplistic, beating on enemies raises your experience, but the bonus points are pointless, for as long as you use them to keep a high HP, the level of your other stats is irrelevant.

The games uses certain collectables (cats, crystals) to keep the game from being too straightforward, but in the end it's far too linear, and relies on some rather boring enemy characters (golems) to keep you busy, and most of the time you can ignore them and just exit the area.

Difficulty varies to an annoying degree. The game is very easy, all the way up until the boss of the 5th Chapter, who's annoyingly difficult (even more so than the final boss). The difficulty increases more as the game goes on, although the Spider Golem and the first phase of the final boss battle are very easy but come late in the game.

On the pro side, there's no way you can die from falling in this game.

Storyline: 7/10

The story of Crowley and the lost city of Lebis is compelling and emotional, and Ed's banter with the other State Alchemists is often hilarious. However, the game feels disjointed. The first 3 chapters feel unconnected (the 2nd Chapter about the Sewers is completely pointless and unrelated to the plot) and are rushed adaptations of certain plotlines from the anime, complete with verbatim dialogue from the episodes. Only with Chapter 4 does the game become relevant to the overall plot.

Also keep in mind the games has a lot of lengthy story scenes. They're interesting, plot-wise, but not visually stimulating like an MGS cut scene. The cell shaded characters have limited movement and no expression, relying on still pictures from the anime to convey emotion. Also, unlike MGS, you can't skip the cit scene at the press of a button and return to gameplay, you have to hold the X button and wait until all the images cycle through.

Graphics: 5/10

The game has nice cell-shaded graphics, but this creates limited movement in cut scenes (and no mouth movements when characters talk). Also, the enemies all look alike, especially the endless identical golems.

The levels look nice but are very straight forward, and are sometimes deceptive. At times it may look like there's a street you can go down, but an invisible barrier will block the way, insuring you take the linear path set out for you.

Overall: 7/10

Despite its faults it's fun and should be on the top of your list of games to rent. I can't in good conscience recommend the game to buy, because although you get a DVD, the game is short and replay-ability is limited (a second run as a slight increase in difficulty and hidden crystals that unlock production art.)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/05