Wild Arms

"A great RPG, but better than Final Fantasy 7-9?"

Is Wild Arms but better than Final Fantasy 7-9?
Personally I don't think it is, well, except Final Fantasy 9, that game sucked. Anyway, I don't think that Wild Arms is better, but it is still one of the best RPG's I have ever played.
Okay, on to the review:

Story/Plot: 10/10
It's the classic, the world is going to be destroyed, so you have to save it type of story that was so popular back then, but it is also about the tales of three people Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia, how they meet, and eventually grow to be a pretty good team. Characters are well thought out, and the writers really did a good job of getting you into the game.

Gameplay: 10/10
The game really succeeds in the gameplay section, excellent turn based combat, that has various things to choose from at the beginning of each persons turn. There are five basic options for all three characters, Item, Unit, Run, Fight, and Auto Battle. from there there are other options depending on which one you pick. I'll explain each of the main options now. Fight means, well what do you think it means? Next there's the Run Away option, hmm, another tough one. Auto Battle, which lets you choose between 6 different modes, which I will explain in a second. There's the Equip button where you can change weapons and armor, and lastly there is the Unit option which lets you change the positions of the characters, you can move Rudy to the left, middle, or on the right for example. Ok, now onto the Auto Battle modes. Ok, here they are:
#1. Manual - you control what the character does
#2. Balanced - It keeps a balance between fighting and healing
#3. All Out - Uses only the strongest attacks available
#4. Defensive - Uses healing items a lot, helps out other members in the party, etc...
#5. Survival - Uses strongest attacks and healing items except revive fruit (Don't ask me why it doesn't use revive fruits, since it's Survival, you;d think it would mean that it would want everyone to survive, but I guess my logic is different from theirs.)
#6. Reserve - Uses hand weapons only and recovery items rarely used.

Graphics: 5/10
This is where the game begins to lose points. The graphics look outdated, even for the Playstation, but don't let that bother you, this game is not meant to be a pretty game with no story, it is meant to have great gameplay, and story, and since it has those, I guess they said screw the graphics, the gameplay and story is good enough. anyway, don't let the bad graphics stop you from playing this great game, as you can see I still rated this game a nine, even with the bad graphics.

Music/Sound: 9/10
First off let me say that the music in this game is awesome and fits the game perfectly. Wild Arms has some of the best music in a game in my opinion it does anyway. The only reason I gave it a 9/10 is because the sound effects can get repetitive.

Overall: 9/10
Has some minor flaws, but nothing too much to worry about. The graphics are pretty bad, but it's not the graphics that matter, it's the gameplay. Would you rather have a pretty game, that has crappy gameplay and no story? Or would you rather have a game with a great story, awesome gameplay, and crappy graphics? I thought so. Graphics don't matter much to me. They are just like an added bonus if the game is good. I would much rather have a good game like this that has crappy graphics, than a pretty game that has a stupid story and gameplay *cough* Oddworld for Xbox *cough*.

Buy or Rent?
Well, since I doubt that anywhere has it for you to rent and you should be able to get it pretty cheap on the internet if you can find it, definitely buy it. Anything under 20 bucks is a steal for this awesome game. So if you can find it buy it, if you can't find it, get some screenshots and fantasize that you were able to find it and that you are playing it as you look at the screenshots.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/02, Updated 10/08/02