Arc the Lad Collection

"A Series of RPG's like you've never seen before."

Ah what can I say about this game? Simply that it is an amazing game. Lets get down to the stats:

Storyline: 10/10

No questions on this one. The whole save the world from an evil force was a cliched idea but somehow this game makes it new a fresh. The main reason would be that some people in the story you trust, only to get stabbed in the back. And still others you don't trust who save your life. For some reason I can't quite disceren yet the storyline in this game always kept me guessing. I think it will keep you on the edge of your chair as well. Storyline is the most important part in an RPG so a 10 in that catagory is really saying something.

Graphics: 8/10

Many who play this would say ''Oh the graphics are horrible!'' I however rate graphics by their own day. Would you compare games like ''Final Fantasy 6'' to ''Final Fantasy 7'' graphicly? Certinly not. For it's day this game had very nice graphics. In my oppinion this game could have had some more attack animation but that's just my oppinion. This game deserves it's score hands down.

Controls: 9/10

I really enjoyed the control scheme in this game. The battle fields made movement more stratigical. If you group you charecters together healing spells hit all. But so do offensive spells against you. Not to mention the fact that your party members movement could be impared. This extra little piece really made the game more lifelike. A definite touch of stratagy was needed to be great at this game.

Sound: 6/10

Ah the part where the game had some problems. The music was allright but it just wasn't enough. There were less then 20 tracks in the first game and the selection didn't improve much in the next two. The voices were cool but not knowing what they were saying was annoying. Don't get me wrong, the music was good. But there wasn't enough.

Replay: 8/10

Ok the tough part. If you got everything in Arc one and Arc two then the replay is great. But if you forgot something you wanted. Forget it. Back to number one you go. Suppose there is an awesome item in ATL one. You want it in you ATL 3 game. But you missed it. You have to play through ATL 1, ATL 2 again! And then you have to play through ATL 3 AGAIN! This is not something the normal person has enough patience to do.

Overall: 9

Why this score? Well the game is good. No doubt about that. But in my opinion this game falls just shy of greatness. Add a couple of extra soundtracks and maybe a scene select if you beat ATL 1-3 and it would be awesome. But as it stands a very good game. A must have for the RPG fan.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/03, Updated 03/08/03