Wild Arms

"The first quality RPG for the PS"

Wild Arms is a little hard to understand at first. Instead of simply stating ''the girl uses magic, the hero uses special weapons, and the other guy uses techniques'' they make you have to figure out what in tarnation is going on! Despite a somewhat hard to understand intial premise, Wild Arms is really a normal RPG with very good music and solid graphics. It was the first quality RPG released on the Playstation, with FF7 and Suikoden following shortly after.
Good things about Wild Arms include a great opening animation sequence with excellent music, deep gameplay, and a relatively unique story. Low points are the choppy battle sequences and the occasionally non-linear way the game pushes the plot along. This is one of those games that if you put it down for a while, picking it up again and remembering what to do can be kind of tricky. Still a solid RPG though.

Graphics=8.7 Nice, but not amazing. The overworld and dungeons are well drawn, though the battle sequences are a little lacking. I wish there were more cut scenes with animation like the introduction but alas, such visuals are few and far between. The battles offer a chance for your polygonal-pudgey characters to whoop up on a variety of enemies. Most of the enemies are well drawn and have some rather unique attacks. The whole battle process is a little choppy and no where as smooth as Final Fantasy 7. Camera angles can be distracting we well.
One thing I really enjoyed about Wild Arms were the lighting effects. I don't mean ray tracing, rather the way sunlight beamed in through windows in the village houses or the shadow effects in battle. While nothing essentially new, it did show Sony was paying attention to details.

Music=9.7 Very nice tunes, many done with what seems to be a live guitar and synthesized whistle. Better than average ''town'' music and good songs throughout the game. I found the sweeping Baskar village theme to be my favorite. The battle music is ok but it will get old after a while. As far as effects go, Wild Arms taps into the Playstation's rich synthesized sound for a good variety of battle sounds throughout the game. Some of your special attacks sound great! Also fun is when you bonk an animal on the head with the magic wand; it makes a funny sound! A clear step up from the world of 16 bit sound effects.

Challenge=8.5 A long game to play through that, at times, lacks a linear path. It is easy to get lost in what you are doing if you do not pay attention. For example, I put this game down for about a month only to come back with no real idea what to do next. While I like games that don't make things obvious, it can be hard to figure out where to go next. The best way to play Wild Arms is to make sure you can remember the previous segment before turning it off. Yes, I know that sounds disturbingly obvious but it's the best way to keep track of where you are in between long periods of gaming inactivity.

Gameplay=8.6 Your characters are responsive and do what you tell them. The battle sequences can be a little smoother, but overall pretty nice. Your characters are blocky and tend to be awkwardly animated in battle but it IS a big step up from the Dragon Warrior type battle sequence we are used to in the 16 bit world. Song did make an effort to make the ARMS and special weapons/techniques look a little bit spiffier than normal battle attacks. The overworld and in-town movement is VERY smooth, and Sony graciously gives us the option of running around town instead of simply walking at a slow pace; a nice touch for us impatient gamers! While nothing new in the way of RPG controls, the game is smooth for the most part with the exception of the somewhat rigid animation in the battle sequences.

Storyline=7.5 A little more engrossing than most RPG's, though it still has a lot of token elements. As always, there is a Princess with magical power *yawn* who is of course foxxy. She of course digs the orphan *stretch* hero who has a legacy of heroism in the family. And, as always, there is the ''other guy'' who has some kind of *fluffs pillow* weird trait, this being a trained mouse named HANPAN who is a battle ally. I did enjoy the twists the plot took, ranging from the over coming evil to the discovering of the past. I know AGAIN it's nothing new, but I liked it anyways.

Overall=8.3 A good investment if you are looking for a solid RPG for the Playstation that doesn't suck. This proves that Sony can produce a pretty solid game when they try. A good game to check out after you have played Suikoden and Final Fantasy 7. If you are a fan of gaming music, this is a great game to invest in!

*BRU'S MUST GET OMETER*=7.8 A great pick up for the RPG fan, especially considering most placed sell it used for around 15 dollars!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/00, Updated 05/02/00