Wild Arms

"One of the best games you will ever play."

This game has been overlooked for a long time. Ever since it was released back in 1997 Wild Arms has never reached the level of greatness that it deserves. I found this game a year ago and was really excited. I remembered playing that game a long time ago and never buying it. Once I wanted the game however I could not find it. So as soon as I got it I put it in my old playstation and returned to an adventure. Wild Arms has everything a good RPG game needs in order to be great. It has one of the best story lines that have ever graced the gaming world. Also this game has fairly decent graphics which only adds to its level. Wild Arms even has a fun battle system that will keep you interested. Even though this game has been out for 7 years I will try to give you my reasons for the rating this game received.

Story 10/10:
Now some may think this rating is a little high but it will be explained. This is the strongest part of Wild Arms. The story is what makes this game so attractive and so addicting to play. The world of Filagaia is suffering terribly from drought and other things. . Ever since the demon war of 1000 years ago this world has been declining at a rapid rate. The Guardians, humans, and elw battled together against the metal demons and won. But the war weakened the powers of the Guardians and the elw just vanished. People are pretty much living in there little communities while the world wastes away around them. The only ones that dare to go out into the day are the Dream Chasers. These people wonder the wasteland going from place to place and doing what they can. So of course once you get control of your characters something must be done. You take control of three characters Cecilia, Jack, and Rudy. Now each character has a personal and unique history and motives. Jack is a treasure hunter that goes through ruins looking for a secret power. Cecilia is a princess from a nearby kingdom finishing her schooling in magic. Rudy is a dream chaser that is wondering the wilderness for a place to belong. This story is really original and makes you feel for the people living there. But this is only the start of your adventure into this world. As you travel around you will meet different people and the 3 characters that you control will grow and change. Soon you will really begin to feel for these characters and when bad things occur within the story you will be worried. There are so many plot twists and turns that you will be surprised when they happen. The story will pull you in and you will be along for a fun ride.

Gameplay 8/10:
Now we arrive at another key part of any game. The gameplay for this game is very interesting for sure. Wild Arms gives the player access to tools that are very unique and fun to use. Each of the three characters has a few tools that only they can use. This makes the puzzles in the game fun to solve, because usually one of the characters will have the right tool to solve the problem. I have not seen many games with this feature so in terms of originality this game deserves the points. Now I have mentioned that you are using Jack, Rudy, and Cecilia throughout the game and that includes battle. This battle system is fairly simple and easy to understand. You enter your battle commands for each character and the fight starts. One character attacks then a monster or a second character ect. But in order to spice this up you have access to force abilities. After doing enough damage/taking enough damage you get a force level up. With each level up you can use different abilities like summoning a Guardian. Each character has unique battling styles. Jack uses his sword to unleash special attacks called fast draws, that he learns throughout the game upon enemies. Rudy uses his ARMs to shoot his foes and Cecilia uses her magic to defeat enemies. So with all the uniqueness for characters this section gets a good mark.

Graphics 6/10:
This is the part of the game where the mark goes down a little bit. Even when this game was released the graphics were not exactly pretty. Now when you are in town the graphics are pretty similar to Final Fantasy 6. Trust me if you've played that game you'd agree with me. You get some dust when you run around and after running in water some wet footprints appear behind you. If you are in town the graphics are not bad but they just are not really great. Now when you are in battle everything changes around. Your fighters look like little puff balls that could not beat up a fly. This just shows how 3D graphics were not exactly easy to use at this point in time. Now if Final Fantasy 7 had not come out then this score probably would not be this low. Safe to say that it could have looked better. Now the monsters look pretty good and are fairly well done. It is just strange that the creators would not put more effort into the 3 characters you see in every battle. The fast draws look ok and the magic spells are nice to look at. Most of the Guardian summons looks good and it is not as bad as some may expect. Now the anime sequence in the opening is what really saves this mark. It is very good looking and if they had put more of them in I would have been overjoyed. The graphics are not terrible, but not the reason you are going to play this game.

Sound: 9/10
This is the reason you are going to play this game. The sound in this game is some of the best I have ever heard in any game. The composer Naruke did an amazing job at making music that just felt right. Each town has its own sound that you can distinctly remember for months after playing the game The world music is pleasant and if you were walking over a wasteland you would be extremely happy to have this music follow you. The battle music is good but like anything if you hear it for hours you may get tired of it. Each cave and new area will give you a different feeling. Each character seems to have a theme of their own and this is a nice addition to have. Of course the theme of this game is one of the best and most memorable. Ask anyone who has played this game what it sounds like and they will whistle away. Not many games have such a great theme song that will stay with you for a long time. This music is something that just can not be overlooked and you will notice it wherever you go. There is so much feeling that is contained within the music of this game that you can not help but give a high score to it.

Playtime/Replayability 8/10:
This game will keep you going for hours and hours on end. If you try to beat every sub-quest then you could be going for 60-80 hours. Now if you like playing a lot then that is all good for you. But even if you do not do any sub-quests you are still in for a long story driven game. In the case of replayability it is not easy to give a high score. If you have spent that many hours in a game you may not be so eager to play it again. Now I love this game and have beaten if 4 or 5 times so it is not too hard for me to do. You can beat this game and leave it alone for a couple months and then nostalgia will kick in and you will be back slaying demons and monsters. So if you can handle long hours and sleepless nights then this RPG is for you.

Final Score 9/10:
Well right now this game is almost impossible to find. So if you get the chance buy it! Frankly I do not think you can rent this game anymore. Anyway this game is a lot of fun and would keep anyone who likes RPGs interested. Grabbing this game is something that you will not regret. So off you go to play this game. Hope this review has helped you and I hope you enjoy this game as much as I have.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/04, Updated 07/22/04