Enchanted Arms

"Somewhat Disenchanted"

Introduction

Currently there are only two role-playing games for the Xbox 360 - Oblivion and Enchanted Arms. They are poles apart. Oblivion is open-ended, free-roaming, action oriented and features top quality voice acting by well known stars.

Enchanted Arms is on rails, has turn based fighting and has terrible voice acting.

However that does not make it bad game. Just much more of a traditional JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game.)

Gameplay

At times the game can be a repetitive grind. A lot of levelling up is required and this means fighting many, many random battles. In some areas there is a random encounter every few steps. The battles take place on a field of two halves, each made up of a 4 x 4 grid. You can take the time to move your party individually and choose which actions to perform, or you can select the 'Auto' option and let the AI get on with it. I used the Auto option for almost every battle apart from the boss fights. These can come as bit of a shock after breezing through a whole series of battles using the AI. Suddenly you have to work out a winning strategy for yourself and several of the bosses are very tough indeed.

Battles proceed quite slowly and you will find yourself using the 'fast forward' button just to get them over with.

Apart from the main storyline, there are optional activities. The most useful is gambling in the casino as you can win very valuable prizes. However in order to get the best stuff, you need to win very large amounts of chips and this turns into another tedious exercise. You need to bet, lose, reload or bet, win, save.

As well as the 4 main characters, you can vary your party by including 'golems.' This is where the game turns into Pokemon as you need to encounter them in the wild and defeat them or buy the materials to make them in shops. Although some of the golems are very powerful and have useful attributes, you can decide not to use them at all, or not to try for a complete collection.

The controls are easy to use and you get extensive tuition at the start of the game (including such basics as how to climb a ladder.) It can take some time to master the skill system used by the characters and to fully understand all the menu options available. You do need to RTFM for this game!

Story

There is nothing in the story that we haven't seen many times before. Our hero is a tousle haired, impetuous youth with mysterious powers. He is joined by a feisty female companion and they overcome initial dislike to forge a relationship. There is a stoical, knightly bodyguard accompanying the feisty female and an additional small, noisy, annoying female for comic relief.

The world is threatened by unleashed powers and it is up to the party to defeat the evil forces and save civilization as we know it.

So far, so cliched. However there are a few twists (including a very camp minor player) and there is enough variation on the traditional themes to maintain your interest.

I sometimes wonder if players would complain if their RPG games didn't include all these elements?

Graphics/Sound

The game looks good and the graphics are well up to next generation quality. Like many recent games it benefits from a HD TV or an advanced scart cable at the very least. This helps make the text more readable. Since much of the plot is advanced by text based conversations this is quite important. In fact rather too much of the plot is advanced by text based conversations between stationary 2D icons. Some might find this a relief from the scenes with voice over as the quality of the acting is very low.

There are some spectacular cut scenes which will impress.

I switched off the generic music pretty quickly and listened to my own background music. Also the characters have little 'catch phrases' they use during the battles. These became so irritating that I turned those off as well.

The size of the sprites during the battles was too small and it was often difficult to tell which types of enemy you were facing.

The graphic effects accompanying the most powerful attacks are quite impressive (at least to start with.) The time they take to unfold, has you reaching for the fast forward button again.

Play Time/Replayability

To complete the main storyline and gain sufficient levels to win the final battles will probably take 30-40 hours. To complete all the side quests, collect all the golems etc. will take 50-60 hours.

There is no 'new game plus' feature and the only reason to replay the game would be to see what the golems you missed the first time around look like.

Final Recommendation

Like most RPGs, it would not be possible to complete the game during a rental period. The game has been around for some time and has found its way into bargain bins in stores plus there will be plenty of used copies around. So there is no real reason not to buy a copy.

Overall it is a pretty standard turn-based JRPG but none the worse for that, and as it is 50% of the RPG stable for the 360 you may as well play it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/07