 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Media.Vision |
| Publisher: | XSEED Games | |
| Genre: | RPG | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Really? This is Wild ARMs 4? Seriously? If it didn't say it on the box, I'd have a hard time believing it. Wild ARMs 4 is a strange mix - part platformer, part strategy, and yes, even part RPG. Surprisingly, it actually works…for the most part.
Wild ARMs 4 tells the tale of our spunky young hero Jude Maverick. Growing up in the isolated city of Ciel, our hero has never experienced any of the troubles of the world…or seen a girl for that matter. Then one day the sky itself mysteriously cracks and evil adults set siege on Jude's small town. I use the term "adults" because, throughout the game, the prevailing theme is "adults are bad". As an adult myself it's a bit annoying, although it does allow for some serious character development as our four heroes grow up while facing the world around them. Unfortunately the storyline is pretty predictable for experienced RPGers, especially in the latter half where I saw almost every twist coming a mile away.
That cracking sky begins a chain of events that leads Jude to quickly discover there's a much bigger world out there that needs saving. He also quickly meets his three traveling partners - all RPG stereotypes in the form of a young intelligent male drifter, an innocent priestess, and a strong female warrior. There's nothing wrong with having stereotypical characters, because as I alluded to they're all developed pretty well over the course of the game. This is aided by a unique dialog system, in which talking to any character is done full-screen alongside large anime-style portraits in various poses. Not only is the style emphatic, but there's a lot of written dialog throughout the game that changes as events occur. The team can also hold meetings at save points ala Grandia that provide hints and more insight into each character's motivations.
Since all of that sounds like standard RPG stuff you're probably wondering what exactly makes Wild ARMs 4 different. Well…pretty much everything else. Let's start with the battle system, in which battles take place on a seven hexagon grid field. The hex system changes almost everything you're used to in a conventional RPG. For starters, most status changes (like poison) and spells only affect the hex and not the individual characters. If Yulie casts Protect it applies to the hex instead of the characters in the hex, so if they move out of the hex they are no longer protected by the spell. Also, other than Jude's Shoot command attacks are almost always limited to adjacent hexes. Items work in a similar manner, so characters must be in position before they can use an item on a particular hex.
In essence it's basically a different spin on the distance-based battles of old (such as Lunar or even Aidyn Chronicles for the two of you that remember that game), and it works pretty well. Once you get used to it, even though the battles are turn-based the hex system adds a lot of strategy to things and can really make you have to stop and think before acting. Unfortunately, there are a couple problems with it as well. To begin with, since placement is entirely random (except in certain battles) you're sometimes thrown into battles that you never had a chance to win. For example, if an enemy goes first and uses a particularly debilitating status attack on a hex with three or all of your characters in it, by the time your turn comes around it may be too late. More annoyingly, often you'll waste one or two turns at the start of a battle simply getting into position. By no means do these make it a horrible system, but like any battle system it isn't perfect either.
The other major difference in gameplay is that exploration plays out like a combination of several different platform games. In fact, the map itself is a lot like the one in Super Mario World, with different areas connected by dots. Once you enter an area, you'll find that many are completely side-scrolling, with Jude hopping over crates, sliding under low-hanging obstacles, butt-stomping switches, and timing jumps that require old-school platform skills. There's even a mini-game that's essentially a 16-bit platformer starring Jude. Other areas are in full 3D, but these too require a mix of puzzle solving and platforming.
Posted: 2006-02-22 15:17:59 PST