WILD ARMS

WILD ARMS

SCUS-94608
Copyright (C) 1997 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Sony Playstation
1 Disc, 1 Memory Block per save

— by Mark L. Johnson

It is certainly nice to see Sony of America slowly reversing its policy that North Americans do not want RPGs. With the successful run of SUIDOKEN, the beautiful but short RPG effort by Konami, Sony decided to sponsor bringing over WILD ARMS personally, which was well received in Japan. And even with the monolithic FINAL FANTASY VII looming over the horizon in September, Sony has reported that WILD ARMS sales have exceeded their expectations (but then again, all the press coming directly from Sony is overly positive).
The plot goes like this: In the distant past, three races existed: Humans, the Guardians, and the technologically advanced Elws. These races banded together to repel the Metal Demons to the Arctic and capture their leader, with the help of magical Golems created by the Elws. Now, the Elws have all but vanished from the planet and the Guardians are losing theirpowers.
Rudy Roughnight is a young "Dream Chaser" (or adventurer) who has a mastery of ARMs, or special guns which only a few humans can use. Jack Van Burace is a treasure hunter searching for the "Absolute Power" along with his cute, furry companion Hanpan. Jack has mastery of the "Fast Draw" technique (sword based skills). Cecilia Lyane Adlehyde is the princess of Adlehyde who spent most of her life in a monastery learning magical skills, and has special abilities in communicating with the ancient Guardians. Together with different goals they band together to help fight the return of theDemons.
Although WILD ARMS will not win any originality contests in plot or gameplay, the designers have definitely played enough RPG/Adventure games and incorporated many of their best features.

WILD ARMS is a cross-breed of ZELDA-like exploration and RPG combat. The perspective is a standard 3/4 view in sharply drawn 2-D animation, while the combat scenes are a first attempt at a cutesy FF7 polygon look.
The 2-D scenes are very well done, rating higher than SUIDOKEN in my opinion. Movement of the characters is easy to control, boxes can be lifted and pushed, movement in and out of houses blends smoothly, transitions are fast and painless, and the towns and dungeons are very well detailed (even down to leaving footprints after walking through puddles). All the townspeople have different things to say and constantly change as the plot progresses. The dungeons are also rather interesting, with falling blocks, destructible walls, traps, chasms, lights, and other surprises.
Each character can find and use different tools, such as Jack's lighter or furry buddy, or Rudy's magical bombs and treasure radar. Many puzzles revolve around proper use of these tools. Other puzzles require the characters to split up, and the player to switch between the different parties.
The 3-D random combat is less impressive though, as the character designs, while cute, lack detail and smoothness. The 3-D backgrounds vaguely resemble the 2-D area and are too simple and unvaried. The combat system itself is decent, although after a while it does get overly repetitive. WILD ARMS also added a customizable autocombat feature, but I have yet to personally trust a computer with the lives of my characters and the fate of humankind (not to mention the annoying tendency of a computer to use items and spells at the worst of times).
Along with the standard attack, guard, item and run options, WILD ARMS adds a special attack for each character (ARM, Fast Draw, or Magic) and a Force attack. The Force meter increases as a battle progresses (not in real time) and when it reaches a certain level, you can perform special attacks or spells by choice. Spells are nice, but pale in comparison to FF7's magic (although FF7 does go overboard occasionally).
The player will only control the three main characters during the game, so it gets away from the "Will this random guy leave me in a minute with all those cool weapons I bought him?" But I wish there was more character interaction between them. As the game progresses, there is the standard armory in the next town with the next level of more expensive but definitely better weapons and armor. Also hidden in dungeons and towns are extra accessories which increase attributes, and runes which allow players to summon Guardians during combat. These certainly make combat easier but can be missed by players while travelling through dungeons.
The story is relatively linear, but I found exploring new towns and places to be rather interesting as each town had its own feel and each character actually had something to say. There are other non-essential areas such as the arena, and some secrets requiring returning to old locations with new tools. Occasional cut scenes also occur for player information and story development (such as Demon planning sessions).
Overall I enjoyed playing WILD ARMS. It certainly does not break any new ground (other than being one of the few good Playstation RPGs) but most of what it does do is solid. It is also longer than SUIDOKEN (I have put in 20 casual hours and still have a little ways to go) and has kept my interest in the plot and character development to keep going. Just by playing through the first few minutes, WILD ARMS proves it is a polished product.
So if you have been looking forward to a solid RPG, WILD ARMS will not let you down. It may not bring all gamers in, as the repetitive combat can try the most patient sometimes, but such is the nature of RPGs. WILD ARMS proved to be a good purchase while waiting for MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH and the upcoming North American release of FINAL FANTASY VII.

Rating: *** (out of 4)