Enchanted Arms
Score: 82% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment Developer: FromSoftware Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 (Online) Genre: RPG
Graphics & Sound: Enchanted Arms' opening sums up the rest of the game perfectly. Three students are trapped in an ice-filled room confronting a powerful ice witch. The three are defeated, leaving one to question why he wasn’t strong enough. As is becoming the case with several next-gen titles, screenshots do not do Enchanted Arms any justice. What looks like a generic, ho-hum game is actually a visual stunner. It doesn’t push the 360’s limits to the brink, though it does throw in several little details. One of the weaker aspects is sound. Voice work suffers from overacting and wordy dialogue. Call it a case of bad localization, but there is an almost unnatural feel to most of the game’s spoken dialogue. The saving grace is that you can opt for Japanese voice work with English subtitles.
Gameplay: Thousands of years ago, a great war took place. Dubbed “The Golem War”, this epic battle all but erased magic from the world, leaving humans the task of rebuilding society with technology and Enchanting, the last known form of magic. You play as Atsuma, a would-be Enchanter studying at the University in Osaka. Atsuma isn’t the brightest or best of students; he causes trouble, sleeps through class and really doesn’t show the same dedication to the art as other students. What he does possess, however, is an enchanted right arm that has raised the attention of the school’s higher-ups, so they allow him to stay. Before we move on, now is probably a good time to point out Atsuma’s other major skill, the ability to look the other way while his flaming gay friend, Makato, tries his hardest to flirt and bed down his best friend, Toya. Uncomfortable dialogue ensues, though only if you are really bothered by that kind of stuff; otherwise, it is pretty funny. Still, consider yourself warned… Anyway, Enchanted Arms’ story centers on Atsuma’s arm and its connection to Golems, walking automations that are used as servants. Things are going along just fine until Atsuma unintentionally awakens the Queen of Ice, a legendary Devil Golem that once left the world in ruin. Not only does the Queen live out Makato’s dream of making Toya her slave, but she also goes and destroys Osaka as well. This lead’s Atsuma on a quest to hunt down the Queen as well as discovering more about his arm. Enchanted Arms plays out like any other Japanese-styled RPG. The game follows a set, linear story that has you travelling to different locations around the world. Along the way, you’ll encounter random fights with enemies, uncover new abilities and treasures, reveal parts of the story and fight bosses. Enchanted Arms does a fine job of hitting all of the right notes but, to quote our young hero, it “…just isn’t strong enough.” Story is interesting, but lacks the hook to really get you interested early on. On top of this, dialogue is too frequent and way too wordy. Things that could easily be said in a few lines are drawn out into long soliloquies. Also, the game is painfully linear and sometimes areas go on for longer than they probably should. As you progress through the game you will also discover cores that are used to build weapons and new Golems. Once built, you can add Golems to your party, opening up new strategies. Golems are helpful, especially during certain boss battles, though once your non-Golem members level up, they become less useful.
Difficulty: As far as RPGs go, Enchanted Arms is on the low end of the challenge scale. There’s a small learning curve, though once you get the basics of combat down, there shouldn’t be any problem. And, if you do happen to fall in battle, you are given the chance to simply play through the battle again.
Game Mechanics: Characters have three stats: HP, EP and VP. HP and EP are your health and mana points respectively and replenish at the beginning of each battle. VP, on the other hand, diminishes after each battle and must be refilled at special stations, otherwise your members are useless in battle. Refill stations aren’t too uncommon, though there are a few tight spots where you’ll find yourself rotating Golems into the mix just to bolster your party. Combat is broken up into two major components: turn-based attacks and grid-based movement. Characters are placed on a square grid and have a set movement range and a variety of attacks to choose from. Actions are assigned at the same time and activated at the same time. This requires strategic thinking. Some moves only reach as far as one or two squares ahead, while others have patterns like crosses or whole blocks of the grid. Attacks with a wider range do less damage and those that affect rows diminish with each hit, adding strategy to your attacks. Because you’re locked in combat every few steps, it can become tiring and tedious. You can choose to automate the entire process and have the A.I. decide your moves, though I found this usually left me in a tough spot since the A.I. seemed to favor attacks that would quickly drain my party member’s VP. Enchanted Arms is the first traditional RPG on the Xbox 360 and is a solid start. It isn’t the strongest of RPGs, but should still satisfy RPG-starved 360 owners.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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