Wild Arms 4 – PS2 – Review

Wild Arms
4 is the first published game under XSEED, a new publisher that was founded in
2004. This is only the start for XSEED and with the release of Wild Arms 4, the
future looks definitely bright. With former Square Enix president, Jun Iwasaki,
their goal is to bring Japanese games to the U.S. market for excellent
translation. Wild Arms 4 is technically the fifth game to be released in the
U.S. as the recent remake of the original was published not too long ago (Wild
Arms: Alter Code F). Does Wild Arms 4 offer anything exciting to the RPG genre?

If you have played any of the past games in the Wild Arms franchise, forget what
you know right now and be ready to embark on a whole new journey. Woefully
though, the storyline in Wild Arms 4 isn’t up to par with the gameplay. The
storyline is disappointing in the fact that it tries too hard to align you
against adults throughout the whole game. By the end of the game though, I was
rooting more for the adults to pull through with a victory more so than my own
pesky teenagers that wouldn’t stop whining. This effect is somewhat related to
Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode 1. We all know he’s a good guy but all of us
hardcore Star Wars fans wanted him to disappear before the end of the movie.
Wild Arms 4 has similar attributes as it has too many moments when the storyline
was tailored for the younger generation.

Here’s a
quick rundown of the story without any spoilers. The setting is in a unique town
of Ciel. Ciel isn’t the run-of-the-mill small town you may be acquainted to, but
rather imagine it being thousands of feet floating above the surface. Since Ciel
is far away from the surface, not much crime is seen and the dangers of the
night are never present. Until one day Wild Arm’s 4 hero, Jude Maverick,
witnesses large aircrafts shoot through the skies. Through his discovery, he
finds out that military men are holding captive a young girl.  Encountering this
young girl, Yulie, as a prisoner, Jude sets forth to free her and not too long
after he discovers he is able to handle one of the legendary weapons known as an
ARM. The ARM packs a mighty punch that in turn destroys Ciel completely. The
adventure begins after Ciel’s destruction and contains humor to entertain the
player all throughout.

Aside from the story, Wild Arms 4 excels in almost every other category an RPG
needs to have. The combat system is fantastic, the gameplay is wonderful, and
the graphics are an improvement from any other Wild Arms title. The combat
system has been revamped with the new HEX battle system. The HEX (Hyper Evolved
X-Fire) allows for more engaging fights that involve strategy and gutsy moves.
The characters that are about to enter the battle will be placed on one of the
seven large hexagons that are located on the battlefield. Each hexagon is able
to support a number of characters. With the hexagons being used, the number of
characters placed within a certain hexagon being targeted will all feel the
affects of an attack. There are some strategies of moving around characters to
different hexagons since some differ in colors. The colored hexagons are called
Ley Points and each color is attributed to different elements. As you can see,
the battle system is fresh and energizing.

Outside
of the fresh battle system, each character has three unique abilities to assist
them with fighting. There are Force Abilities, Personal Skills and Original
Commands. The first, Force Abilities, uses the blue force gauge on the right
side of the screen. A few examples of Force Abilities include Yulie summoning
different guardian beasts, Arnaud jumping to empty hexagons, and Raquel having
consecutive strikes as an advantage. The second, Personal Skills, are passive
maneuvers that are triggered at random events. The last is Original Commands,
they are special abilities you can use while in battle. They use up the MP bar
and can help out by either attacking or healing the team.

Aside from the battle system, the developers anted up the gameplay with puzzles
to be solved. The puzzles revolve around 2D-style platforming that are a simple
but a charming attempt to bring depth. You’ll be jumping more than once or twice
to figure out puzzles, but think about Wild Arms 4 as being an RPG-Adventure
game. You’ll be double jumping, stomping and exploring areas as if that’s the
objective of the game. Exploration of the Filgaia (the surface world under the
once beautiful Ciel) is quite fun and entertaining. The platforming isn’t an
afterthought either, it’s well thought out and can provide thrills at a few
moments of accomplishment.

If that’s
not enough, the developers also added in a mechanic known as “Accelerator” which
is the “Matrix Bullet Time” feature of this game. Slowing down time and
increasing Jude’s speed is tempting to use whenever it is available. There are
other abilities to unlock such as turning off random encounters. That’s right,
turning off random encounters! What a dream come true for this RPG lover who
despises them when they come at the most unfortunate time. No more will I have
to worry about having back to back gigantic battles that could mean game over
for me. Random battles always strike me when I am hurting the most so the
ability to turn them off is welcomed.

The audio department for RPGs can vary from great to downright awful. Wild Arms
4 falls directly in the middle and sometimes goes above being average. The voice
acting is odd when you are battling which is strange, since you’d expect it to
come from NPC’s talking to your characters. The soundtrack and musical score is
aptly acceptable. The audio doesn’t detract away from the game as it does
influence the mood in a few instances. While they won’t win any awards for the
sound, Media Vision can rest safe that their audio is decent enough to get the
job done.

Speaking
about Media Vision, I am glad to hear that they are working on the upcoming Wild
Arms 5. If Wild Arms 4 is any indicator, the fifth part of the series should be
even better. I am hoping they make advancements in making it more for the
hardcore role-playing gamer rather than the beginners that are just starting
out. Wild Arms 4 often portrays as if it was intended to be a starter-RPG so
beginners can pick up and learn to play. If they continue to add depth to what
they have already created, Wild Arms 5 should be a success too.

Wild Arms 4 isn’t the greatest RPG I have ever played but it does its job of
entertaining. The story is weak and borrows a lot of clichés from several other
top RPGS already on the market. The platforming is refreshing to see added and
the HEX battle system is a decent surprise too. You’ll easily be able to get
your worthy 40 hours of gameplay out of Wild Arms 4 in replay. Gamers should
pick it up regardless as it’s not a bad purchase for a starter-RPG.

Gameplay: 8.0

Platforming + Great Battle System = A Refreshing Product. The series needed to
see some new ideas implemented and Media Vision has delivered the goods.

Overall: 7.8

With optional boss fights and side quests, there is tons to do within Wild Arms
4 to make you keep playing. I’d rather explore the world of Filgaia though if
that gives you any hint on how I loved the added exploration and adventure side
of Wild Arms 4.