Wild Arms 4 Review (no fat)

Game Description

Wild Arms 4 tells the story of Jude Maverick, a regular teenager whose main objective in life was to enjoy. His enviable lifestyle however ended the day a gigantic warship literally tore a hole in the sky. A bewildered and terrified Jude then witnessed a military mission during which he learned the existence of a mysterious power called ARM.

As Jude uses his newfound heroic side and the help of another young man, Arnaud, to save an imprisoned girl from the ship, he also triggers the wrath of the military. The latter follow and capture the small party, thereby causing Jude to trigger an ARM, destroying his village in the process. Jude is then left with no other choice but to comprehend his exhilarating ability and to use it for a good cause.

Wild Arms 4 Gameplay

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that this isn’t your typical Wild Arms title, as this latest release has undergone a noticeably drastic overhaul. As opposed to the folkloric themes present in the previous games, Wild Arms 4 instead opts for a futuristic approach. While certain influences are nevertheless still present, Wild Arms 4 is mainly about technological prowess and scientific implications.

The nice thing about the plot is that it never takes itself too seriously while being interesting, as shown by all the humor displayed throughout the game. This doesn’t prevent Wild Arms 4 from having well-developed characters. A lot of emphasis is laid on each character’s feelings and fears as the story progresses.

The game enjoys a long lifespan thanks to the multitude of secrets scattered throughout the game. The core of the game itself is quite long, as even RPG experts will need more than forty hours to beat it. In addition, there are alternate quests to complete, which will reveal more about the story, along with tons of secrets. A handful of optional bosses are also present for those who just can’t get enough of the HEX battle system. Finally, you can even import your Alter: Code F save files into the game.

Wild Arms 4 Battle System

The most innovating part is the HEX (Hyper Evolved X-Fire) battle system, which is a welcome change from the regular turn-based conventional alternative present since the series’ conception. Whenever a battle is triggered, your party, along with the opposing foes, is randomly scattered across the seven hexagons that span over the whole screen. Physical attacks can be pulled solely on foes that are in the same hexagon as your character, and this obviously gives a whole new level of strategy to the game. It’s no longer a matter of just choosing options, as you need to move your party members over the hexagons while still preventing the fiends from overpowering a weak character. While you do have the ability to place up to four characters in a single hexagon, the enemy count depends on their size.

Another neat facet of the hyped battle system is that getting through the battles is no chore in spite of their complexity. Should you get stuck because of a poor strategy, there is an option to restart the battle without any penalty imposed on you. This eliminates the need for pointless and frustrating leveling up, as you can rely on strategy alone to win battles.

Of course, having an overall strong party does help ensure victory, but the fact that you don’t need to spend countless hours literally turning your whole party into war machines deserves to be applauded. Each character also has specific skills, which can only be pulled when you have enough Force Points, and pulling those certainly makes battles easier.

Your party also now shares a set of tools, which is stored as regular items, as opposed to the previous installments where each character would have his own distinct tools. The dungeon puzzles vary from ludicrously easy to just plain frustrating, but most of them are fortunately balanced and fun to solve. Wild Arms 4 also incorporates exciting platform elements where you will need to jump and slide your way to safety. Handling your alter ego is a joy since the game provides an intuitive and responsive control setup. This adds more diversity to the game, as you will no doubt welcome a break from the sometimes exhaustive battles.

Wild Arms 4 Visuals

Although Wild Arms 4’s themes and plot are so different from the other titles, the same character design that is so important to the series has been kept, and the art style is basically the same. This fourth installment is nonetheless a definite improvement over its predecessors, as everything is now even more detailed. The landscapes in particular are excellent, and range from oppressive dungeons to huge forests. Cut scenes are still done in the trademark anime fashion and are, as usual, brilliant.

Wild Arms 4 Sound

The music ranges from memorable tracks that marvelously blend into the game to average ones that can get mildly annoying. Thankfully, the voice acting is stellar, with each main actor appropriately conveying his character’s moods across. The sound effects, while nothing extraordinary, fit their role well in spite of their lack of diversity.

Wild Arms 4 Overall

Wild Arms 4 marks a true revolution in the series because it steers off the trend present in the previous games. Its innovations, such as the HEX battle system, and the tons of features available make it an excellent game that will appeal to fans of the series and non-fans alike.

Wild Arms 4 Cost

At the time of writing, Wild Arms 4 retails for $39.99.