PSOne - Wild Arms

PSN plays host to a large quantity of PSOne, PSP, and PSN games that cover all types of genres for all types of gamers.  While some of these games may not necessarily be great and some may downright be terrible...there are others that turn out to be truly great games, and for a low price it's hard to argue their worth.

 

When I picked up my first ever PSN card about a year ago I quickly downloaded WipEout HD, Megaman 9 and this PSOne game called Wild Arms.  I knew what I was getting into with both WipEout and Megaman but with Wild Arms I didn't really know what to expect.  I never had a chance to play it though until here recently when I found myself with time, no new games and an urge to play an RPG.  So I booted up Wild Arms and began my journey through the land of Filgaia not knowing what I'd find...

 

The story of Wild Arms doesn't exactly scream original, though it has been a while since it came out and even though it follows some cliches you can't knock it when the game does it so well.  You'll play as three unlikely heroes (a treasure hunter, an outcast and a princess) who meet by fate and join forces to save the world.  However, once you meet the pretty good sized cast of characters and begin to learn more about the things going on you'll find that even though it's cliche the story of Wild Arms is still pretty satisfying in the end. 

 

The three main characters work pretty well together and while the game aludes to two of the characters having a "dark past" you only really learn about one and the other isn't greatly demonstrated for you.  You'll also have a few other characters join you and help you on your journey such as Calamity jane and thanks to these characters the story is really fleshed out much more and you start to feel like you're actually helping this dying world.

 

Graphically speaking Wild Arms does a very weird thing.  While navigating the world your character, towns, overworld etc. are all in 2D and they look pretty good...however when you enter a battle Wild Arms changes into 3D models and...quite frankly...it looks bad and disrupts the consistency of the overall art direction.  However, being a PSOne title it's likely it was done just to show off...but still wasn't a good choice as I feel 2D battles would have been much better.

 

So that's all good, but this game truly shines with the gameplay (and that's how it should be.)  As far as traveling and buying items and such goes, if you've played some of the older RPG's you'll know what you're in for.  However it's the new things added with the battle system and upgrading certain abilities that really create a nice addition to already great battles.  All three of your characters fight very differently and you'll have to use all of their strengths if you hope to overcome even some of the earlier bosses.  One character has the "ARM" which is basically a gun that you'll be able to find special types of gun attachments for as you progress through the game ranging from a rocket launcher to a "phaser".  Another will stick to gaining special sword abilities from distinct points in the game's plotline and the final character is your mage.  However instead of just learning magic spells as you level you'll find "crest graphs" throughout the game that you can take to a shop and create spells for you to use in battle.  It'll become imperative that you make the right types of spells especially later in the game as you'll need to have great defensive spells to survive.

 

Pacing in Wild Arms is pretty well done and you probably won't ever have to grind levels to advance.  While you'll need to plan ahead for boss battles the game is never really all that difficult.  With a great soundtrack and fun gameplay the game doesn't dissapoint...especially when it's only six dollars on PSN.  However, as great as the game may be there's still quite a few shortcomings.  

 

The switching from 2D to 3D graphics between walking around and fighting began to become a stress on the eyes and just felt completely out of place.  There were quite a few times the game didn't explain certain story elements well enough for you to understand what was going on and towards the end of the game it began to feel like it was just dragging on.  

 

But most importantly, Wild Arms was a very enjoyable 28 hour experience and for a PSOne game...it aged very well.  There's a lot to do in the world of Filgaia with plenty of places to go, people to see and monsters to defeat...if you're looking for an old rpg for cheap and have access to the PSN store...I fully recommend trying out Wild Arms.  Plus, for 6 dollars...it's well worth it.

 

3.5/5 Penguins

 

- Nerdboy