No classic but a functional RPG and a nice change from the cut and paste feel of recent Final Fantasy games.

User Rating: 7 | Enchanted Arms X360
By LsTr_Of_SmG | Review Date:
Despite the covers' claims of a 50 hour storyline, it took 25ish hours to finish the story (and that INCLUDES pausing to go to the toilet and have dinner - mind you I am notorious for rushing through RPGs and not levelling up my character a lot. I prefer to have the last boss become an almost insurmountable challenge to be overcome through clever tactics rather than the brute force of my level 185476964 main character). That said the game was fairly enjoyable with the battle system being particularly refreshing (much better than the most recent Final Fantasy attempts of spicing up turn based combat). The story was pretty throwaway but then again most RPG stories these days unfortunately tend to be.

Overall I'd give the game about a 6.5 / 7.5 depending on whether you're into JRPG's. If like me you are, but are sick of Square constantly rehashing the Final Fantasy games in newer more graphically impressive iterations (I mean come on FFXII might have been alright but let's face it the series hasn't moved on since FFX - AT THE LATEST!) then I suggest you check it out - though you'll need some perserverance to stick through the games opening section (dull) thankfully it picks up quickly after this.

While hardly genre defining it does have some nice ideas and the FMV sequences are easily up there with the equivalent offerings from Final Fantasy.

Overall if you've played a lot of JRPGs then you wont find a lot new here, but you're unlikely to find a lot to complain about either and such the game is worth a play. If you haven't then this game is a solid example of the genre and a good one to start with.

Final score: 6.9

Score breakdown:

Graphics: 7 - While some sections are quite nice to look at, dull textures and poor animation ruin other areas of the game.

Sound: 6 - While there IS an option to have Japanese audio this is of little consolation when faced with the frankly awful English dub (which is barely even functional). Music is fairly generic but functional at least.

Gameplay: 7 - A nice battle system and golems help to spice things up, niggles over inability to use items on other characters and ether 'collection' quests pull down the game down though. Character development is highly intuitive andallows for some customisation.

Story: 6 - Typical but ultimately well thought out JRPG storyline. Stand out sections are the development of Atsuma as a character and the Toya side story. The game also satirises a number of JRPG cliches which is nice to see. Example: A character subtitled 'Giggling Man' keeps trying to say his real name but the main characters repeatedly interrupt him. Unfortunately the story is, overall, ultimately extremely forgettable and the below average voice acting throughout lowers the sense of wonder.

Lifespan: 7 - There are technically two different endings to the game dependant on one choice near the end, which seems a bit half arsed. unfortunately these endings can both be aquired simply by reloading the game just before the choice is made. The game took me 35 hours to
complete compared to the 50 hours cited on the case (25ish hours for the story alone), mind you 35 hours is still a relatively long time for a game these days - albeit short for the genre.

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