Detonation Mode Activate! A Resullian Review of Wild Arms 4!

Ah, Wild Arms. Mi amor. The series that has felt my love since I first started gaming. I had started the series with Wild Arms 2 many years ago after having seen Wild Arms 1 and seeing the case for the second one and not knowing that the game I saw was a different one. A few weeks later I begged my mom to pick up that case for me and it turned out to be a different game entirely. It wasn't until years later that I learned that the game I had seen was, in fact, the first Wild Arms. It was thanks to this one mistake that the greatest game and series of all time graced my meager abode.

Is it at all possible, then, that a game in this series could disappoint me in some way? Yes, yes it is. Wild Arms 4 is often considered the worst game in the series and it's fairly easy to see why that is. Walk with me as I tell you of both the wonders and horrors that Media.Vision has wrought with the fifth entry in the Wild Arms: Wild Arms The Fourth Detonator on Playstation 2.

What's that? Fifth entry? Why yes! There was, in fact, a remake of the first Wild Arms under the new subtitle of Alter Code F for the Playstation 2.

As I was saying...welcome, to the next best thing in the Wild Arms series.

(Note: All games in the series will be referred to as WA(number) from now on so as to avoid sounding redundant as much as possible.)

Let's start out talking about things this game did differently from previous entries in the series. It was a vast departure from the gameplay of the three games that came before it. For one thing: They added real platforming. In the past the series has always had a more vertical level design via the ability to drop down from ledges (something more RPGs should do, I think!) as well as many gameplay tools that allow you to cover gaps in the flooring but in WA4 they actually add a jump and even double jump button! It's because of this small but significant change that the level design had to be altered. More platforms, more vertical ascension and more complex puzzles.

Now speaking of puzzles, there's something the series has always done well. One way or another you would always have to solve puzzles to get through dungeons using the tools provided to each character. It's because of the unique nature of the tool system that puzzles in the WA series are a little more creative than most games. While like in most games you will almost always be able to tell what tool to use for what puzzle at the very least they are often themed to match the dungeons you go to so you never feel like the puzzle is just in your way, it's actually a part of the dungeon.

Tools, however, also change from previous games. Unlike in the past where you could switch between the characters to use their tools as needed this game has you only controlling the main character, Jude. This is a slight step down but it's a manageable change. The tools are still there, of course. Many of them are cut down to standard stuff like swords to hit switches with and shields to block projectiles as you move through a puzzle room but there are also some throwbacks to the other games in the series such as the Mist Cloak which allows you to pass through any grated surface just as it did in WA2. You can't jump when you hold a tool though so this adds to the puzzle complexity. It's fairly easy to bring a tool a little too far down the path and not be able to get back up!

However this only applies to main dungeons. The game uses one of those "pick your destination" world maps but many of the game's "dungeons" are actually just paths you can traverse, fight enemies and open treasure chests. Though many of them have story in them they are usually very short and have no puzzles. Because of this you will spend a majority of the game getting from one place to the other and just kind of walking through the story until the next big dungeon or town.

The biggest change in the entire game is the new HEX battle system. Instead of the traditional turn-based they now have a battlefield set across seven (HEX)agons that allies and enemies can move across and use to their benefit if they happen to have an elemental Ley Point on each HEX. Not only is this battle system an improvement on traditional turn-based because it adds a level of strategy but when you get more abilities later in the game you're able to take even more advantage of the Ley Points and the battlefield in a way that allows you to dominate even bosses.

The game is balanced so that it is possible to be utterly destroyed by even regular enemies and puts focus on strategy and encourages using each character's strengths and protecting their weaknesses. Bosses in particular take an extra dose of strategy, however, because of their ability to destroy your party in a single turn if you aren't careful. (like a boss that will insta-kill anyone in his attack range but he changes his pattern on a set queue of attacks.)

Here's where things start to get...iffy. The story, setting and characters. While they continue on the trend of western with a bit of sci-fi this game takes on a darker tone by placing you into a post-war world that is dying. There is a brown haze over most of the world but people eek out a living in small settlements in a newly created democratic government....except the people who originally fought to create this new government are now thinking that mankind is not strong enough to make this system of government work! You can imagine this causes many problems but this isn't what the main story is about.

Jude having been ripped from his sheltered life from a military strike attempting to capture the people of his village finds himself traveling across the globe searching for them with the help of Yulie, a girl who had been experimented on and made to control the powerful weapons known as ARMs, though she cannot use one herself; Arnaud, a teenager who learned to fly from his father so he could visit his mother in heaven when he was a child and now has a vast intellect that he skeptically uses to help the party with this magic; and last but certainly  not least: Raquel, a swordswoman with a mysterious past who travels the world to find the few beautiful things left behind after the war.

Now here's where things go bad: The dialog in the game is childish, repetitive and goes in circles and hardly improves. Literally every conversation ends with "Kids who shouldn't be able to do something or think a certain way vs adults who should protect children or think children should let adults do all the thinking"

This "kids vs adults" crap is the basis of 80% (rough estimate) of the conversations between the main characters and many of their interactions with boss characters. I get that you wanna portray that the future is for children to create and adults should guide them but it's WAY too much in this game.

Bleh, you can imagine how this made me question Media.Vision's ability to tell a story. This is also one of the main reasons the game is so low on people's Wild Arms lists. I hear WA5 is an absolute improvement on everything WA4 did both right and wrong.

The music in WA4 doesn't change much from the rest of the series either. It has many great tracks but they are all very recognizable as Michiko Naruke's handiwork. One of the greatest songs in the game is a boss theme that actually remixes the main Wild Arms 1 theme into it which adds a sense of nostalgic flair to it and it only really plays during pivotal boss fights.

Then we reach the final boss. I won't spoil anything about the boss itself but between the atmosphere and the music, which is the main theme of WA4 but slightly remixed to insert guitar solos to make it sound more like boss music. There's also a ten years later segment afterwards that adds much closure to the story.

 I can honestly say that it was well worth trudging through the horrible dialog and the long and linear dungeons to get to the end of the game. The music was as amazing as always, the dungeon design has improved vastly and puzzles are as creative and fitting as previous games in the series and the HEX battle system is just so much fun to battle in. The overall setting and story did it's job as it always does in Wild Arms, even if they couldn't hold a conversation to save their lives.

And with that I leave you with a recommendation: If you like the Wild Arms series then this game is worth playing at least once. If you enjoy gameplay than this game has arguably some of the best in the series. If you want story then look elsewhere. This game will not deliver until the very end of the game which may not be worth your time in the first place. I hope you enjoyed reading and it gave you an idea of whether the game is worth picking up or not!