Enchanted Arms (Xbox 360)

Graphics

It is fair to say that Enchanted Arms is the best looking RPG on the Xbox 360, but it easily wins that title since at the moment it is indeed the only 360 RPG available. It is a gorgeous looking game with a strong palette of colours and vibrant in-game graphics, it’s highly detailed in terms of design and construction and the outdoors environments are quite stunning.

It also has some amazing CG cut-scenes that are very impressive.

It does have a few problems however. Environments and characters whilst being detailed and gorgeous to look at, often suffer from popping or in the cases of the game’s camera – they vanish altogether off the screen when the camera gets a little too close as you look around with it.

The use of light and shade is good in Enchanted Arms and combines nicely with the rich use of colour. The first city where you attend a festival is also festooned with various tiny details and the sky is lit with fireworks, which is quite breathtaking to watch.

Models

The models in Enchanted Arms are well defined, they have an excellent level of detail and they have been put together very well. There are a few Golems that really look bizarre but that’s usually expected of this kind of game. One of my favourite characters is the Werewolf Golem, there’s a superb amount of detail in that character.

The models don’t degrade in quality depending on the character either, the main character, golems and environmental models as well as NPC’s all have a consistent level of detail that is gorgeous.

Animations

The animations in the game are fluid and varied, the special moves are all different and they get more OTT as the game progresses. Fans of FF will love some of the bigger special moves and combination attacks; they have certainly done a good job on bringing the world, people and places of Enchanted Arms alive.

Even the backgrounds that should be static and bland are far from it, the water rolls with a fine swish of the waves and the sky rolls on by nicely as fireworks pop into it and explode with a whorl of colour and bright light.

AI

The AI uses various tactics quite effectively, it provides a decent challenge and the Boss Battles can be pretty gruelling depending on if you decided to spend time running around a particular area and levelling up (a typical RPG tactic) – some of the AI’s special moves are repeated a little too often but that’s a minor gripe and doesn’t damage the gameplay.

Physics

It has crate smashing physics and the physics engine is tied in with the animations, especially on things like the Werewolf Golem, where it has long white hair and a long white tail, these flow and swish quite nicely. But it’s not a game heavy on the physics.

Sound

Enchanted Arms has a good audio set. The game’s packed with spot audio and the usual battle sounds, they’re clear and crisp and they bring the world/battles and game to life quite nicely.

Music

The game features a nicely done musical score that’s not intrusive and it dramatically flares when appropriate. It reminds me in many ways of the FF games and that’s not a bad thing.

Voice

I can’t say that the voice acting in the game is as bad as the original Resident Evil but it’s close. I wasn’t struck on the dubbed voices at all and thankfully Enchanted Arms allows you to swap out for the original Japanese audio with subtitles. The voices are horribly clichéd and the game has the most annoying character ever, his voice goes right through you.

He’s also the most overtly homosexual character featured in a game ever. A bold move: but one that should have at least been given a better voice actor.

No stellar performances here, but again until the likes of Final Fantasy X spoken recorded dialogue was a thing of dreams.

The game’s dialogue drops out as well, a lot of the characters have text only monologues and this is a definite feature of the core Japanese RPG.

Multiplayer

You can take Enchanted Arms online and battle other Xbox Live game owner’s golems.

Enchanting?

The game has some flaws but in the end it’s but the first of the next-gen RPG’s, it isn’t trying to be anything but a typical Japanese RPG, it isn’t trying to break new ground and wow a new audience – it does what it does well enough and is a fun/enjoyable game when you get past the quirks. The level of detail in the graphics and the eye-candy from the world itself along with the plot are enough to keep you playing and with a big roster of unlockable characters and golems, each with their own individual style and moves, it should be a game that keeps you going for a good while.