Wild Arms: Alter Code F
RPG series revisits its PSone roots … on PS2!
Tags: Wild Arms: Alter Code F Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Dec 29th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Arms: Alter Code F (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Role-Playing | No | ||
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Back in the early days of PSone, Konami had already unveiled Suikoden and Square had not yet shown the world the full glory of Final Fantasy VII. Into that several-months-long void stepped an upstart RPG title, released under Sony’s SCEA banner, an RPG known as Wild Arms. Featuring the requisite epic story, three-member-party battle system and lots and lots of random battles, the game was fun and diverting if not exactly a cure for the “fatally interminable wait” disease afflicting most gamers whose expectations rose and fell on the Final Fantasy series alone. Since then, however, the series has added an additional PSone chapter and a Wild West-themed PS2-era chapter. Coming soon in 2006, XSeed Games is preparing to unleash Wild ARMS 4 on the world.
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Into that gap, Agetec is hoping that their PS2 redeux of the first Wild ARMS title will find an audience. Certainly, there has been some care taken to update the graphical look of the title. Although coming nowhere near today’s cutting edge RPGs visually, the game does now look like it fits into the PS2 world of RPGs, even if it looks more like a 2002 RPG than a 2005 RPG. That’s still better than looking like a pre-FFVII 1997 PSone RPG. So progress has been made, but given that the graphics are not at the cutting edge of today’s PS2 RPG market, it’s little wonder than the game passed hands a few times before finally landing at Agetec.
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Here’s the bad news, right up front: Aside from a solid – but not spectacular – graphics upgrade, there’s not a lot to this remake of the original Wild ARMS. Alter Code F may have great music and a new playable character or two – it may even boast a new script to keep things fresh for those who played it before … but there’s no voice acting at all, not even in the re-imagined cut-scene cinemas, which makes the game seem like a relic despite the facelift. It’s like taking Bette Davis, giving her the body of Angelina Jolie, but in interviews she still talks about nothing but the old days on movie sets with Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart and Marilyn Monroe; the transformation just seems incomplete.
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That said, there’s still plenty to recommend Wild ARMS: Alter Code F. The game offers a solid story that begins with your main three characters split up, doing their individual things and slowly building to the time in which they meet and join forces to fight against a common threat. Even with the new characters and game elements, it’s a formula that works well. The battle system, though largely unchanged, still offers enough variety to be loads of fun, especially if you’ve never played the PSone original. Even if you have, it still holds some appeal. And while it’s easy to fault the makers of Wild ARMS for not more completely remaking this title, it’s important to keep in mind that when SquareEnix has released old Final Fantasy titles on new platforms, they go to even less effort than is found here.
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In the final analysis, Wild ARMS: Alter Code F isn’t the flashiest RPG on the market this holiday season by a long shot and it certainly isn’t a completely made over title. However, if you’re a fan of the series and are anticipating Wild ARMS 4, this facelifted – if not quite remade – visit to the original title will serve as a nice appetizer for the new game. Of course, if you already own the PSone version, you could flip that in your PS2 and play it all over that way, without missing too much. However, the updated graphics are nice and the story changes freshen up the title a bit; maybe you should rent before buying on this one, just to be sure it’s worth your hard-earned shekels. If you don’t own the PSone original, though, this game is fun enough on the gameplay side to be worth the investment.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Updated graphics are a nice step up from PSone, though not cutting edge by any stretch. + New playable characters and revised game-script freshen up the story for longtime fans. |
6.6 |
| What Doesn't | |
| – No voice acting at all, which keeps the game feeling like a relic. | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Wild ARMS Alter Code F is more of a facelift of the original Wild ARMS than a remake; the graphics are shiny and new, but much of the game feels "so eight years ago." Rent before you buy. | |
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Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Dec 29th, 2005 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
