Enchanted Arms brings a new twist to the very familiar RPG turn-based battle mechanic - a battle grid. Each friendly and opposing player is placed on the grid at the start of the battle. Before each round of battle, you can place your player - but you can only place him on one of the squares indicated in blue. Once in position, your player can then opt to use an item, a skill or his EX power. The EX power is only available when his power bar is full. Each skill has a damage pattern - a range of squares over which it will inflict damage to an enemy. The result is that you have to play a mini chess game at the start of each round, moving each of your players into a position where their attack will do most damage. With skill, you can arrange it so that several players will damage the same opposing creature, or that strong players will shield weaker ones from reprisals.
The importance of player battle positions is not immediately evident in the early stages of the game. In fact, players could be forgiven for thinking that the battle grid is an irrelevance. But as the game progresses, it becomes apparent that it is key to success in battle. Thankfully, if you place a team member on a grid square and then discover that you would have been better off using a different team member there, you can go back through your setting procedure in steps, all the way back to the start of the turn. When a member of your team falls in battle, their grid square becomes occupied for a number of moves, and becomes inaccessible to you. This can prevent you from being able to launch successful attacks on your enemies. This fact should inform your team selection, and you will need party members who are capable of long range attacks as well as close combat.
As you wander around the game world - wander is possibly the wrong word, since at most points in the game, you will be on a mission to visit somewhere or find something - you come across items you have to use, doors you have to open, and the control mechanism is usually as simple as pressing the 'A' button when you're standing in front of them. Inaccessible areas are often reached by moving platforms that have to be activated by pressing 'A'. Occasionally you have to climb ladders - you get on and off them by pressing 'A', and sometimes you have to use your ninja-style rope, which you activate by - you guessed it - pressing the 'A' button. If none of this is easy enough - and if it's not, you may find yourself having trouble breathing and walking at the same time - the game has a handy tutorial system woven into the thread of the gameplay. Your friends and colleagues will explain how everything works to you the first time you encounter it.
Moving around the world itself is a fairly linear affair. The game offers none of the free-roaming that the Final Fantasy series has to offer, and this is to its detriment. Also, the game lacks the same depth of sub-games that we have come to expect from a Final Fantasy game - there are some, to be sure - typically board and gambling games - but there's nothing as developed as the snowboarding and chocobo racing Final Fantasy offers. Enchanted Arms' biggest problem though, is that it just doesn't look like a next-gen game. The textures, models and level designs are unspectacular. Sure, they are pretty - but higher resolution aside, it's nothing the PS2 or Xbox couldn't handle. And even though it does make use of the 360’s higher resolutions, there's no visible anti-aliasing applied to the graphics, leaving it looking rougher than it really should. That said, some of the animation sequences are spectacular, and overall the game looks great - just not up to next-gen standards.
SPOnG Rating: B+
Enchanted Arms brings enough to the RPG genre to make it worth a look for established fans. It also has a surprisingly pleasant learning curve that makes it an ideal entry point for players who've been thinking about giving the genre a go, but have been put off by the increasing complexity of some games in the market. The storyline is a little linear, and the graphics could be better, but the battle system is the best there is. As the first entry into the market, it's an impressive attempt. There's room for improvement, but there's enough to keep fans of RPGs happy, and it's well worth your money and your time.
