This should be played, interesting game.

User Rating: 9 | Wild ARMs 5 (10th Anniversary Edition) PS2
Positive
- Nice graphics
- Lots of interesting bosses
- Well balanced enemy random encounters
- Superb gameplay and music

Negative
- There is simply too much dialogue without voice work
- Later bosses can be frustrating

Wild Arms 5. This is the first I played from this series, and from only after a few hours, I say this is a game that RPG fans should own. The unique gameplay, hex-based battle system, which is found in WA 4, is a fantastic one, change from the usual traditional turn-based style such as Final Fantasy X and much other.

6 playable characters can be found in Wild Arms 5. The game sets off with Dean, a young man who wants to become a golem hunter. He starts in a cave where he first founds a golem arm. After some time he and his partner, which is also a childhood friend Rebecca, when on a hill they discover an enormous golem arm which a girls comes out of it. There are more weirder stuff then this. Anyway this girl Avril, who is also an available playable character, gives Dean ARMs. For those who don't know what ARMs is, ARMs is not a human hand but a gun. You'll encounter the other 3 later on.

Sometimes gets frustrating since you need to level up. There are lots of bosses, most of them are 'not important' since they just find them to either help people or save someone. Try to get used to it since they help everyone who is in trouble, like many past Role-Playing games. Random encounter, according to me is pretty well balanced. Characters gain experience according to the number of enemies and monster energy. About the battle system. It is a hex-based but not always. It changes against bosses which you will found more than one in every dungeon. But boss battles are surprisingly not annoying or so much frustrating. In the hexes you will find 3 elemental ones. You can also escape when ever you want and you will gain experience from monsters you have killed even if you escaped the fight leaving more monsters behind. Elemental hexes consist of water, earth, fire, wind. When with a character, placed on the hex, you can perform magic like crush, heavy crush, blast or lots more. On any element, try using crush, which is basically earth, on fire, you can still pull that off. That's a really good thing. You can equip characters with mediums which allow them to use magic such as the crush and blast. These mediums are sea, sky, mountain and some else. You can be able to use heal and steal as well if you have the right one. Characters can also be equipped badges which can increase a bit of HP, attack, defense and can also make character powerful against diseases or poison. There are lots of items for healing and elemental item attack which can be found in treasure chests. I forgot, when on the field, you can't use the ARMs. The only option you will have is the square button for searching. Unlike other Role-Playing games, you have to press the square button in order to find treasure chests. Save points can be found on the field. Save points can be found in two types. One of them is the Memory Bird which can only be found where enemies and monsters don't attack. The other is found on the field and in dungeons. At the save point you can obviously save or modify arm. The other thing is that you can read hints of what to do next. When in dungeons you can only use Dean. Dean can use ARMs to hit various objects such as barrels and treasure chests. You can equip this when you want. You will get more than the standard. Other you can use the O button to jump and the square button to slide or crouch. Press O and then square to stomp, and you cannot do that when ARMs are equipped. On the battle field you can remove Dean. You can only play 3 characters at a time.

I think I wrote to much but it's been some time since I wrote the last review. I don't know about Gamespot but the graphics are excellent. Character models are really good and so are the environments. Sound is good too, background music that is. There is some voice acting which is mostly good. But one of the characters voice is somehow annoying. The only real thing I hated are the dialogues which come in a sort of cutscene which sees the characters talking to each other or talking to someone. Dialogues no voices. These are really dumb since the actual cutscenes are really good. It's a shame though, there are lots of dialogues which are long. Normally occur when not in a very important part. There are lots of them. Looking over this, these are good looking.

Wild Arms 5 maybe simpler than the others of its category but it's still a very enjoyable non-frustrating. If you don't mind leveling up and dialogues you can have a great time with Wild Arms 5. Don't mind the way characters behave in helping people, though it's a unique game with plenty of bosses and interesting battle system. You should check this out even if you're not a fan of Role-Playing turn-based games.