Wild ARMS 5 is definitely a good edition to the series, save for a few quirks.
User Rating: 8.5 | Wild ARMs 5 (10th Anniversary Edition) PS2
Wild ARMS 5 celebrates the series' 10th Anniversary, and the game is definitely a good edition to the series, save for a few quirks. It starts out pretty good, with a girl falling from the sky in a massive Golem's hand. The main character, Dean, in a very clichéd manner, opts to risk his life for a girl he met like 3 seconds ago. The story starts to escalate therein, as you search for "Johnny Appleseed" for over half the game. Which in my opinion, they could have used a much better name for it. I mean seriously "Johnny Appleseed", are you kidding me? That aside, I really like how the game makes it feel like the main villains aren't really evil. Each one of them has a reason for why they must stand against you, and they all manage to be compelling characters, except for the Volsung. He does not make a good antagonist, because of certain events you learn later on. The story is pretty well done, it won't blow you away, and it probably won't inspire other games to copy it in some why. Although it should be noted that, while the majority of the characters are well developed, they all tend to get preachy about "life lessons", like getting over this racial wall, and stuff. This gloating gets annoying pretty fast, and it even makes some of the characters seem a bit childish as a result. It's actually pretty embarrassing to have to hear Dean shout "We don't need any twisted rulers!" and "I'm not going to stop until the wall comes down" over and over again as you beat battle after battle. One of my major beefs with the story is the ending, which I can't ruin for you, but I can say that, 3 of the main characters aren't even mentioned in the ending. The story has some other plot holes as well, such as when Rebecca wanted to be in the circus, but the circus is dead, so get over it, kind of thing goes on. I didn't like how the game only had voice acting during "important" cutscenes, but not cutscenes that were important like, major developments on the story, but only the flashy cutscenes had voice overs, which just pissed me off. The HEX battles work well, and are far better then they were in Wild ARMS 4, being more flashy, quicker, and easier to manage. One great improvement is that you can now move to a different HEX and then Attack, use an item, or whatever. Summons return, although they no longer have an effect on the story, they are flashy, powerful, and can become necessary to defeat major bosses later on. Later in the game, you get a Golem; you can use it in combat, although, this is haphazardly done. You can't control your Golem directly, instead it uses "Algorithms" to decide actions, which is really more random then it is strategic. There time when you're Golem will literally run around the battlefield casting stat boosting skills on nothing. As for the music of Wild ARMS 5, you will be treated to some truly wonderful pieces. Each of the main villains has two variations of their theme music, with one being their "Appearance" and one being their "Battle" theme, these themes are well-done and catch the style of their respective characters very well; I especially like Elvis' theme, which this jazzy tune, it complements his, "muscled scientist" style. The graphics are nicely done, they aren't the best graphics on PS2, but they get the job done very well. Overall, I'd say that Wild ARMS 5 is a great game, it has its faults, but it is the best Wild ARMS since Wild ARMS 2.
