Traditional turn based combat
All interactions with the environment are executed using the ‘A’ button (you’ll be using it a lot) including flicking switches, climbing ladders and opening chests. You’ll take part in numerous fetch quests and plenty of battles that allow you to level up and distribute points to strengthen your character attributes.
Enchanted Arms is the first traditional Japanese RPG for the Xbox 360 to offer an offline mode, and when we say traditional we mean that you’ll find a rigid turn based system which takes place on a 6x4 grid (think the Vortex from the cult BBC show The Adventure Game). Unfortunately this now feels somewhat dated as the influx of new style RPGs on the market such as Oblivion have changed the way we view RPGs. We’re sure there are still plenty of gamers who enjoy this traditional system and the combat sequences are still the highlight of this non-sensical game.
Click for larger imageThe tutorial at the start of the game introduces you to each of the character’s strengths and provides you with a rundown of some of the tactics that you’ll need to employ during battle scenes. Without going into the mind numbing details too much, each character in the game has an elemental affinity, either fire, water, wind, earth, light or dark. If you’re hit in battle by an opposite (i.e. Light hits Dark) you’ll suffer double the amount of damage.
Click for larger imageEach character’s health is measured by hit points (HP) and you’ll need to position up to four of your characters in strategic positions on the grid in order to take advantage out of their skills and then take turns to attack the enemy. This turn based combat works by taking into account your strategic manoeuvres on the grid in relation to your foe and the different abilities of your characters. After each battle you become stronger and level up, but at no point does the game tell you that need to distribute your points; we played for a good couple of hours before realising that we had points to dish out to enhance our attributes.
Around the fantasy world you’ll find other humans and unlockable Golems on your travels that will join you to help fight or heal your party, and although you can have 9 characters in your party, your actual fighting party is limited to 4. These friendly Golems consist of three different types, an attack unit, a defence unit and a regain (healing) unit and throughout the world you’ll discover special gems that can be synthesised to create these three factions. It’s collecting these gems and creating these creatures that adds a small degree of value to the gameplay, but don’t get too excited it’s hardly cutting edge. You’ll then need to decide which units you want to send into the fight based on their attributes and the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses.
Click for larger imageDuring each turn you’ll have the option for one move and one action before your enemy takes his turn. You can switch through your skills to decide which you wish to execute or you can just choose the computer to take your turn for you. We found the fighting far too dull and the temptation of pressing a button to skip through the action was far too tempting; if we weren’t reviewing Enchanted Arms you can be assured that we would use this function every time. As you press forward in the game the option to skip these fights does disappear however and you’ll have no choice but to learn the system in order to survive.
The combat does become more exciting later in the game as you pick up more skills through levelling up and are able to use the entire party in order to unleash more devastating attacks. The big bosses are also a challenge and you’ll need to use your full range of combos in order to defeat the tougher ones.