Before Final Fantasy VII ever released to its worldwide critical acclaim, the first game in the hit Wild ARMs RPG series rocked PSOne owners with a console role-playing experience that set the bar for future 3D RPGs to follow. Even though FFVII came along and stole its thunder, Wild ARMs made its mark at the time, and still to this day it is loved and remembered by many diehard RPG fans as one of the best ever. Unfortunately, the impressive benchmark set by the original title wasn't fully capitalized on, with the subsequent releases of the mediocre-in-comparison second and third iterations in the series (although both games are still good in their own right).

Coming shortly after last year's Wild ARMs Alter Code: F, a PS2 remake of the original classic, new publisher XSEED Games has made its debut with the release of the series' true fourth installment, Wild ARMs 4. And in this 10th-aniversary year for the franchise, long-time Wild ARMs developer Media Vision have delivered a rock solid RPG that is the best game in the series since the original.

In this fourth trip back to the world of Filgaia, an all-new tale unfolds as four strong-minded teens fight alongside one another to save the future of a Filgaia that has become a barren and oppressive land ravaged by war. Jude Maverick, the young protagonist of this coming-of-age RPG adventure, lives a sheltered life in peaceful Ciel, a domed town hovering high above Filgaia's war-torn surface. One fateful day, however, when invading forces from Filgaia shatter all that he has ever known, Jude meets and befriends a captive of the intruders, a young girl named Yulie, and an 18-year-old drifter named Arnaud, while finally learning of his untapped power to control ARMs as a Gene Driver.

After fleeing the downfall of Ciel on an escape pod, Jude is introduced to the harsh lands of Filgaia, along with another drifter named Raquel, and together the band of four unlikely heroes set out together to keep Yulie protected from her pursuers and discover the root of the events that have unfolded. While the characters are generally likeable and the story is certainly engaging enough to keep you coming back until the credits roll (after the average RPG runtime of roughly thirty to forty hours, in addition to optional endeavors and unlockable bonus goodies), the same old RPG clichés are at work here, so there is a certain level of predictability to the plot. I also got a little tired of the melodramatic "adults-versus-teens" conflict that is a key undercurrent in the story, but that's just a personal gripe I'll toss out there for you to take into account based on your own tastes.

Wild ARMs 4 does, however, do an outstanding job presenting its story in both the graphics and audio departments. Anime-stylized 3D character models, though not extensively detailed, have a polished look to them and are well animated, while the many environments you explore come in great diversity and with high visual appeal. During battles, summon abilities and team combo attacks are accompanied by some spectacular spell cut-scene sequences that give the combat some needed pizzazz, as the creatures you're put up against aren't the most original or memorable designs. What I like best about the game's presentation, as it relates to the story that is, is the cool comic book paneling style that's used during the dialogue sequences - it lends a unique touch that peps things up a bit, considering that there isn't enough voiceover work to support the many lines of story text. And that comes as a disappointment, because the voice acting, when occasionally used, is very solid. Not amazing mind you, but it fits the game's anime style. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is highly enjoyable throughout, and save for a few occasional sound glitches during combat sequences, the sound effects and ambient noises are great as well.

Shockingly, Wild ARMs 4 has taken a huge turn away from the previous games in the series with its gameplay. It's most definitely still an RPG with the usual genre staples (though even those have been tweaked some as I'll get to shortly), but there is an even greater emphasis placed on platforming and puzzle-solving than I've ever seen in a standard console RPG before. Honestly, this game is every bit as much an action-platformer as it is an RPG; through the many dungeons you'll be hopping and bopping young Jude around almost as if he were Sly Cooper or something. Double-jumping over gaps, traversing moving platforms, climbing poles and ladders, sliding under ledges, launching from springy platforms, jump-stomping switches, pushing blocks and dodging laser surveillance sensors are all commonplace, and it's all decisively entertaining. The camera can occasionally cause missed jumps, and many of the dungeon locales are confined to an extremely linear path, but neither is too grave of an issue to drag down the fun.

As with previous Wild ARMs games, tools factor heavily into the dungeon-crawling portions of the game, but this time the tools aren't items you can equip, but rather items found within the dungeon that are only used in temporary puzzle-solving situations before being dropped and forgotten about, since Jude can't jump and carry a tool at the same time, strangely enough. For example, finding a sword normally leads to you triggering special switches, while using bombs allows you to blow up obstacles. The puzzles get more complicated with the use of the game's other new feature, the Accelerator; while running around you can trigger Jude's Accelerator power by pressing R1, after which he speeds up while everything around him slows to a crawl for a short period of time. The need to use your accelerator more often than not boils down to using it to cross collapsing bridges or platforms, but you'll also find it helpful in circumventing surveillance beam traps and other hazards.

Amidst these platforming and adventure elements, the usual random encounters pop up to test your combat abilities, which leads to both Wild ARMs 4's most intriguing new feature and arguably its weakest link. Running on the all-new Hyper Evolve X-Fire (HEX) battle system, combat in Wild ARMs 4 takes place on a grid of seven HEXes that changes everything to a strategy-RPG-lite experience. An order queue found at the bottom of the screen determines character and enemy turns, and at the start of each battle your party of four and the opposition are randomly placed on the grid. During a character's turn you can move them one HEX on the grid or utilize the same selection of combat options as always - items, spells, special skills, team attacks and so on. You can also move party members evenly around the grid or stack them together in the same HEX - but be careful - as spells, attacks and status effects don't just target specific characters but everything in the targeted HEX.

Three 'Ley Point HEXes' are always located on the grid each time you enter a fight, and each of these Ley Points contain one of four elemental modifiers: Fire, Water, Wind and Earth. Certain spells and abilities, such as Yulie's Material guardian summoning Force Ability, change in effect depending on the HEX in which the character is standing in, and the same goes for spell resistances too. While combat is flowing, Force Points (FP) are earned and a Global Force Gauge on the right side of the screen fills. When enough FP is earned, each of the four heroes has special Force Abilities that can be used to great effect, such as Yulie's summoning powers or Arnaud's jump ability that enables him (and any other member in his HEX) to hop to any other HEX on the grid.

For the first ten hours or so, the unique feel of the HEX system is a pleasant breath of fresh air, but as time goes by and the game fails to ramp up its difficulty by any significant margin, the combat system can grow a little stale and rudimentary if you're a seasoned RPG player. Random encounters rarely ever give you a challenge and eventually only seem to get in the way of the fun platforming and puzzle elements. Even during the boss fights the level of difficulty remains unimpressive, which ultimately leads to the strategic heart of the combat system becoming almost unnecessary. Don't get me wrong - the combat never reaches the point where it's a major detraction - there's just not enough challenge to keep you consistently hyped. If the random encounters ever do become a nuisance, the game thankfully provides an Encounter Break feature that enables you to turn off random encounters in an area after the local Break Point (or save point) has been activated. You don't want to use this too often, though, because your characters' level of experience will fall behind.

And speaking of experience, Wild ARMs 4 does have a nifty character advancement system. By gaining experience and leveling up as normal, characters earn points to put towards learning new skills and abilities on their GC Graph. Not really a graph at all, the GC Graph contains a list of unique skills for each character, and using your earned points you can purchase new powers. As you move down the list, abilities cost more points to learn, but at any time you can take away points you've put towards any skill to use for another, which gives you a certain degree of freedom to build up a character's skills to your liking. To further improve your party, items and equipment are also available, and in Jude's case you can modify his ARM by tweaking power and performance capabilities using collected Alter Parts and Dragon Fossils.

It comes as quite a pleasant surprise that Wild ARMs 4 is actually better in regards to its platforming, adventuring and puzzles than it is its combat, but when considered altogether these parts equate to one finely crafted and unique RPG that fans of both the series and the genre as a whole would do well to pick up. I wish the game was more challenging so the innovative battle system could have been put to use better, but in reverse it could also be argued that the lack of difficulty makes the game more accessible to a wider audience. Either way you slice it, Wild ARMs 4 commemorates the franchise's 10th anniversary in fine fashion and is a great first release of which XSEED should feel very proud.

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).