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Review by Jason Venter 
December 16, 2004
From the minute you begin, Wild Arms 3 practically screams its intention to make you its bitch. You don’t start at some sissy guild, or asleep on your bed while the peasants labor beneath. Instead, you’re riding a train with other warriors. Each provides plot fodder for a combined total of more than forty hours of gameplay. This isn’t a simple discussion over tea and crumpets, though; everyone has a scheme and somehow it all ties together within your first three hours.
Before you know it, you’re on the roof of a train while the scenery swishes past you like so much water. But like I said, this is the driest role-playing adventure you’ve likely seen. That affects the game in numerous ways. If you have the brains it takes to rub two sticks together, you probably figured out by now that I love the atmosphere. I like traveling deep into the core of the planet and staring at dinosaur bones between enemy encounters. I like riding across shifting desert sands on a cruiser while I fire my cannons at sand beasts. This is all well and good, but Wild Arms 3 is no movie. At the end of the day, you won’t care how it looks. You’ll care how it plays.
To put it simply, it plays you.
First, there’s the sprawling world map to consider. Well into the game, you still won’t have discovered it all. There are rocky mountain passes, deep ravines, wide prairies so massive they take forever to cross even on horseback. Villages dot the landscape, insignificant wooden shacks choked in the dusty face of a wilderness so barren it defies description. I like a massive world to explore between my monster fights and kissing protagonists, so right there I was ready to stick around for the long haul. For the rest of you who aren’t decided, though, I suppose I should talk about battles.
There are two chinks in this game’s armor, and the first of those is the fights. Battles certainly aren’t weak. They follow the same basic routine that worked so well for the first two games in the series. It’s just that you’ve seen them all before. You still pick from a central action window, still use ammo-consuming arms that must be reloaded in one village or another. I’m not knocking any of this, really, just saying that nothing has changed.
Nothing, that is, except the horseback and desert cruiser battles. Though the former really just amounts to a change of scenery (you’re treated to a view of your protagonists sniping opponents from the back of their chosen mounts), it’s still a change for the better. More noteworthy is the addition of the cruiser I keep referencing. Here, battles more closely resemble those you might recall if you played Skies of Arcadia. Your control is a bit removed, but the notion that you’re in charge of heavier firepower has a whole “mine is bigger than yours” appeal to it.
Another aspect of the game that feels bigger and better is the plot. To be honest, I couldn’t care less. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I just broke some secret rule most every role-playing nerd adheres to, especially when so many of us are trying to decide what emotional baggage some loser like Squall had when he led a team of lovesick warriors against a time-hopping sorceress. But honestly, I read books when I want exposure to teen angst or what have you. With that said, Wild Arms 3 strikes that perfect balance. There are people in danger. There are plays for power and demons. It all comes together with enough political intrigue to fuel ten other games like it. But best of all, plot always encourages you to find what lies beyond that next hilltop, or over that distant mountain. Not a namby-pamby noble in sight.
Something else you won’t see is FMV. Instead, in-game character models provide the visual flair. And speaking of that, well, they’re cel-shaded. There’s a certain stigma that goes with the label, but trust me when I say it’s put to excellent use here. Somehow, the barren landscapes and the art style used to create them fit together like a hand in a glove. Whether you’re dancing around a beast’s tail and peppering it with shots or swinging the camera about as you traverse the dusty streets of a mountainside civilization, you’ll never for a moment feel that the game suffers from a lack of continuity.
With that said, there’s that other chink in the game’s armor that I must mention, its puzzles. As long as I’m being blunt--and I am--they suck. Early on, they mostly involve you stepping on switches and wandering around mazes. Later on, they’ve progressed to fetch quests where you’re not even always sure what it is you’re supposed to retrieve. If this concerns you, well, I can’t really say much to soften the blow. It’s not pretty, but it’s there and you’ll have to deal with it so you can witness the many bright spots.
Bright spots. That’s what it all comes down to. And despite its gloomy atmosphere, Wild Arms 3 has plenty of those moments where you’ll want to just sit back and stare at the world you’re exploring. Sure, the stars are fiery infernos and the sparkling waves are made of sand. But everything you love is still there. That’s got to count for something.
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Most recent video game reviews written by Jason Venter
The Simpsons Arcade Game (Xbox 360) [February 04, 2012]
Pushmo (3DS) [January 31, 2012]
Unstoppable Gorg (PC) [January 19, 2012]
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Xbox 360) [January 08, 2012]
Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC) [January 04, 2012]
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