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Eh - okay, I guess

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I think people are letting their opinion of the anime series cloud their judgement on this game. You play each level for 30 minutes to an hour then watch 20 minutes of cut scene. I use the word cut scene loosely. It mostly involves static images of Ed and Al talking with a static image of someone else. No moving cameras, no lips sync, nothing we have come to associate with modern games. On top of that, even though the text is voiced, the player is still required to press a button to continue the conversation. I guess this is how they keep the game interactive. Oh, and there is no way to skip any of these cut scenes as well.

That said, it is fun playing through the game, in the sense that you feel like you are going on fullmetal alchemist adventures. Most of the "game" is straight forward, though some of the alchemy stuff you can transform is actually pretty fun. The standard weapons don't really seem to differentiate themselves that much. The sword will do in nearly every situation.

I can't speak about how this compares to the first game, since I never played it. If you are a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, then the game is passable, but even then be prepared to watch/read a lot of story and play a very linear, shallow game.

Pretty lame actually

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Full Metal Alchemist was an awesome anime... so I guess I was expecting an awesome game... this is just a bunch of cut screens, talking and storyline... oh well.

A Disappointed Fullmetal Fan

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I only just got this game yesterday, and I don't really think it was worth it. This game has non-stop fighting, and no time to relax, and look at your surroundings. Most spots are blocked off, only giving you one path to follow. There's no other way to beat the game. And it's a long way between save points, so you have to play the game for a long time in order to go to where you can save the game.

But otherwise, it was an ok game. I have to say that, being the Fullmetal Alchemist fan that I am. The cut-scenes were interesting, they were from episodes I didn't see. The first one is from a different version of "To Challenge the Sun", and the Chimera just sucked. The fight scene of it was pretty lame, but then, I'm not rating that one episode.

I'd reccomend this game to people who like Anime, and who like fighting games.

Worth adding to your collection...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Fullmetal Alchemist 2, Curse of the Crimson Elixir is all-in-all an enjoyable game to play. The use of the original voice actors and improved character animation from the first game definitely make it worth picking up as part of your FMA collection.

The length of the game is a little disappointing. For a "Role Playing Game" it's certainly doesn't give you a lot of opportunity for exploration and sub-plots. This is something Square-Enix is a master at but they have left out of this particular title.

4.5 Stars - Minor flaws, otherwise great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: August 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

fma2 is better the fma1 because most of fma2 has the same things as the show and you can make a lance,sword, and hammer out of nothing.Also you dont need to charge your alchemy bar to make thing.

Fullmetal Alchemist

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this product for my 14 year old daughter. She is a huge Anime fan and a fan of this show in particular. She was very excited to recieve it and has spent several hours enjoying it. The game has good art and graphics. It follows a good story line and stays true to the shows characters. She did say that this game is easier then the first one. I'm not sure if that is due to the game or her being more adept at the game since learning on the first one. Overall, this is a good game and not just a blood and guts slasher thing. I recommend it.

Not Bad for a Fan...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I agree with the rest of the reviews that grant this game a 4 star rating. I thought it was fun, even when I played through it a second time. I could listen to the voice actors for this series all day long, and even Chris Sabat seemed well-adjusted to his part. (He does a good Armstrong, but that's only because the over-the-top and outlandish voice he normally performs actually fits the character for once) I was extremely happy that they'd returned for the game.

Fans of the series will enjoy at least one run-through. The characters are kept fairly true to the originals. Even Ed's line, "It's hotter than a couple of Chimeras mating in a boiler room" seemed right on par with his character. Riza remained stoic and slightly trigger happy and Roy was once again given all the cool, if poorly timed, entrances. Armstrong was, well... Armstrong... and Hughes was, as always, the doting father. The only character complaint I had was how often Alphonse called Ed "Ed" instead of "brother". I realize the Japanese way of addressing ones siblings is different than other cultures, so you could argue they should've changed it to match the culture when they dubbed it into English. However, I missed "brother" coming from Al's voice and it was strange that even though they kept it mostly true to the translation in the series, they would change such a detail for the game.

The parts of this game I absolutely loved had a lot to do with the cut scenes. The animation was smooth and definitely cleaner looking, but the character design didn't deviate like some newer OVA's/video games do. There was plenty of humor to go along with the story, once again a nice touch for those who like consistency like I do. Though the plot was a little weak, but tolerable, I found that the original characters didn't take away from the pre-existing ones. An earlier review called Crowley, "Sephiroth's long lost twin brother", but as a female fan of FFVII, I had NO problems with that.

The other main point I loved was getting the option to add Mustang, Hawkeye or Armstrong to your party for a short sequence. I did all three just to see how it went and all of them had their own distinctive differences. There was a small area where you could transmute a bulldozer which could actually hurt your enemies as well as your party members. Running over Roy a few times was more fun than it should have been... but you can't tell me Ed wouldn't have done the same thing. =) In fact, one of my complaints about the game was that you could only control Ed. I hope in possible future installments, they would add at least Alphonse as a controllable character.

Despite how much I liked it, however, I have some complaints. Number one on my list has to be the music. FMA received more than one award for its musical score and it deserved every one of them. From the series to the movie, the music is incredible. It's easily one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. The game doesn't come CLOSE. I had my hopes up when the opening began playing "Ready Steady Go", but it only went down hill from there. Honestly, the score sounds like it was composed in someone's basement with a cheap keyboard in about an hour. The themes repeat so often, I was beginning to wonder if they'd only written four or five songs for the entire game. It was very cheesy... and very disappointing for a series that set the bar so high. For such an abrasive, annoying soundtrack in a game, I would normally just turn the sound down and listen to my own, but the voice actors, for the most part, made leaving the volume up worth the torture.

Another problem I had was on the technical side. The automatic targeting system was flawed and I often found myself punching thin air while my adversary beat me mercilessly from behind. The bad guys, particularly the bosses, seemed to be allowed many more combos too, making a couple of the boss fights exponentially harder than others. Personally, the fight in the cemetery was five or six times harder for me than the final boss... and that was with plenty of leveling the second time around. I also had a bit of a tough time transmuting the four weapons to switch between them. I don't think it was my controller, but I'm not entirely sure. Every other command went through fine except L1.

The graphics weren't bad. The still shots seemed a little simple for such a game, but I would rather see their expressions drawn unmoving on the two-dimensional foreground than see them poorly rendered on the playable characters themselves. Call me crazy, but I don't think the digital artists seemed up to the challenge.

All-in-all, like I said, fans of the series will enjoy the game just to see your favorite characters in a fresh adventure. As a stand-alone video game though, I'm not sure I would recommend it, especially if you haven't seen the series. It reminded me of a less-interactive Kingdom Hearts 1 with worse music. You can beat it in 7-10 hours so it felt like a bit of a waste of money once it was all done, so I would recommend buying at a discount, or renting it.

FMA 1 was just an action game. This one's like actually playing the series.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Earlier in 2005, we received Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, which was a little game(that was actually released in Japan 2 years ago!) based on the popular anime/manga series that was a decent enough action-RPG. In it, Edward and Alphonse Elric went through an original adventure in which they met with a young girl named Armony. Despite the fact that it was fun enough(if using alchemy to turn a mailbox into a mini-tank to blow things up is wrong, I don't wanna be right), it was still a bit lacking.

Enter Fullmetal Alchemist 2: The Curse of the Crimson Elixer. The game itself actually feels much more like the anime than the first game did. The graphics now sport a cel-shaded look that perfectly captures the feel of the TV show, the in-game cutscenes actually feature voice-overs from the cast(not just the anime scenes), many more characters from the series such as Winry, Hughes, Rose, and Scar make appearances, and the game even has the TV show's 2nd opening theme, Ready Steady Go. When it comes to capturing the TV series, FMA2 gets an A+.

Combat is also a bit more fun. Ed has plenty more combos to wreck damage upon his enemies, and this time around also learns a set amound of weapons to make that allow him to do much more damage. You'll also actually have to switch between them, one weapon will actually be more useful than another. There's also many more things to transmute, and this time around there's no stupid gauge like the first game. Ed will automatically learn new transmutations for objects as he levels up, for example, he can create a bomb, then turn it into sticks of dynamite. The plot can essentially be divided into 2 parts. The first half of the game is a basic retelling of Hiromu Arkawa's series, such as the Cornello arc and the infamous incident with Shou Tucker. It's the second half of the game where the real plot comes into play, as Ed and Al battle mysterious monsters called Golems in their hometown of Resembol. It's this, as well as an encounter with a mysterious girl, that prompts them to investigate. Their search eventually leads them to Jack Crowley, who looks like the long-lost twin brother of Final Fantasy 7's Sephiroth. The guy's a bit off the deep end, and his goal to bring back a loved one has wound up creating the most dangerous threat our two alchemists have faced yet. It all ties in with a mysterious Crimson Elixir(hence the title).

The problems? Well, first off, the game is possibly shorter than the first one. It consists of about 7 "chapters" and each one takes about an hour at the most to complete. Al is also still a pain to control with the R1 commands, and often winds up getting low on health, leaving you to either forced to use healing items on him or just let him be knocked out(however, I've read that the next game is going to fix this be actually letting him be playable, so there's hope).

Despite these shortcomings, FMA2 is still a lot of fun. Fans may also want to check the bonus DVD, which contains episodes 27-28 of the anime(since they haven't been released on TV yet). With games like FMA2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir, we may not just be seeing an increase of quantity of anime games in the US, but quality is well. Definitely worthwhile to a fan.

Fullmetal Alchemist 2 Exceeds the First.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is far better than the first one. In terms of graphics, the game far exceeds "Broken Angel" due to the fact that the characters are now cell shaded and look more like the anime versions. The game play is also better because you are given many more melee attacks then in the first where all you could do was use your arm blade. In this game, Ed can kick, punch, dodge and still pull off all his famous alchemic works. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a Fullmetal Alchemist fan and anyone else who as ever wanted to perform alchemy on anything or anyone.

Good for fans of the series and just a good game overall

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

In an unfortunate state of affairs, the stores in my town suck when it comes to anime. We have Blood, Evangelion movies and the GitS: Stand Alone Complex anime and that's it. There's no Gungrave, Evangelion, Rahxephon, Fullmetal Alchemist, Escaflowne or Trigun to rent so people have to resort to downloading them(don't worry, I'm still buying the box sets whenever I find them). The first FMA wasn't particularly a big hit and critics weren't kind to hit so we have its updated sequel which is actually quite good, although as usual, there's some issues.

Story: The story can be divided into 2 halves: Ed and Alphonse investigating a couple people who are stirring some **** including a false prophet, a car bomber and a scientist's murder. The second half is where it makes a "plot" where mysterious creatures show up, along with a strange man and woman. 5/5

Graphics: Going for more of a cel-shaded influenced graphics the game is going ever so slightly to the feel of the show. Unfortunately characters don't move their mouths when talking and just show a anime-style character on top of the cel-shaded scene(similar to Lunar/Baten Kaitos style games). It does have some scenes animated directly like the show so bonus. 3.5/5

Sound/Music: I always consider English dubs to be a mixed blessing. You can better understand the scene and actors rather than reading the text at the bottom. It's just too bad that some of the lines are either delivered kind of flat(many of Al's lines or a bit too enthusiastic(Ed's lines). Music isn't too special either. 3/5

Gameplay: If many games are being GTA clones, than this game is like a Kingdom Hearts clone. Same style of engine only with a cool feature. Some of the specials you can meet on your quest allow you to help the battle. One acts like a giant vacuum cleaner so you can attack all the enemies in one shot. There's a rocket launcher, a big bowling ball, weapons you can use, even a bulldozer. Also cool is Ed has 3 weapons he can use in addition to fighting barehanded, a sword, a staff and a big hammer.

Controlling Al isn't that big of a concern. He's not too big on blocking so he gets hit a lot. You can do a alley-oop to make you go on higher platforms though. Some things will net you bonus points which allow you to raise your vitality, attack, defense and alchemy skills(allowing better specials on the field).

The game has one shortcoming too: it's rather short. It's got 7 chapters, each one will take you an hour to an hour-half to finish depending on how good you are battling. The story's interesting too, characters are well-loved including some cameos from the show, including hottie Rose, childhood friend Winry and Hawkeye. Speaking of the show, included with the game is an extra disc which contains Episodes 27 and 28 of the show so w00t.

If you're a fan of the show or just wanna play an action game with a cool story, try it out.

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