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Return to the Wild, Wild, West. Well, sort of...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Reviewed for Big Boss Games by: TRC

Wild Arms Alter Code F, published by AgeTech, for the Playstation 2, PS2, is a great remake of the classic Wild Arms for the original Playstation 1 system or PSX. There have been some major updates to this game.

Filgaia, the planet, is dying. The main characters Rudy, Jack and Cecilia must find out why. The planet started dying 1,000 years ago after the Great War. You must find a race of people called the Elw before it is too late to stop the demons from taking over Filgaia.

Graphics ? They have been overhauled from 2D top down to full 3D environments. With the 3D upgrade it adds a whole new dimension to the puzzles in this game, 8/10

Sound ? The "wild west" feel to the music in this game truly sets Wild Arms Alter Code F apart from all the Sci-Fi RPGs out there. 9/10

Gameplay ? On the plus side, the puzzles in this game are a lot more difficult.
One huge minus is that you have to search the world map for your new towns, dungeons and treasures. Also, they give you a handy dandy map that shows you where to start searching. 7/10

Battle System ? Turn Based similar to Lufia and Lufia 2 from the SNES. 7/10

If you are looking for a game to tie you over until Final Fantasy XII hits the U.S. this is it.

Overall I give this unique game an 8/10

Good Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Plays well. Not as mechanically fun as the original, but still a great game in it's own right. Additional playable characters also make it interesting.

Falls Short of the Original

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First of all, I've played the original several times, and it's one of my favorite RPG's. I'm a sucker for remakes, namely so that I can relive the experience in a whole new perspective, and when done right remakes can even surpass the original. With that said this remake is definately above average, and should be a model for other remakes.

But as much as I wanted to give this game a 5-star rating, there were some serious flaws that I could not overlook.

1) The infamous glitch. When you search for a town or dungeon or item on the map, sometimes the screen ends up getting cut off and you are unable to proceed forward unless you enter a town or dungeon. This in itself isn't so much a major flaw as it is annoying, but when you are hanging onto a thread of your life and have just traveled several paces, only to realize there is a (well, I guess you'd call it a blue box of some sort that prevents you from moving forward), the last thing I want to do is try to run back the way I came and see if I can avoid potentially powerful monsters only to find the town I just passed and make the glitch go away. There's also issues with the screen shaking from time to time, especially during cut scenes.

2) Lacking voice dialog in the FMV sequences. I could forgive the original PS and even the early days of the PS2 for leaving off voice talent. But this late into the PS2's life? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind reading. In fact, part of the joy in Wild Arms comes from reading the various books and speaking with the locals to gain knowledge on Filgaia's past. However, the actual movie sequences should have been voiced. In fact, the event file key you find in the outfield allows you to play back the movies you've seen, except this time they are without any dialog (scripted or spoken). This would lead one to believe it was voice was intended, but never included.

3) Battles are very tedious and overlong, and building your characters (with the exception of Jack and Emma) just was not as fun as the original. Part of the fame of the original was getting sucked into battle just to see it unfold in 3-D, which was quite a treat back in the days when 2-D was the rule outside of battle.

4) Cecilia know longer has the ability to use magic outside of battle. This requires that you now use your hard-earned items for healing, and you are not able to use magic to exit dungeons. In addition to that, you no longer have the advanced magic that was part of the original. All of your magic can be discovered in the first town (whether you have a crest graph or not), so there's no mystery as to what you will get later on. Group enemy attacks are now done through a Guardian, which is fine, except you don't find this guardian until late into the game and you are forced to watch the Guardian movie each time you use the attack in battle, until you find the key that allows you to turn the Guardian movies off.

5) I can understand that each character has a special weapon/ability, so naturally they removed the weapon shops. But what about an armor shop to help increase your defense?

6) You find your secondary characters so late into the game they're almost worthless (not that any of the secondary characters were worth the hassle to begin with). They could have had access to these characters spaced out better throughout the game. At least Jane has the Follow Me command to ensure you're first in battle, and Emma's Great Booster will really pump up Rudy and Jack's attacks.

Don't get me wrong. There's still potential here and this game is worthy of the remake it became. New puzzles, new locations, advanced storylines, and some of the best movie sequences I've seen in a long time, just to name a few, make this game worth the time. I just wished they'd waited and worked out some of the issues before releasing this game.

Wild Arms Alter Code F

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game stays true to the original, while adding new graphics and gameplay. The only complaint I had is the world-map scanner. You have press square constantly, it becomes less than an inovative concept and more of a gun to the head. Battles have been greatly improved with the added Stamina bar and having the Force Powers add to specials for the most devastating attacks.

Return to the Wild, Wild, West. Well, sort of...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Reviewed for Big Boss Games by: TRC

Wild Arms Alter Code F, published by AgeTech, for the Playstation 2, PS2, is a great remake of the classic Wild Arms for the original Playstation 1 system or PSX. There have been some major updates to this game.

Filgaia, the planet, is dying. The main characters Rudy, Jack and Cecilia must find out why. The planet started dying 1,000 years ago after the Great War. You must find a race of people called the Elw before it is too late to stop the demons from taking over Filgaia.

Graphics ? They have been overhauled from 2D top down to full 3D environments. With the 3D upgrade it adds a whole new dimension to the puzzles in this game, 8/10

Sound ? The "wild west" feel to the music in this game truly sets Wild Arms Alter Code F apart from all the Sci-Fi RPGs out there. 9/10

Gameplay ? On the plus side, the puzzles in this game are a lot more difficult.
One huge minus is that you have to search the world map for your new towns, dungeons and treasures. Also, they give you a handy dandy map that shows you where to start searching. 7/10

Battle System ? Turn Based similar to Lufia and Lufia 2 from the SNES. 7/10

If you are looking for a game to tie you over until Final Fantasy XII hits the U.S. this is it.

Overall I give this unique game an 8/10

A Wonderful Remake

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first of the idea of Media.Vision doing a remake of the cult classic, Wild Arms. But rest assured, this remake definitely lives up to the original.

This game manages to stay very close to the original, maintaining all of the original storylines, the original characters, and even the original dungeons. Michiko Naruke, the talented game scorer of the original series, returns here to remake and remix most of the original songs of the first game, giving them a new, polished feel (putting old wine in a new bottle, so to speak, but not in a bad way). Media.Vision even went so far as to keep in the original translation errors that were introduced in the first game (Fargaia = Filgaia; Jack Vambrace = Jack Van Burace; etc.)

As for the new elements that have been added to the game, you are now able to play two extra characters in battle, Professor Emma and Calamity Jane. The dungeons, although they maintain their original names and significance to the plot, have been entirely reworked to fit with the new 3D exploration system.

Another element that has been added to the mix is the ECN gague, which allows you to avoid random world/dungeon encounters, based on a meter located at the top of the screen. This system originally made its debut in Wild Arms: Advanced 3rd.

All in all, it is a wonderful remake for fans of the old game, or it is an introduction into the world of Filgaia for a newer, younger generation of games. Either way, it is well worth the money.

Brings me back to when I was little.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After playing this game only to Baskar Village(which for people who dont know is not far at all) I have noticed an exact story as WA1.... and thats a good thing. I didnt like WA3 much because everyone used guns and that was boring but they changed that so Only Rudy uses an gun(ARM) and thats much better. the dungeons in all the WA games arte kinda boring all empty and straightforward to me. I loved WA1 so much that I had to buy this and, well, im very happy I did. The music in WA1 was beautiful and made me want to listen to it over and over again. And in this game they took that music and remized it. Most of the songs are even better than the first some arent but most are.
More things I noticed is that Rudy doesnt use a sword. In WA1 he used a sword for his normal weapon and had his ARM for special attacks. That caught my attention because I like swords better than guns(hence me not liking WA3.)Cutscenes are very vibrant and colorful and they really show whats going on. The beginning scene with the famous WA1 song is there. They did bring that song back but put a different anime scene in its place. So overall this game is awesome, beautiful, fun, sounding great. What more could you want. If you've never played Wild Arms before get the first one,beat it, then get this one. You'll lovethis if you loved the first!!!!

Good remake; absurd pricing.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: February 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First, I'd like to state that I am a fan of the Wild Arms series and have been since the release of the first installment on the original Playstation. Having said that, I don't hesitate in admitting that the first game in the series is indeed the best one to date, remake notwithstanding. As a series, Wild Arms takes an interesting approach to the RPG genre with a mix of both Western and Sci-Fi themes. The results are normally quite enjoyable.

The game in question is a remake of the very first game. As a remake, it does well to capture the overall feel of the story and it's characters, but it doesn't quite nail it. One wonders if the people behind the project were at all involved in the original. One could argue that there is something lost in the upgrade of the visuals and such, but that the elements that made the first game endearing are still intact... or should be. Sadly, it fails to come across with the same charm. Where one would have expected a much more fleshed out story with more detail lent to the individual characters' underlying plots, the game seems to fail. The score, which was a big factor in the original, is watered down and nowhere near as evocative this time around. Fans of the original, like myself, will definitely enjoy it riding the nostalgia factor but will surely agree that this remake could have done a much better job paying homage to the game that spawned the series.

As a stand alone game, it is a good, solid RPG with an entertaining story. The graphics, despite the update, come across as a tad bit dated (blame the delay in localization) and the battle system is nigh archaic. Plenty of side-quests to delve into make for moderate replay value. All in all, a game worth your time if it were priced at $30 tops.

One issue I'd like to tackle here is the fact that the merchants here at Amazon are pricing the game as some sort of collectors item. Should you browse the limited buying options, you'd be faced with ridiculous prices for a game no better than many other RPG's already in the bargain bin. (...)
Bottom line: Anyone looking to buy this game; do not pay more than $40 for it at this time. That's as expensive as it should be at this point (and quite honestly, the game is not worth THAT much).

Thankfully, I received mine as a gift and spent not a single penny on it, making the experience pretty much painless.

Hope this helps.

Overall, a good representation of the original

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Wild Arms Alter Code F is a remake of the original Wild Arms for Playstation. Wild Arms was a fantastic game, and so the franchise continued to the point of making a PS2 rendition of the original.

However, some things have changed. No items to restore MP. Fewer force point options, and three new playable characters, making a total of six. Personal skills take the place of personal equipment, and some of the scenery has changed.

In broad strokes, though, this game has what appealed to me in the earlier version: puzzle filled dungeons where you need to use tools to get further, great music, an epic battle with alien invaders, interesting sidequests, and of course, Zed (a very enjoyable character).

If you liked the original, you will thoroughly enjoy this remake. Still, if you like the idea of an RPG with a Wild West theme, you may well like Wild Arms. An excellent RPG for those who follow the genre.

Fairly good remake!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was surprised when I found this game. Wild Arms: Alter Code F isn't a sequel, but a remake, as you have probably heard. It takes elements from both Wild Arms 1 and Wild Arms 3 to create a hybrid remake.

How is this game closely related to WA1? First of all, the story is practically the same as WA1. The characters are back, and look great. Each character looks like they should, and it's weird not seeing those familiar 2d sprites from the first game. Still, they did a great job designing the characters. They look like they did in the opening cutscene from WA1. I just went back and beat my old save of WA1 in anticipation for this game, and have noticed that they have cleaned up many problems from that game. I'll talk about those later.

How is this game closely related to WA3? They reused the graphics engine from WA3 for this game. I loved WA3(which I will now go back and finish), but the level designs and such were always a bit plain. The graphics in this game are the same, but it does look like they tweaked some things a little bit. I'll mention those tweaks later.

Here are the great things about this game:
For starters, the graphics work with the game. They aren't spectacular(they are a year or two old) but they are good for a cell-shaded game. The characters look like they should. The towns look good. Also, enter any house and look at the lightning effects. The team did a great job with the towns. In WA3, everything had a very static feel. In this game, things are a little bit more vibrant, and they are certainly more colorful.

The battle system is very closely related to WA3. Your characters run around a little battle field, but it plays out just like Final Fantasy. Each character has their own force power, such as the awesome Accelerator for Jack. Also, each character has special skills, that look pretty good. One of the weirder things about the game is that Jack only punches with regular attacks. He doesn't use his sword unless he is using a special skill. This works fine, but it is a little weird, as one reviewer pointed out. Battles are not nearly as frequent as WA1, and thankfully the migrant system lets you avoid many of them. I ran into very few battles. Each time you do battle you get a point, which lets you escape one battle. So in a sense, you could avoid every other battle you encounter. Some have complained that battles are slow, which is somewhat true. I actually found the battles to be of good length. Some enemies will screw around and take too much time, but for the most part battles are of average length.

The music and sound of the game are good. Well, the music is good. There aren't that many sounds going off at once, and it kind of makes you feel lonely when music is the only thing ever playing.

The best part about the game is nostalgia. If you played WA1, you'll notice that they follow the plot closely. Dungeons and towns have the same names, and I can't help but feel sorry for those that never got the chance to play WA1. It's like having an old school RPG storyline with a new game.

Here are the bad things about the game:
Dungeons can get repetitive. The one problem with WA1 that I hated was the fact that the dungeons were completely non-linear. You go back and forth between rooms, hitting switches and going into doors that you just unlocked, while encountering tons of battles that you COULDN'T run away from. In this game, the dungeons are a bit more straight forward. After a while they look the same, so it gets easier. Also, the puzzles aren't that complicated. I don't mind that though, as I would rather have puzzles that are simple than puzzles that have puzzles within puzzles.

The graphics are reused from WA3, so there aren't that many technological improvements worth mentioning, other than the towns which look great.

The worst part about the game though is the need to use the search function. This was one of the problems with WA3 that people hated. While on the world map, you can't just see things easily. You have to use the square button to search the landscape for everything. In order to find towns and dungeons, you must search for them on the world map. You will basically be pressing square every 2 seconds. In order to find things. It's stupid, and serves no purpose.

Conclusion:
Buy this game if you loved WA1. If you hated WA3, this isn't the game for you. If you hated WA1 but loved WA3, this isn't the game for you.

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