If there was anything the first generation Microsoft system lacked, it was an abundance of role playing games (Japanese role playing games more precisely). With the 360, Microsoft looks to correct that problem, by introducing Enchanted Arms as a first in a line of upcoming Japanese role playing games. Though the game is technically beautiful and features some innovating gameplay mechanics, the story is what ultimately keeps the game from achieving high results.

THE STORY SO FAR
Atsuma seems to be your typical student, going to school to learn enchanting, but most of the time he falls asleep during class. After deciding to skip class one day with his friends Toya and Makoto to attend a festival, due to unforeseen circumstances the trio finds themselves deep under the school grounds, unleashing a Devil Golem called the Queen of Ice from her slumber. With Yokohama left in ruins and strange flashes of memory hitting Atsuma, will he be able to make it back to Yokohama and find out the fate of his friends, and will he be able to do what he must to save the world from another Golem War.

When the game first started out, I was amused, and genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen next, but that soon faded after the new car smell had worn off, and instead I found myself playing simply to finish the game I've spent so many hours playing. It isn't necessarily that the story is bad (the reason I play role playing games) it is just that it is so run of the mill and been there and done that. If you've played your fair share of Japanese role playing games in the past, then these plot points will come as no surprise to you and you'll be seeing the so-called "twists" from a mile away: a boy with amnesia, a prince and the pauper princess in hiding, a villain you can see coming from a mile away, a giggling man being surprisingly evil…please don't continue to insult our intelligence like this.

So the story is a dud that stinks worse than a skunk sprayed dog, but what about the characters in turmoil. Well, that odor seems to be hanging around still, and no amount of tomato juice is going to take it out. The main character (Atsuma) is completely unlikable, as I found myself unable to care about this simpleton who acts like a spoiled brat. The same goes for everyone else: Toya is your typical genius who finds himself on the wrong side of the law; Makoto is the most stereotypical gay man I've ever seen in a videogame (flamboyantly dressed, double entendres, and one of the most feministic voices I've ever heard come from a man's mouth); Karin is an ear scratching pain; Raigar is a dumb brute; Yuki is a money obsessed little girl; and the villains are uninspired messes (I mean, really, are we supposed to shake in our boots because of a woman named Queen of Ice – the biggest Final Fantasy Shiva guardian ripoff I've ever seen). The characters annoyed me so I only used Atsuma (cause you have too) and replaced the others with the more mute Golems you collect (sure, they don't grow as characters, but neither do the "real" characters).

And for that matter, the writing is absolutely dreadful, as you'll have to experience insanely long filled discussions with line readings that sound like two idiots trying to decide who gets to wear the "I'm with stupid" t-shirt. Foolish thoughts expressed about the most mundane topics ever, characters literally saying the same thing two to three times during one discussion just slightly changed a bit in terms of word usage, and moments where ellipses (…) are meant to actually be read as a sentence are just another few of the wonderful (read: sarcasm) moments you'll get to appreciate.

SINGLE PLAYER: GAMEPLAY
Role playing games always play the same way: run around, discover a plot point, run around, fight enemies, level up, and continue to repeat until your adventure ends – Enchanted Arms does not buck that trend. Oh sure, Enchanted Arms adds a bit of tactical maneuvering as players navigate a grid based battle systems, which only allow you to move and attack in the designated squares, but unlike the Final Fantasy Tactics the game steals the formula from, there aren't that many tactics involved, as you can basically let the game play itself. In what is one of the game's strong points (and yet low points as well), instead of the annoying level up battles where you tap a specific button over and over since there are no tactics involved, in Enchanted Arms you can apply the auto battle, so you don't have to manually maneuver the characters around (they don't act 100% intelligently, but they do well enough so you'll rely on them when you find yourself getting bored with the whole proceedings).

As you know, in role playing games you battle to get stronger, and though you do improve slightly when you level up, the game completely fails in every manner to tell you that you also have to manually adjust things yourself, as you must use points earned during battle to distribute into categories so that things like your HP will go up; I'm completely serious, not once does the game or manual tell you that you have to do this (I was in the 15-20 hour game mark when I finally discovered this fact). Not to mention, though you'll see that you have to make your weapons, what isn't described is how you equip them, since I was also multiple hours into my adventure when I finally learned you had to do this yourself as well (goes to show you how easy the game is for that matter since you can go so far into a game and not fully know its potential). Learning Skills suffer from the same afterthought, because though I was buying them from the store, I had no clue how to actually equip them for battle until about the same time as these other discoveries.

The only thing really interesting is the Pokemon-esque collection system, as there are over 100 characters, since you can collect "almost" every enemy that you battle; unlike Pokemon, you can't capture them during battle, but rather you'll see them available at purple crystal stores, in the casino, and the wild ones running around (you'll recognize them because they stand in place within the environments, waiting for you to come up and approach them, push the A-button, and begin a battle). The Golems are all very unique and have a very Japanese look to them (a joy for me since I've recently become addicted to manga). The way in which you unlock the Golems can be a chore (you must have the correct amount of stones for each of the three different categories), but overall it isn't that annoying of a factor as they are fairly easy to gather (fighting enemies, discovering in breakable objects, or buying them from the store).

Like the automated battle system, another gameplay mechanic that is both a blessing and a curse is the automatic heal after every battle (no need to worry about healing after a battle as your HP and EP always goes to full capacity for the next battle). Though this feature is nice to have, it isn't like you get an exact clean slate each time. As you partake in boss battles and random enemy encounters met strolling through the countryside, for every extra turn you have to take you lose a VP; you'd think this wouldn't be a problem, and it isn't if you can manage to take every enemy out on the first round, but your characters will die a bunch, and beyond some heal items you can only carry a select amount of, the only other way to heal this number, thus making the characters usable again (they do nothing once they get to zero), is if you can get to a green heal crystal. The heal crystals are placed around the game world, but sometimes it can be quite the hike to finally find one, and if you've run into a handful of enemies you aren't ready for, you could soon find yourself with nobody left to turn to.

MULTIPLAYER: GAMEPLAY
What? Multiplayer in a role playing game that doesn't have MMO (massively multiplayer online) attached to it? In an interesting turn of events, Enchanted Arms actually has a multiplayer, where you can battle against other individuals over Xbox Live with either preset Golems (essentially enabling a random crapshoot and a battle of skills to see who is the better Golem battler) or by using your game data (so you are rewarded for all the hard effort you put in to finding your Golems and leveling them up, you get to play with the same Golems you do in your regular game). It is an interesting game idea when it works right, but it is often hard to find that sweet spot, as you'll either run across players drastically lower in skill to your Golems or people who outrank you by a great deal (the game came out in previous regions earlier so they've had more time to level up than the Americans). Still, for what it is, it features a nice ranking system and is a nice extra that didn't have to be implemented.

GRAPHICS
The design of the main characters are pretty poor, but the Golems all have a unique look to them and a very distinct anime/manga style to them. The environments are also really spectacular, as some cities like Kyoto look just like feudal Japan, with water stepping stones and beautiful cherry blossom trees.

SOUND
Atrocious! The music is okay and the sounds are very pedestrian, but the voice acting is horrendous. A word of advice: play it long enough to see how bad it is, then switch to the Japanese voice acting to make your play through a bit more tolerable. I'm not usually a stickler for bad voice acting, but here it simply cannot be helped – it is bad!

IN CONCLUSION
If you're not a die-hard role playing game fan, stay away from this game. Yes, it might start off well enough, but you'll only find glimmers of hope during your time with the game. It does feature a good lengthy size quest, but playing through hours and hours of a very below average role playing game isn't exactly a quality way to spend your time.

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