Wild Arms: Alter Code F (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit

First off, sorry for the delay. My only excuse is, I’m lazy. That said, let’s talk about Wild Arms: Alter Code F. This is a remake of one of the first RPGs made for Playstation. There are some new differences. All-in-all the story is the same, but graphics and gameplay have been revamped. Though I normally try to review without comparing to other games, this one is a game that demands to be placed side by side to the original. I think I can tell you all the details in the detailed sections, so let’s begin.
Graphics: The graphics have been upgraded from the original. Characters look more attractive than their previous blocky selves, but it is not graphical taking advantage of the PS2 capabilities. 3/5
Audio: The music is a light western sound. It fits the mood very well. There’s really not too much to say about the music. It sounds good. 4/5
Gameplay: Quite a few things have been redone to the game. The battle system remains the same, though. You go into battle, choose what attack you want before each turn, and then execute said attacks. However, even this has been redone. Sometimes you have to option to cancel a counterattack. If you do, then your character gets a second turn to do anything. Also, depending on how you attack, you will get experience bonuses. This means that leveling can go faster. Also each of your characters has a vitality bar that starts off at 100%. If you take damage, at the end of the battle the vit bar will decrease and life will be replenished. This of course lasts until the vit bar runs out, but it refills when you stay at an inn or level up. The dungeons in Alter Code have been completely redone to accommodate the new graphics and rotating camera. Also, the tools that characters receive have been reduced. Instead of four, there are only three. A world map does not become available until about five hours into the game, or longer. Towns are located by the radar that was introduced in Wild Arms 2. You cannot see these towns until you stand right by it and send out the radar. Once you receive the world map though, the locations of towns and dungeons that have been mentioned to you appear as dots on the map. Also, the set up of the game is essentially town to dungeon to new town to new dungeon. While some of the new things are nice, some are tedious and silly. Still, battling is fun, and the vit bar makes long dungeons more bearable. However, there is only one item in the game that restores MP, and that is a rare item that fully restores HP and MP. 3/5
Story: The story of Wild Arms is fairly simple. Monsters are trying to take over the world. Some heroes have banded together at first to have an adventure and later to save the world. This would be a clichéd RPG. Oh, by the way, the main character never speaks. 3/5
Replay: The story of Wild Arms is not so fascinating that you’d want to play it again and again to pick up all the nuances that appear. Therefore there are probably only two reasons you would replay this game. 1) You really liked the game and don’t mind reliving the same generic plot. 2) You didn’t get all the little hidden extras the first time through and you want them now. Did I forget to mention that there are a lot of hidden extras? Of course you’ve probably heard that there are three unlockable characters. These cannot be added to your party until you’ve entered the final dungeon. Also there are ex files which are basically ways to listen to sounds and look at pictures from the game. However, this is the replay section not the bonus section so…2/5
Overall: Wild Arms is a good game. Strong gameplay and decent graphics with a story that while not excellent isn’t as bad as some I’ve played. It is what should be best termed as an average RPG. Which is not a bad thing. 3/5