I’m just beginning to dive into Wild ARMs 5 and in the first hour it managed to captivate me. The story begins with Dean, who likes to run around in a poncho and attack with a shovel. He starts out in the runs digging for golem parts. See, when Dean was a little kid he found a piece of a golem and from that day forward he dreamed of excavating one. His spunky partner and childhood friend is Rebecca, an acrobatic gunslinger who has an ARM. The two of them travel to the top of Celestial Peak where Dean is about to say goodbye to her and leave the village to become a Golem Hunter.
The battle system should be instantly familiar to anyone who has played Wild ARMs 4, the HEX system is back. When you enter a fight you and the enemies are randomly dispersed on a grid of hexagons. Dean has to be up close to smack an enemy with the shovel and you need to move him next to a hex that has enemies. If there is more than one enemy is in a square Dean hits all of them. Since Rebecca has an ARM she can shoot enemies from far away, but she can’t shoot diagonally. Not all the grids are circular in Wild ARMs 5, the first boss fight uses an altered grid with a tail that Rebecca can hide in. I was a fan of the HEX system in Wild ARMs 4 since it added in a new dimension of tactics without adding a lot of extra time in random battles. I’m glad it’s back and I’m looking forward to seeing what is new about it.
While I delve into Wild ARMs 5 take a peek at the opening video and hear Dean’s voice in English.
