Ubisoft RPG: Enchanted Arms Review for Xbox 360

Enchanted Arms is the first overall attempt at a solid RPG for the new next generation console, Microsoft's Xbox 360. Enchanted Arms is a Japanese import, and that fact is not so subtle, due to the strange, and slightly off dialogue. But regardless of dialogue, Enchanted Arms is a solid gaming experience. The story has an interesting premise, as it tells of a futuristic world, where robotic creatures known as golems are used for fighting. You get to fight all of the golems, and whichever you beat, you may select to join your party. This adds a nice refreshing aspect to role playing games, because you are not stuck with the same four or five characters to choose from throughout the whole games.

The game also lets you personalize everything about your characters. While golems come with a set of abilities that cannot be altered, all of the human characters have hundreds of abilities that you get to choose from. Pair that with a point based leveling system, and you get a totally customizable experience.

Enchanted Arms also gives you a variety of shortcuts, to help you in battle. The automatic turn feature is a nice addition, mainly because the game would be much slower, and seem to drag on a great deal if you had to manually do everything every turn. Along with shortcuts, the game also completely heals your characters, and brings everyone back to full health after every single battle. This adds a nice element to the story, and helps a ton, as the game would be nearly impossible if it didn't.

Now for the bad stuff. Although the game is totally original, and completely throws the RPG world on it's heels, the game does lack in a few key areas. Mainly the dialogue. The dialogue between the characters is extremely monotonous, and sometimes boring. The lack of effective voice acting leaves a great deal of reading, which normally doesn't bother me, but after 50 hours of solid game play, reading does take away from the experience. Also the dialogue between everyone seems strange, out of place, and well, Japanese. There are implications that this is an import everywhere. From the products available, to the names, and the voice acting.