A boy with mysterious powers somehow tied to a girl with equally mysterious powers and a dying world torn apart by war. Nothing about Wild Arms 4’s story really screams “original” or even “unique” – at least when it comes to story. But, in all truth story isn’t what makes Wild Arms 4 worth playing; it’s the mechanics.

Visually, Wild Arms 4 shares at least a passing resemblance to Kingdom Hearts. While not as “full” as those found in Square-Enix’s mouse-eared masterpiece, the character models in Wild Arms 4 still look remarkably good. These designs work well with the environments that, while not the most detailed, still help to give each area its own unique mood while still holding on to a consistent look and feel. In other words, nothing looks out of place and you’ll like what you see.

Story sequences unfold in a mix of in-game movie sequences and still images overlapping a blurred game field. Each does its job of getting the point across, though still imaged scenes are much more abundant than movies. Most sequences are voiced, though there is a bit of inconsistency as to when the voices actually pipe up and say something. Voice acting shows up at sporadic times. Sometimes what is said is important, while at others it is meaningless banter. Granted, this isn’t a game-breaking detail, but it does take you away from things – especially when you jump from a voiced story movie into a lengthy text narrative and back into a voiced explanation of a mechanic you’ve already figured out.

Other than spotty voice work, the overall audio package is solid.

Though the tale puts its own unique spin on some aspects, Wild Arms 4 mostly relies on overplayed RPG clichés to get the point across. At the center of the tale is a boy named Jude who has been raised in seclusion, unaware of the strife surrounding him. It is not until he meets a young girl and a cocky drifter that he comes to fully understand everything that is going on around him and that his seclusion was for a reason. XSEED has tried to do a good job at staying true to the original Japanese script, but at the same time some aspects come off as either cheesy or simply border on preachy, especially when it comes to the topic of war.

Outside of the story issues, Wild Arms 4 strays more towards a non-traditional gameplay setup. The overworld map is broken up into several points, each of which represents an area. Once in an area, players control Jude as he travels in a manner that has more in common with platform games rather than RPG's. Jude can slide, jump and stomp, all of which help to make dungeons much more enjoyable. At some points, the game will even switch to a 2.5D “Side View” that requires carefully placed jumps and use of Jude’s accelerated agility power.

Aside from all the jumping and sliding, Jude can also manipulate objects in his environment though the use of tools. It's here that Wild Arms 4’s puzzle elements come into play. Early on, puzzles are easy and require simple actions like whacking a switch with a sword or lighting something on fire. Later ones, however, range from tricky to outright frustrating. Puzzles are especially frustrating when you have to deal with random encounters, though this problem can be fixed by turning off enemy encounters.

Beyond the short main story (which should take about 30 hours; short for an RPG), various side quests are also available, which will add a few more hours for players who feel the need to absolutely do and see everything in the game.

How easy or hard a time you have with Wild Arms 4 ultimately comes down to how well you’re able to understand the combat system. Taking place on a 7-hexed grid, combat is what really gives the game its unique feel. The game does a good job of easing you into the system and even spaces out some of the more advanced mechanics so you’re not crushed by too much information at once. Battles start out easy but, like the puzzles, soon become really tricky. Any frustration you’re likely to encounter will come from a lack of strategy.

A few aspects will, however, make the game seem a little too easy. Provided you activate a special switch hidden in each dungeon, enemy encounters in dungeons can be toggled on or off with the press of a button. This mechanic should, however, only be used while trying to solve the game’s tougher puzzles since missing out on battles also means you’ll miss out on XP. It should go without saying that even with the best strategy, low level characters aren’t likely to survive very long against bosses.

Combat is what proves to be Wild Arms 4 most exciting and unique feature. Or, as I’ve been hinting all along, the reason you’ll keep playing. Battles take place on a board composed of 7 hexagons in which characters stand. Allied characters can occupy the same hexes, allowing them to sometimes unleash special combo attacks. These range from small two-character attacks to vicious 4-character assaults, all of which must be unlocked through play. Putting multiple characters on one hex is just as dangerous as it is beneficial since attacks hit everything in a hex, not just one individual. Of course, this mechanic goes both ways, so enemies can also be herded into one hex and dispatched en masse.

Battles go beyond simple unit placements on a map, as you’ll also have to plan out every move in order to make the most out of a turn. For example, an enemy vulnerable to melee attacks might have a shield that is vulnerable to magic; this requires you to cast a spell to knock down the shield, then quickly move your melee character in for a hit before the shield goes back up. Of course, this example is a rather basic one since some battles can become complicated if you’re not keeping a constant watch on what is going on. You’ll also have to keep track of your character’s abilities since some can go from a powerful melee fighter to a ranged fighter within a few levels.

Among other strategies found in Wild Arms 4 is the use of the Lay System for casting spells. During battles, some hexes will glow one of four colors indicating its current element. Placing certain characters on the lay points changes their spells, such as the Material ability that calls forth different summon spells based on where the character is standing. Standing on a red hex will cause a massive fire spell to be cast while a non-colored one will heal all party members.

While it may seem drawn out, combat goes by pretty quick even when dealing with some bosses.

When taken at face value, Wild Arms 4 looks like your standard Japanese RPG and with good reason. The story isn’t much and the characters really could have been any other RPG characters. Looking a little deeper, Wild Arms 4 manages to do just enough things differently that you'll look past its shortcomings.