Enchanted Arms
Ages: Teen

Tired of playing RPGs on your Xbox? Welcome to an RPG for the Xbox 360. Basically it plays like a standard RPGs – beautiful environments, easy to use battle features, a main character that is not too smart, with terrible hair and a powerful right arm, hundreds of characters, live battles online, but there are new and interesting twists and additions to the game.

There are golems galore. In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter, very often from mud. They are brainless and created to serve man – the humorous example is the broom in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In the game, these are your soldiers in battle – each as a unique skill and you make use of that when preparing for battle. There are 100 of these interesting characters and collecting them all is part of the game.

You will also have an openly stated flaming transexual character. Frankly, I think that most of the long-haired pretty boys in these games and in manga are that way. But it's a first.

You can listen to the game in Japanese. I think that this makes it feel more authentic – true in movies also. You may not understand the words but the inflection tells a lot. A mamga graphic novel comes with this edition. Nice to have but don't expect it to clear up the story any.

Fast forwarding through battle sequences is my kind of option. This is a linear game and I hate not to go ahead if I can't win the battle. More of this would make games playable for the non-formal gamer.

While it is not so unique, it is impressive – The Summoner spells – like fireworks on the Ginza.

Reviewed by: Editor - 10/06