I often praise the Wild Arms series and talk about how much I’d like to see a new game. Up until recently, however, I’d only played Wild Arms and Wild Arms 3.

(I have the second game, but I haven’t gotten around to playing it yet.)

So when Wild Arms 4 was added to PSN a few months ago, I decided it was high time I played it. Well, of the three Wild Arms game I’ve now played, it’s ranked last for me… but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad, so let’s talk about the highs and lows.

The first thing I want to mention is that Wild Arms 4 is fairly linear. I love exploring the world map in classic JRPGs, and there’s none of that here.

There is a map, but it’s only to choose your destination from. You mainly go from one point to the next and pretty much have no reason to backtrack even if you could (until the very end, when you get the ability to reach treasure chests that were inaccessible before).

It also lacks things like building interiors in towns. When you enter a house, you just get a screen where you talk to the NPC more like it’s a visual novel.

The dungeons have beautiful environments, though, and Wild Arms 4’s dungeons not only include puzzles, but also a surprising amount of platforming. It reminded me of how much I miss JRPGs having puzzles in dungeons.

Meanwhile, the combat system is an unusual twist on turn-based combat. Battles take place on a field of hexagons, which might have you picturing something like a strategy RPG or the older Trails combat systems, but it’s a little different. The grid is 7 large hexagrams, and even though allies and enemies can’t occupy the same space as each other, multiple allies or enemies can. Attacks, items, etc., meanwhile, effect an entire hexagon.

So if you have two characters on the same hexagon, for example, you can heal them both with the same item. If you attack a hexagon that has multiple enemies, you’ll deal damage to them all. On top of that, some hexagons have elemental effects that change certain skills.

It’s an interesting system, and I found combat to be fun once I got used to it.

Oh, and the funniest thing is how getting items after battle works. At the end of a battle, an item might appear on a hexagon… but you only get it if at least one character is on that hexagon. If not, it informs you the item “slipped away,” which always made me laugh because it sounds like the items are escaping.

Now the story is… not the greatest. I’d say its strongest point is its sheer cheesy spectacle. I wasn’t playing to see what would happen next in the plot or because I loved the characters, but it’s the sort of story where a villain might fly up on a jetpack and attack a train with his chainsaw, and how can you not be entertained by that?

Overall, Wild Arms 4 left me with mixed feelings. The plot was weak yet entertaining at times, although I didn’t like the ending. The dungeons and combat were pretty fun, but I wish it had world map exploration more like Wild Arms 3. I didn’t love it or hate it… but I’m glad I at least got a chance to play it.