From Atlus and Red Company comes the first ever dating simulation game released in the US. Well, it's really a dating-sim RPG hybrid that delivers on more than one level. Thousand Arms is a unique blend of the usual RPG action with the quirky dating component which make this game such a joy to play.

The story is about Meis, the son of a lecherous spirit blacksmith, who's purpose in life is to date as many women as possible so that he can refine his blacksmith powers and make more powerful weapons. You see, a weapon is useless in this game unless its infused with the spirit energy of a loving woman. This wacky setting is interrupted with the sudden destruction of Meis's hometown by the Dark Acolyte Empire, who are searching for a Dark spirit blacksmith to further their ends for world conquest. Meis sets off on a journey to improve his blacksmith skills and counter this dire threat. Along the way, he meets up to nine beautiful women to help him on his quest.

The immediate novelty of this game begins with the graphical style. The characters are all of the super-deformed type drawn in colorful anime style on a 3D background which can be rotated at will. What's really cool is that during the story sequences, the camera pans down into the setting and all the characters assume their full anime bodies just like a cartoon. The close-ups also display more details of the towns or settings in which events occur. Meis's journeys take him to many towns, mountains, underground dungeons, and floating cities. Each has nice 3D detail with a decent overworld environment. The enemies all have passable animations during battles but what's really strange is the bizarre variety of enemies which seem to compliment the light-hearted style of this game. Enemies range from the usual bandits to bizarre collections of Elvis impersonators, cheerleaders, snake-handlers, and all sorts of circus performers. I'm not sure where they came from, but it certainly makes for a nice break from the usual assortment of RPG monsters. Spell effects are not particularly pleasing to the eye, but the game does have pretty high caliber summon spells which add an interesting twist to the game's battles.

Sound and music fit the game's style with a variety of upbeat soundtracks for each town and area. The opening and ending tracks retain the Japanese songs, which I think is a big plus. There's a lot of voice acting in this game, with every major character having a speaking part. They occur during important plot moments as well as throughout the many date sequences. Voices range from really bad to very good. It's bad when they try to add too much personality to a character but when they speak normally it's pretty good. I especially like the voice synthesizer of the evil Emperor.  It reminds me of the excellent voice acting done by the Elder in the recent Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. It's obvious that Atlus had a lot of fun doing the voices for this game and it shows.

The RPG elements of the game involve the usual exploration and dungeon-hopping but there are quite a few novelties. First of all, the battle system is really different from most games. Your characters line-up across the screen in the same set linear order for each battle. There's a front line character that can directly attack and two back-up positions for two more characters who don't attack. All these other characters can do is cast healing spells, use items, or perform a wide variety of useless actions such as cheering or taunting the enemy which really have no significant effects.  This is where the problem and biggest weakness of the game lies.

You can have up to 7 characters in your party, but only one can ever fight at a time.  The rest are pretty much useless. If your front-line character gets killed then the next  character takes point. If you heal sufficiently, this rarely happens. Strangely, even characters who are not placed in the active battle line-up gain the same amount of experience points. This means there's absolutely no incentive to use other characters in battles other than to see what their special attacks are. While there are a wide range of elemental spells, they are little more powerful than regular attacks. Summons, on the other hand, are effective and should be searched for at all costs. Otherwise, there is little variety to actual combat options. Another problem is there are no weapons or armor to find. This means all treasure chests in dungeons only contain either heal items or presents for the girls which can be bought anyway. I have mixed feelings about the combat style and experience system.  Red Company could have substantially improved on it.

The other side of the gameplay is the dating aspect. Stronger weapons can only be forged by dating different girls. Each girl represents a different elemental power which they can add to your weapon such as fire, wind, light, etc. The success of dating is measured by the girls' intimacy level and the hero's charisma level which simply increases with experience. The higher the girls' intimacy level the better spells you can get attached to your weapons. Throughout the game, there are 'dating' statues which you can go to to date whichever girls you have currently in your party. Then you are presented with three options: date, give a present, or play a mini-game.

Every girl has their own mini-game which ranges from simple follow-her-actions to a blackjack game. If you do well, then the girl's intimacy level will increase. Do poorly and it will decrease. The same goes for the present option. Depending on the girl's personality, they may or may not like the present. The most involved option is the dating game.  Here you take the girl to a pre-assigned dating spot and she asks you a series of questions ranging from what kind of food you like to the meaning of life and love.  You are given a choice of responding with one of two answers to any one question. Some of the questions and responses can be a laugh riot with obvious wrong answers making the girl angry enough to hit Meis. If you play the girl right, you'll get a big kiss at the end and an increase in intimacy level. Depending on the girl's personality, the correct response for one girl is the wrong response for another. I think that this dating sim is not only a load of fun but it really helps to flesh out the personalities of the characters and helps bring the game to life.

Atlus has released an unusual RPG which is really the first of its kind to appear domestically. Despite several weaknesses in the combat portion of the game, it deserves a look from fans of the genre.