From Contrail and Sony comes the next entry into the Wild Arms series.  Wild Arms 2^nd Ignition is the sequel to the first major domestic RPG released for the PlayStation.  The new chapter builds on the strengths of the original and continues the unique style of Contrail games.  

Wild Arms 2 is again set in the western-style world of Filgaia and focuses on a new set of three adventurers brought together by chance to save the world.   The cast includes Ashley Winchester, a member of a musketeer brigade, who unwittingly becomes part of a dimensional experiment caused by the mysterious Odessa terrorist organization.  Brad Evans, an ex-soldier turned criminal, and the bumbling apprentice mage, Lilka Eleniak, soon join him.   Together, they are recruited into the new ARMS (Agile Remote Mission Squad) unit to counter the plans of Odessa and save Filgaia.  

The characters each have unique personalities that are conveyed through their introductory quest sequences.  Each also has unique skills and weapons that offer a wide range of customization features adding depth to an otherwise standard combat system. 

Besides an all-new 3D look, the graphics have not improved much from the original.  While the environments are more detailed and can be rotated, the characters themselves have low polygon counts and look rough.  For some reason, even during the fighting scenes, the characters are small, which is very different from the close-up shots of the first game.  The enemy animations could have used more detail.  What saves the game from mediocrity is the 3D rotation feature that is a vital part of navigation and puzzle solving.  Moving the environments around the characters allows the player to change angles, reveal doorways, other NPCs, and treasure.  It is also a crucial feature in navigation because it’s hard to run straight without turning the screen into the direction the character needs to go.  While annoying at first, this feature becomes so commonplace that it ends up enhancing the gameplay.  There is also more anime in this game besides just the opening sequence.  

What definitely suffered in the transition between the first game and the sequel is the music.  I thought the intro music in the original Wild Arms was some of the best and memorable tunes at the time.  This game has relatively disappointing music in comparison that leaves me wanting more.   There is decent variety in themes between towns and dungeons.  They match the settings well but are not particularly memorable.  The sound effects do work well during walking and magic casting and bring some dynamics to the battles.  

Wild Arms 2 excels where it counts: gameplay.  Most of the game takes place between town exploration and dungeon solving.  The dungeons all have simple puzzles that must be solved using the characters’ special abilities.  For instance Lilka uses a Fire Rod to light things up. Ashley uses a knife to hit switches.  Brad uses his boots to kick boxes and walls.  Each character gets 2 more special abilities during the course of the game, each of which is used to solve more complex puzzles.  You’ll find yourself switching between lead characters constantly to solve the puzzles.  

Each character also has unique weapons and powers that can be upgraded.  Brad uses heavy artillery and Ashley uses lighter guns that have several ARMS upgrade levels.   Use of these guns requires bullets that must be replenished with items or at ARMS shops.  Lilka, on the other hand, is the mage and as such is the only one to use magic.  As in the last game, the player must collect crests to create unique magic combinations.   The one feature that makes this game really easy is the fact that you get your magic points (FP) replenished every time the character does an action or gets hit.  For all practical purposes, during battle you can’t run out of magic points.  While for some players, this feature will take away from the challenge; I think it lets you focus on the puzzles rather then endless combat.  Even better is the ability to avoid combat at will by pressing a button when a white exclamation point appears over the character’s head.  Rather then building-up stats to survive the battles, the player can focus on exploration and puzzle solving without annoying battles every other step.  

Characters can equip summoned monsters ala Final Fantasy.  At first, these just give a simple offensive or defensive magic but later, as force abilities increase, you can actually summon for more powerful attacks.  These options give a larger variety to combat then just simple attack/magic/item/defend options.  The best use comes during boss battles when you have the chance to whip out your best attacks.  What is unique here is each boss has body parts that can be defeated separately for extra experience points or to eliminate the boss special attacks.  It’s an interesting twist to an otherwise easy target.  

Finally I really liked the overworld map gameplay.  Instead of traveling from town to town, everything is hidden.   The player must use a sonar-like function to reveal towns, dungeons, money, and even hidden items scattered all over the overworld map.  A nifty compass point guides your travels as you search every nook and cranny of the environment for all kinds of rewards.

Overall Wild Arms 2 is the best RPG offered by Sony's software division so far this year and as such should not be missed.  Fun and deep gameplay, a decent story, and lots of customization features round out a winner.  Like its predecessor was in 1997, it promises to be an introduction for the best year for RPGs on the PlayStation yet!

The dungeons are a lot of fun and customizations to abilities add to the replay value.