I'll lay my bias on the table right now. I'm not the biggest fan of the wave of cinematic copy-catting that's been sweeping through the RPG world lately. If I wanted an interactive film...you know? I may be increasingly more of an anachronism, but I like my RPGs long on story and complexity and short on visual pizzazz. I mean, who really needs all that flash if the story is solid and the gameplay is right-on? So, with that pronouncement, I'll go on to say that the visuals in Wild Arms 3 strike a perfect balance between over-the-top visual style and nice eye-candy. Excellent design is apparent in every aspect of the game world and the characters. The game designers used some subtle techniques to augment the normal cel-shading that is cropping up everywhere this year, giving everything a flowing, glowing effect. Sometimes, looking closely, you'll see a shifting texture on surfaces that really stands out and gives Wild Arms 3 a unique flavor. Still, the backgrounds and world design is more retro, when compared to lush settings now taken for granted in Squaresoft's RPGs.

The music is excellent, with strong incidental tunes for dungeons and towns along with great feature songs. Fitting the Western theme, many of the musical textures are tinged with guitar and twang to give that hint of The Frontier. But, there are also plenty of very typical (but good) themes that stick in your head after a long play session. The total package for presentation is awesome, and unless you feel you've put anything but full 3D behind you, you'll be struck by how smooth and beautiful everything looks and sounds in Wild Arms 3.

Wild Arms 3 grabs your attention from the very beginning. The exposition of the game is one of the most creative ways I've seen to introduce characters and break away from the 'John joined your party!' phenomenon. Because we've come a long way from people getting excited about stale conventions in RPG gaming, there has to be more on the table than one man's quest to find himself or avenge some terrible crime or go through some coming-of-age experience. As it turns out, most of the standard themes of Love, Revenge, Discovery and Heroism are here, but spun along quite different lines than usual. The main protagonist is a young girl who decides to leave her simple village life to discover adventure out in the world. The very first segment of the game shows her realization that she is capable of more than a pacific country life after trolls invade her town and she takes off after them to win back what was stolen. Leaving town to become a Drifter, an adventurer, she finds herself on a train. The train is the target for a hijacking, and the girl Virginia suddenly finds herself in the company of 3 others pulled into the same place at the same time. When this meeting happens, you'll play short segments that introduce each character. In these segments, you learn about the character and also a bit of gameplay is introduced each time. These 4 short stories set the stage for the rest of the game, and do a great job of capturing your attention. If you're undecided about this being a game worthy of your attention, you owe it to yourself to at least rent and try this first section.

The pacing of Wild Arms 3 follows convention, but several interesting things make it unique. First, the Western theme is great, and does a lot to break out of the tried and tried again format of D&D or Fantasy. Just the use of guns during battle allows for interesting variations on the usual flow of action. Instead of either melee or magic attacks, you now have both in combination with weapons to define each character's attack style. Virginia packs 2 pistols and can unleash a quick attack, while Clive the sniper takes slower shots but does more damage. During battle, you'll have to be conscious of ammo, and of course special ammo can create very different effects when used. Compared to the lush backdrops in other RPGs, Wild Arms 3 has a simpler world that is also much more interactive. You can pick up objects, use tools in dungeons and towns to solve puzzles and find treasure. A 'notice' feature makes it easy to quickly walk into an area and determine what might be a puzzle or interesting object.

Other great battle options beyond just simple magic spells or weapons are the use of a Medium and FP. FP is somewhat like the idea of 'breaks' in other games, but instead of building up slowly through multiple encounters, you'll find the FP gauge fill quickly as you hit or are hit during battle. Characters can assign FP to different skills, or summon a Medium to perform an attack dependent on the level of FP used. Creative uses of FP can give a 'spread' effect to a particular spell, heal or apply elemental attacks to enemies. And, as characters rise in level, they are able to avoid battles by using an 'encounter gauge.' This neat feature pops up an exclamation mark, not unlike the guards in Metal Gear, when an enemy is about to attack the party. Pressing a button at that moment lets you avoid battle, and takes a bit off your encounter gauge. Once the gauge is depleted entirely, you have to fight, but eventually you earn the right to avoid battles without depleting the gauge at all. A nice way to skip random battles when you don't need the points as much.

The only complaint I have in this area is that the open ended gameplay sometimes leaves you wandering a bit to find your next objective. The battles can get hard if you don't master the use of FP and really exploit the special attacks each character has available. Teamwork was never more important, especially because there isn't the tendency here as in so many games to develop one character into a god and leave all the rest at normal levels. The benefit is more balanced action in battles, but we all know how nice it can be to use that ramped-up character in a pinch to clean house or clock a tough boss. From the perspective of advancing story, having balanced parties makes the game more engrossing.

Not only does the game engine look great for cut scenes and during battle, but the movement during battles (done automatically, as opposed to being part of the choice you make during a turn) creates especially cool effects and angles that keep engagements interesting. Auto-battle options are fairly smart, and choices during battles are made in a compass-point navigation system on the center of the screen with strong visual elements instead of menus. Coins you gather in the game can be used to save anywhere, including dungeons, or cashed in to continue after the party has expired. The continue feature was a bit unexpected, since it brings you right back into the battle, but it definitely helps tone down the frustration in difficult dungeons. Lifting up the hood shows a few additions not always present in garden variety RPGs. A gardening feature lets you actually grow medicinal herbs, saving money at the store! I love this aspect of the game, kind of a Harvest Moon tribute in the middle of dungeon-hopping... Also, the modifications possible for your guns is a nice way to ensure the use of a single weapon doesn't get tedious. Most important in this category is adding to the number of bullets a gun will hold, but it is nice that the reload during battle is automatic when you select the 'Guard' action.

Wild Arms 3 is smart, sophisticated and full of style. Any RPG gamer worth his or her salt should be interested in this one, even if seems somewhat retro. Especially because it may seem retro. Just because there aren't lush Photoshop masterpieces filling every screen doesn't mean a whole lot of work didn't go into making the game look great. The subtleness here is important. Wild Arms 3 doesn't want to be a genre-breaker. What it wants to do is provide challenging, entertaining RPG action with a great story and memorable characters. I really haven't been too excited about the latest Squaresoft evolution, but I know the RPG craze means someone has to sell out. For the purists, games like Wild Arms 3 that offer substance over saccharin will always be in fashion.