Wild Arms 4, known in Japan as Wild Arms the 4th Detonator[b], is a role-playing video game developed by Media.Vision and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth installment in the Wild Arms video game series. It was released in March 2005 in Japan, January 2006 in North America by Xseed Games and PAL territories in 2006 by 505 Game Street.
| Wild Arms 4 | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Media.Vision[a] |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | Nobukazu Satō |
| Producer(s) | Takashi Fukushima Yasuhide Kobayashi |
| Designer(s) | Akifumi Kaneko |
| Programmer(s) | Takao Suzuki |
| Artist(s) | Tetsuya Ōkubo Yukihiko Itō |
| Writer(s) | Akifumi Kaneko |
| Composer(s) | Michiko Naruke Masato Kouda Nobuyuki Shimizu Ryuta Suzuki |
| Series | Wild Arms |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The game's overall look and feel is a departure from the Wild West feel of Wild Arms 3 to a more modern look. The game was originally announced alongside Wild Arms Alter Code: F under the title Wild Arms Another Code: F before being renamed.[2][3]
Story
editJude Maverick has grown up in an isolated town called Ciel, which is completely enclosed in a large sphere floating thousands of feet above the surface of Filgaia. His sheltered world changes forever when he sees the sky "tear" and ships enter his homeland. Upon inspecting the campsite set up by the intruders, he sees something else that he has never seen before: a girl.
The girl's name is Yulie Ahtreide and she is being held captive by the intruders after being captured by a "Drifter" for hire, Arnaud G. Vasquez. After the invading army attacks Ciel and brings the sphere crashing down, Jude, Yulie and Arnaud join forces to find the army's true intention behind Yulie's abduction. With the help of another Drifter, Raquel Applegate, these four idealistic teens travel the war-torn land of Filgaia in search of truth, their own identities, and their separate paths to adulthood.
Gameplay
editThe HEX battle system is composed of seven hexagons on the battle field, with random beginning placement for all characters and enemies. The HEX battle system is area based; any attacks or spells given to certain hexagon, or HEX, will affect all characters on that HEX. Multiple allies or enemies can occupy a single HEX, but enemies and allies cannot occupy the same HEX.
Localization
editIn the North American version, two monsters (Dalawa Bunny and Accident Rabbit) were taken out of the game, but not out of the monsters list, making it impossible to finish the game with 100% completion. The PAL version still contains this error, and is also known to crash in certain places when played in 50 Hz mode, leaving those areas potentially impassable to players whose television does not support 60 Hz PAL signals.
Some PAL copies also have another issue where triggering specific Material summons would freeze the game. A workaround is to disable the battle movies in the game's options. This bug affects both PAL and NTSC modes.
The English localization copy is known to freeze when loading the area at the top of a ladder at "The Great Wall" roughly 5 hours into the game when played in PAL mode. A workaround can be achieved by saving the game in the area prior and loading the game in NTSC mode, going past and saving on the world map. No other areas are known to have this problem.
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 69/100[4] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Computer Games Magazine |    [5] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 7/10[6][c] |
| Eurogamer | 4/10[7] |
| Famitsu | 32/40[8] |
| Game Informer | 7.5/10[9] |
| GameRevolution | C[10] |
| GameSpot | 7.8/10[11] |
| GameSpy | [12] |
| GameZone | 7.8/10[13] |
| IGN | 7.8/10[14] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [15] |
| RPGamer | 3.5/5[16][17] |
| RPGFan | 90%[18] |
The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[4] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40.[8]
Notes
edit- ^ Additional work by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan.[1]
- ^ Japanese: ワイルドアームズ ザ フォースデトネイター, Hepburn: Wairudo Āmuzu Za Fōsu Detoneitā
- ^ Three critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game each a score of 8/10, 7/10, and 6/10.
References
edit- ^ "JAPANスタジオ作品一覧 2005年～2003年" [List of Japan Studio works 2005–2003] (in Japanese). Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2021. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ GameSpot staff (August 27, 2003). "Two Wild Arms games in development". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "【9/10】「ワイルドアームズ アナザーコード：F(仮)」の正式タイトル決定". GameIroiro (in Japanese). September 10, 2004. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ a b "Wild Arms 4 for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ "Review: Wild Arms 4". Computer Games Magazine. No. 185. theGlobe.com. April 2006. p. 93.
- ^ J.S.; Bettenhausen, Shane; Parish, Jeremy (February 2006). "Wild Arms 4". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 200. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Parkin, Simon (October 4, 2006). "Wild Arms 4". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ a b "ワイルドアームズ ザ フォースデトネイター". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Juba, Joe (February 2006). "Wild Arms 4". Game Informer. No. 154. GameStop. p. 107. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Dodson, Joe (January 20, 2006). "Wild Arms 4 Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Massimilla, Bethany (January 10, 2006). "Wild Arms 4 Review [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ VanOrd, Kevin (January 18, 2006). "GameSpy: Wild Arms 4". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Grabowski, Dakota (January 27, 2006). "Wild Arms 4 - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Dunham, Jeremy (January 12, 2006). "Wild Arms 4". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ Maragos, Nich (February 2006). "Wild Arms 4". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 101. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Stone, Cortney (December 30, 2005). "Wild ARMs 4 - Staff Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Young, Billy (2006). "Wild ARMs 4 - Staff Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ Wilson, Mike (January 6, 2006). "Wild Arms 4". RPGFan. Emerald Shield Media LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.