With most Japanese gamers more than content to pretend that neither Xbox console exists, it shouldn’t really be that surprising that Japanese developers have been a bit cagey when it comes to developing for the 360 or its predecessor. But while most Western developers have managed to cover the majority of gaming bases out there, there are certain genres that even the most talented have struggled to cover with any degree of conviction.

Take the traditional Japanese RPG, for instance. While there’s no denying that both Xbox consoles have played host to some truly epic RPGs down the years, the undeniable charms of taking control of a flamboyantly dressed set of characters and embarking on a magical quest, taking it in turns to exchange HP-depleting attacks with an array of demons, elves, dragons and wizards, remains something of a rarity on both of Microsoft’s machines.

We should be singing the praises of From Software at the moment, because Enchanted Arms is about as Japanese as RPGs get. Turn-based gameplay: Check. Health points: Check. Magic: Check. Levelling of hometown and/or slaying of friends and family: Check. Clichéd Japanese characters and locations: Check. Token hero character struggling with his destiny: Check.

While the premise sounds like just the sort of thing the 360’s been crying out for, the catalogue of errors that blight Enchanted Arms are enough to ensure it is little more than mediocre.

For starters, there’s the gameplay. For most seasoned JRPG fans, the combat elements will be pretty standard fare. Players can have up to four characters selected at a time, who are then used whenever a battle commences. The battlefield itself is divided up into two grids (one for each opposing force), with the player being able to move their characters around the grid, selecting an action and then performing it, upon which the opposing force does likewise.

Each character comes equipped with a handful of moves to start with, although additional moves can be purchased later on. In addition to this, each character belongs to a certain element, distinguishable by the colour of clothing or, in the case of nonhuman characters, their skin (eg red for fire, blue for water, green for earth, and so on). These not only determine what kind of basic actions they can perform (fire characters would specialise in close-range attacks, water in longrange attacks, green in protecting) but also how effective these actions are, with attacks on opposing elements carrying more weight.

While it’s nothing spectacular, the battle system works well enough; the initial battles are nothing overly taxing, but as you progress, enemies will become stronger and you’ll find the game soon turns into a rather strategic affair with the player having to think tactically according to their particular choice of character.

However, this is pretty much the sole redeeming feature of the gameplay, as the rest of it proves to be an exercise in frustration and tedium. By far the biggest problem is the random battles. While we don’t mind the odd random battle here and there to spice up large stages and let us level up quicker, Enchanted Arms takes things to the extremes. Run 20 paces in any given direction and you’ll promptly find yourself pitched into a random battle.

To say these are annoying is something of an understatement. In the initial stages, the relative weakness of the enemies you face means these are little more than an irritating – but ultimately harmless – annoyance. However, as the enemies grow stronger, these battles will start to take their toll on the members of your squad.

With health restore points and shops (to buy the usual array of potions, for example) increasingly few and far between – such is the frequency of the battles – that by the time the end-oflevel bosses roll around you’re often left to face them with a rather sickly bunch of wounded walking. This can be problematic to say the least. With bosses often having the ability to wipe out weakened characters with one move, should you not get the first move, a series of very quick defeats could follow.

On the plus side, there are ways around it. Not only can you save your game at any given point outside of a battle, when you do inevitably taste defeat, you can opt to replay the battle enough times until you win. In addition to this, you also have the option to escape from battles. However, escaping will knock experience points off, slow down your levelling up and in turn, add to your frustration later on – and it never once manages to stop the battles from feeling like a chore.

While the exploration/combat elements hog the lion’s share of the gameplay, there are also puzzle elements thrown in for a small amount of variation. These are pretty standard affairs – fetch an item here, push a button there – and don’t require a huge amount of mental agility to figure out.

Indeed, From Software does make it annoyingly easy for you at times. With the majority of the actions involving just a press of the A button – with the corresponding visual prompt when you’re within range – the game still goes to the bother of explaining, step-by-step, exactly what you need to do in the most protracted manner possible. This not only becomes rather patronising extremely quickly, but also serves to slow things down even further still – its sole redeeming point being that it does ultimately provide a welcome change from the random battles that pop up as you play.

If the storyline was suitably intriguing or there were engaging characters to spur you on, then you could at least forgive the title’s shortcomings; but as it stands, the fact that it lacks both, robs it of a sense of purpose.

That said, we have to admit that Enchanted Arms does have its moments. Stylistically as well as technically, its visuals can be particularly impressive; unleash a special move and the screen will light up with intricate artwork patterns. However, it’s the locations that look particularly amazing. While the 360 has undoubtedly played host to technically better games, From Software has clearly taken the time to ensure its game’s locations each boast their very own unique atmosphere.

Sadly though, the game lacks the substance to bring all this together. From the characters to the story, virtually every RPG cliché you care to mention is almost certainly featured. The story is standard stuff – a huge war erupts, evil forces are released from captivity, cities are destroyed and the burden of saving the world falls to one young man struggling to come to terms with his destiny – while the characters are bland and lack imagination and fall into the same predictable relationships you’d expect to find in any RPG.

The directing and lack of a real feeling of progression doesn’t help matters either. While some of the cut-scenes can feel genuinely emotional, for the most part, plot progression is restricted to text box conversations between the characters, which lack either a real sense of involvement or, due to the lack of anything engaging being said, are seldom interesting. Likewise, the endless onslaught of random battles can also put paid to the most burning desire to reach the next checkpoint.

There are a few other minor annoyances. The gameplay is very much on-rails and refuses to allow you to deviate from the main quest. While this does have the benefit of keeping you focused on the quest in hand, it does mean the game is lacking in variation, so we would welcome a couple of side quests or even something as basic as relationship manipulation (which is included to an extent, but has no actual impact on the action on screen).

Likewise, there is the occasional glitch present, such as the dubbing occasionally switching from English to Japanese on certain cut-scenes, which certainly takes away some of the polish.

The net result of all this is a game that is not only tedious to play, but more crucially still, fails to give you an incentive to put yourself through the torment of playing it in the first place. With both the story and the characters being straight out of the Big Book Of RPG Clichés, it’s almost impossible to develop a sense of empathy with the protagonists or take an interest in the rather clichéd story; with the lack of balance in the gameplay a constant problem, it won’t take long before you’re wondering just why you’re putting yourself through it all as you get pitched into yet another random battle or are replaying that same end of dungeon boss for the tenth time. As such, our advice would be to simply Enchanted Arms and save yourself the hassle in the first place.

Mark Podd