Of the three major JRPGs coming out for the Wii this generation, Arc Rise Fantasia is the first one out of the gate – the others being The Last Story and Xenoblade (though others will likely wiggle their way onto the console). And as with most games that jump out ahead of its competition, Arc Rise will come under a microscope to see if it was rushed out the door or not. A traditionally structured JRPG, Arc Rise doesn’t try to break the mold but simply tries to tell a story that keeps the players engrossed, and make them comfortable with familiar controls and battle system. So, does it accomplish it’s task? Click on the link to find out.

I cannot stress enough that this game was designed to be a familiar game experience. Look up ‘by-the-numbers’ and a game screen will pop up. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. In a gaming world where too many things are thrown together and none of it works, Arc Rise is a beacon of all things comfortable. The story is a little better-than-average, there are the required twists to the tale, and instead of some far-fetched battle system Arc simply takes what you know and gives it just a little extra. That extra being the ‘pool’ of action points that your team shares. So one character can use all the points for themselves or the team can distribute them evenly amongst each other – and everything in between. This also leads into some bad-ass chaining a little later in the game. That little tweak plus a fun little weapon customization system gives Arc a strategic twist that makes it just a little more than standard JRPG fare. It should also be noted that the graphics, while nothing special, are bright and colorful with beautiful animated cutscenes that if anything are used far too little.

Really there are only two big flaws with Arc Rise – one being the incredibly atrocious voice acting and the other is the huge amount of grinding you have to do in order to fight the game’s bosses (some of the menus are annoying also, just throwing that out there). Now, bringing up the voice acting may seem like nitpicking, but there is bad voice acting and then there is this. Since Arc Rise is so by-the-numbers, the story has to be it’s defining characteristic. And the story is pretty good, but when the storytelling is left to lifeless bores like these people, the one special thing that this game offers is pretty much flattened. There’s not even an option for the original Japanese voices which would have done a world of good. And when I say there is a lot of grinding to do, I mean there is A LOT. I suppose this wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t such a huge gap in difficulty between the bosses and the regular enemies. Getting yourself to a level that is acceptable for a big battle means going through hundreds of the small frilly, floral enemies the game has concocted for you. Even stoners will find their patience tested, and that’s sayin’ something. But I digress.

Overall, Arc Rise Fantasia plays it safe and delivers a decent play experience – if you have the patience to deal with its shortcomings. Just don’t expect any huge surprises. If you can do that, then you will be more than sated until the next big RPG experience comes out. You might want to think about twisting one up and throwing on some headphones while the cutscenes are playing though – just sayin’.

[A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]