Wild ARMs 5

"...Wild Arms 5 doesn't merely capture the classic magic of its own franchise. For me, it also brought back feelings of a simpler time, before games like Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears apparently convinced Japanese RPG developers that their games either had to be depressingly emo or pretentiously epic. The other major RPG released this week, the disappointing Blue Dragon, promised to transport players back to those beloved days. Wild Arms 5 is the game that actually delivers."

"Though rough in places, the RPG series' latest entry is one of its weirdest, if not best."

"Unlike many recent RPGs, players will stumble into random encounters every now and then as they adventure through each area. Taking a page from Wild ARMs 4, battles take place upon a field comprised of seven HEXes. Depending upon the battle and the monsters that you're fighting, some of the HEXes will feature different environmental effects. During each turn, players will be able to move one hex in any direction and perform one action, such as attacking, using an item, triggering a special command or some other skill. While you'll usually have to get next to a monster instead of firing from a distance to eliminate monsters, there's a definite advantage to close up combat: because of the decreased space for fighting, players can often confine and attack multiple monsters that are standing on the same hex at the same time. Unfortunately, your party members can suffer from the exact same fate if they bunch up, so spreading out your characters will often be a smart way to go."