Wild Arms 5...PS2 sleeper hit of the year?
 

Wild Arms has developed a reputation as a solid but unexciting franchise, unlikely to amaze anyone who's played the latest Final Fantasy or Shin Megami Tensei game. So it's no surprise that Wild Arms 4 slipped under most radars, despite being praised for its uncommonly deep hex-based battle system. But there was a lot to recommend WA4 besides the challenging battles, from the series' signature puzzles and flexible character customization system to the many small thoughtful touches sure to make JRPG veterans smile in apprecation: the ability to turn random encounters on and off at will, auto-healing after every battle, and an elegantly designed menu system that required only a couple button presses to do what would have taken a good half dozen in FFXII. The game's graphics and story weren't anything to write home about, but given the game's obviously limited budget, it would have been churlish to complain.

The sequel (coming this week) looks like it will be keeping all the good things about Wild Arms 4 and improving on them, while replacing the overworld map with a fully-explorable 3D world ala FFVII and Dragon Quest 8. If you're itching for a good JRPG fix, pick it up -- only $40 for the limited edition.

Wild Arms 5 website