Square-Enix is well known for the work that it has put into the venerable
Final Fantasy franchise but it's out to prove that it's not a one trick pony when it comes to video gaming. Believe it or not, the company actually produced a wide array of excellent titles that were out of the RPG realm. Names like
Bushido Blade, Tobal No. 1 and
Einhander might not be immediately recognizeable to gaming fans, but they no doubt hold a special place in the hearts of many. Square is trying to recapture that magic by bringing back a few of the old franchises while incorporating a few of the new ones. Along with
Star Ocean and
Brave Fencer the company has added
Full Metal Alchemist to its repetoire and it looks like it might be one of the year's sleeper hits.
We had the chance to spend some time with the game at this year's E3 and it managed to impress us. It falls in line with the story from the popular Japanese manga of the same name. A pair of brothers try to raise their mother from the dead but the ploy goes horrible wrong. It costs one of them a leg while the other one loses his body entirely. After the accident, the brother who lost the arm sacrifices his other arm in order to save the soul of his brother so that he can transplant it into a piece of armor. Thus their quest begins to find the "Philosohper's Stone", the only artifact that can restore both of them to their previous states.
The storyline is a bit hokey but the action should hold up its end of the bargain. A new alchemist system allows you to fuse your body with more than 50 different objects which can be transformed into weapons and traps. From what little time we had with the game, it appeared to be running on a modified version of the
Drakengard engine. In all, the game looks like it has a lot of promise and it's already a big hit overseas. It'll be interesting to see if it can make waves when it arrives 'Stateside in January of next year.
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