Fullmetal Alchemist for DS is a good game too, although for completely different reasons. In fact two anime could not have been interpreted into games that are any more different. Fullmetal Alchemist makes more use of the stylus, it is short and it has unlock-able mini-games. The mini-games could possibly be more fun than the story mode.
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most popular and well-liked anime series worldwide. But the translation of the anime's story into a game doesn't fare as well as the Inuyasha game did. Perhaps it was a better idea to write a parallel story line the way that they did with Inuyasha. Unless a person playing this Fullmetal Alchemist game has seen the whole series it is a spoiler and frankly it is quite dark. It certainly is not for little kids, and it even got a "T" rating from the ESRB. Important details and a humanizing balance of the macabre aspects of alchemy transforms the story into a heroes' journey of Ed and Al in the anime. But so much of that is omitted in the game that it would be difficult for someone to understand what is going on. The series has an offbeat charm to it that many game and anime critics claim they do not see materialize in the DS version.
There are many long cut-scenes which aren't bad, but they aren't worth the space on the chip that could have gone to better use in making the game longer. The stages seem like old time side scroller beat em ups. In a game play device that is similar to Eragon for DS which came out last fall, in Fullmetal Alchemist you can use formulas that you draw on the screen. There are alchemy powers that Ed and Al can use and borrow from other characters. You can activate an alchemy attack or erect one of his walls. Those alchemical attacks have three power levels that increase gradually. Transmutation icons, fill up the top screen to indicate how much power can be used. There seemed to be very few health pickups. Saving is an auto-save function that triggers as you complete a stage.
After you've won the game on normal mode once, you unlock a hard mode and character mode. Character mode enables you to play with a character other than Edward. Then you can unlock a number of extras including screens from the show, character profiles, voice clips, fortune-telling and an alarm-clock. The gadgets and the art-style are what make this game worth picking up. There are lots of touches from the hand-drawn artwork you expect from the anime so it does look very slick.
There aren't nearly as many text boxes to read through as there were in the last FMA PS2 game that I played, but there are plenty. It is a given that if you are playing Fullmetal Alchemist you have to expect cut-scenes and lots of reading. However there were also typos and grammatical errors in the dialogue text to endure as well. It's the little things like that which give the impression that the game was a rushed job. There is some voice acting, but poor sound quality makes it had to distinguish what is being said. Some of the sound effects are really old and you'll recognize them from things like the Super Mario Brother's fireball sound when you press A to advance dialogue.
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most popular and well-liked anime series worldwide. But the translation of the anime's story into a game doesn't fare as well as the Inuyasha game did. Perhaps it was a better idea to write a parallel story line the way that they did with Inuyasha. Unless a person playing this Fullmetal Alchemist game has seen the whole series it is a spoiler and frankly it is quite dark. It certainly is not for little kids, and it even got a "T" rating from the ESRB. Important details and a humanizing balance of the macabre aspects of alchemy transforms the story into a heroes' journey of Ed and Al in the anime. But so much of that is omitted in the game that it would be difficult for someone to understand what is going on. The series has an offbeat charm to it that many game and anime critics claim they do not see materialize in the DS version.
There are many long cut-scenes which aren't bad, but they aren't worth the space on the chip that could have gone to better use in making the game longer. The stages seem like old time side scroller beat em ups. In a game play device that is similar to Eragon for DS which came out last fall, in Fullmetal Alchemist you can use formulas that you draw on the screen. There are alchemy powers that Ed and Al can use and borrow from other characters. You can activate an alchemy attack or erect one of his walls. Those alchemical attacks have three power levels that increase gradually. Transmutation icons, fill up the top screen to indicate how much power can be used. There seemed to be very few health pickups. Saving is an auto-save function that triggers as you complete a stage.
After you've won the game on normal mode once, you unlock a hard mode and character mode. Character mode enables you to play with a character other than Edward. Then you can unlock a number of extras including screens from the show, character profiles, voice clips, fortune-telling and an alarm-clock. The gadgets and the art-style are what make this game worth picking up. There are lots of touches from the hand-drawn artwork you expect from the anime so it does look very slick.
There aren't nearly as many text boxes to read through as there were in the last FMA PS2 game that I played, but there are plenty. It is a given that if you are playing Fullmetal Alchemist you have to expect cut-scenes and lots of reading. However there were also typos and grammatical errors in the dialogue text to endure as well. It's the little things like that which give the impression that the game was a rushed job. There is some voice acting, but poor sound quality makes it had to distinguish what is being said. Some of the sound effects are really old and you'll recognize them from things like the Super Mario Brother's fireball sound when you press A to advance dialogue.
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