In Thousand Arms, you are Meis, a young prince whose heritage comes from the fabled Spirit Blacksmiths that his ancestors have built. One day, a force known as the Dark Acolytes invaded your region and laid waste to his land, leaving him with nothing except your sword, your blacksmith hammer, and his exceptionally good way with the ladies. Fighting his way across the land, Meis must prepare himself for the eventual confrontation against the Dark Acolytes themselves.

If you've been following the development of this game, then you already know the premise, for those who haven't been in the know, Thousand Arms is basically a cross between a traditional RPG and a dating simulation. That's right, you get to use your mojo to spice up some lucky gal's world by going on dates with them. Have a successful date, and you'll be able to upgrade your sword (no, not that one you perverts) to a more powerful version. Treat your lady friend badly, and she'll dump you faster than a flaming sack of dog crap.

The graphics in Thousand Arms remind me somewhat of Guardian Heroes developed for the Sega Saturn (a fantastic game in its own right, and highly recommended). It combines 3D environments along with 2D anime sprites that create an effect that can only be described as groovy. The world and town maps are constructed of super-deformed versions of regular townsfolk, while the battle modes employ a 'realistic' anime version of Meis and his companions. The intro movie to TA is simply gorgeous, as well as the accompanying theme music. Although people might be turned off by all the Japanese influences in the game (it even has emoticons above characters), I find it to be a refreshing change of pace from the more serious RPG's out there right now. And rather than trying to be funny (like Lunar), Thousand Arms is actually funny, more often because of its honest approach to certain situations (such as saving a girl from a group of thugs, you do it because it's the right thing to do, or because you think she's a babe and you want to impress her).

The battle system is a simple, yet refreshing step aside from the usual RPG fare. Instead of having an entire party to fight with, you are restricted to having only one battling character, while the other characters are used mainly for spells or for simple cheerleading. You only have 3 characters at a time in your party, and while it might seem to be a little restrictive, the system actually works pretty well. The usual RPG fare of magic and summon spells are presented in full force here, although the summon spells tend to be on the powerful side (which isn't such a bad thing at times :)

The real fun starts when you get yourself alone with one of those beautiful anime girls on a date. The 2D anime cels are drawn pretty respectfully, and have wonderful voice-overs accompanying them. Throughout your date, your gal will ask you various questions concerning not only yourself, but herself as well. While some are pretty damn easy to answer, there are some which aren't so obvious, and makes the game pretty enjoyable. Although I wouldn't really say that getting rejected by a 2D anime babe would do anything for your self-esteem (and self-respect) other than flush it down the toilet.

What really drives the game into respectability is its dialogue. It's full of slapstick humor that Lunar wasn't really able to achieve easily (IMO, most of Lunar's dialogue seemed really forced). It even pokes fun at itself and other traditional RPG's. An example can be seen with the young boy in Boyzby who claims "This is the town of Boyzby, if you talk to me again, I'll say the same thing!". It has all the light hearted attitude of a Thursday night sitcom, while staying true to the game.

To say that Thousand Arms is really influenced by anime is a great understatement; this game could easily have passed as an anime if it really tried. And by that fact alone, you'll either hate this game, or absolutely love it. For those who really want an RPG that's way out (and I mean way out) in left field, Thousand Arms is a great choice, but if you're one of those people who cringe at the site of any episode of Dragonball, Pokémon or even the upcoming Princess Mononoke, then I'd suggest to leave this title at the store.

· · · Reno