Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel Critic Reviews

Although there is a button that lets you adjust the camera angle, it tended not to cooperate.

If this game had managed to seriously advance the overarching plot of Fullmetal Alchemist, this would have been a great romp that would engage newcomers in addition to pleasing fans of the show. As is, this game certainly has the engine to be fun, but didn’t quite live up to its potential.

8 / 7 / 7 / 8 - 30 silver

What Full Metal Alchemist lacks in visual punch, visa vie simplistic geometry and slightly stiff animation, it more than makes up for in level design, story, and especially technique.

The RPG elements of the title are barely noticeable, and although it controls well and has an interesting gameplay mechanic in the transmutation, the actual gameplay ends up being rather generic.

Its anime cut scenes are superlative, in-game graphics alright, and gameplay a little dull.

It ends up below the quality of "Dark Cloud 2," and right around the level of Sega's "Blood Will Tell." Whether that's enough to get you to hop on this train is up to you.

While this game lives up to Square-Enix's well-deserved reputation for quality gameplay, it lacks the depth of their best and most famous titles.

One of the most salient problems with Full Metal Alchemist is the amount of repetition. After you get bored of the alchemy the game boils down to eliminate the enemies and move into the next room and repeat for the duration of gameplay.

Nothing but a crummy RPG. There's no other way to look at it.

Given its short play time, easy challenge, and straightforward nature, The Broken Angel could definitely occupy you for a weekend or so, but I'm not so sure that you'd ever go back to it.

While the temperamental Edward and his patient, tragically transmuted brother Alphonse bring some of the series' personality to the game, some awkward controls and the lack of any real challenge or longevity relegate this title to rental status at best.

The length of the game means you’ll beat it in a week if you really sit down with it and commit a few hours a day, but you’ll be feeling deja-vu the entire time you play. Isn’t this enemy near the end of the game just like one I fought way back at the beginning only a different color? Why yes, yes he is.

It's by no means a spectacular game, but then again, it did make me want to watch the show, so it's done its job.

The gameplay is fairly lackluster when compared to non-licensed games in the genre. The ability to transmute objects is a nice addition, but it simply doesn't add enough to keep non-fans interested.

The nice thing about Fullmetal Alchemist that you don't always get in a licensed game... is that the gameplay actually seems inspired by and drawn from the source material, rather than simply being generic with some recognizable characters plugged in.

This game does a good job at one thing though, it makes me want to go watch the real series, so I’d say save your money and go by those on DVD rather than this, but there are worse ways to waste money.

A pretty mediocre game. Unless you're a huge fan of the TV series, you can probably just either shy away from this one or keep as a back up choice for a rental.

You’re probably going to be more hardcore and surprised at the light-heartedness offered in Broken Angel, but that by no means makes it a bad title.

What helps it overcome mediocrity is the alchemy bit (you can transmute common objects into weapons) which makes for some mildly creative puzzles and combat sequences.