Ten years after the creation of the first Wild ARMs, Xseed has released Wild ARM 5 for the PS2 on August 29th 2007. They vow to use elements from all the old Wild ARMs including bringing back the World Map and use of ARMs of course.

Dean Stark, Avril and Rebecca embark on a quest to find Johnny Appleseed. Along the way, Avril's memory recovers and he true identity is revealed. Dean meanwhile realizes that his lifelong idol is corrupt, but knows that he can do anything so long as he doesn't give up! This is a good example of how cliche' and cheesy the storyline can be, though there are some good plot points (Rebecca's relationship with Dean and her journal time actually provide some interesting insight). And unfortunately, the game is rather slow at story progression at first but really picks up around Mount Chug Chug.

Lots of cameos from all the old Wild Arms characters. They're all involved in some way and you'll see them often throughout. Most of them will be involved in side quests and you may end up getting nice items from them or doing stuff for them.

The gameplay is the selling point. It's similar to the hex battle of Wild Arms 4. Random encounters aren't really difficult considering allies restore HP after each and every battle. Boss battles are easy at first but later on in the game (especially in optional dungeons) can provide lots of challenges. Maybe one of the hardest factors in WA5 is dealing with magic - spells cost a lot of MP, and MP doesn't restore, so preserving your MP is essential (especially considering there really is no MP replenishing items save for the one screen invisible crystals that can be shot).

Wild Arms 5 really shines at the end, once Dean receives the Golem Hunter's pass and can travel on train, with a golem, monowheel, teleport orb, exodus orb, etc. There is lots of optional stuff to do as every area can basically be revisited at the end for goodies. Four optional dungeons will test even the best level 100 party's. The hardest bosses (like King Angolmois and Ragu Ragula) can be found here).

Certainly one of the last great PS2 RPGs, it's worth a pick up if you're looking for a world map-venturing classic rpg that has plenty of depth.