Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel

Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel
North American version cover art
Developer(s)	Racjin
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Designer(s)	Tomoya Asano (assistant producer) Hiromu Arakawa (story supervisor, character designer)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	^JP December 25, 2003 ^NA January 18, 2005
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	1 DVD-ROM

Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel (鋼の錬金術師翔べない天使, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Tobenai Tenshi, lit. "Alchemist of Steel: The Flightless Angel"), is an action role-playing game developed by Racjin and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 console. The game features an original story by Hiromu Arakawa from the creator of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. It is based on the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series, also published by Square Enix. The game was released in Japan on December 25, 2003 and in North America on January 18, 2005.

Gameplay

The Broken Angel is an action RPG, which is similar to that of a 3D beat-em-up but with added RPG elements such as leveling up, status changes, etc.

The player takes control of Edward, with Alphonse being computer controlled, though the player can summon him to aid Edward by pressing and holding the R1 button. Ed is also able to transmute weapons to enhance attack power and utilize defense. Players are able to equip Ed and Al with various accessories that can either enhance or hinder their performance.

Characters

Edward Elric: A fifteen-year-old prodigy, who at age 12, became the youngest State Alchemist in history. His alias, "Fullmetal," derives from the fact that his right arm and left leg are metallic, artificial limbs known as automail. "Fullmetal" is sometimes also used to describe a person who is stubborn. He and his younger brother Alphonse are on a journey to find the Philosopher's Stone, which may hold the power for them to regain their bodies.

Alphonse Elric: Inside a giant suit of armor is a soul of a fourteen-year-old boy with a gentle heart. He journeys with his older brother Edward in hope that the both of them will regain their original bodies. Always calm and stable in character, Al is the one who chides Ed, who is quick to lose his cool. Al is Ed's perfect companion. Al is the younger brother of Edward Elric, but is often confused to be the older brother because his suit of armor is twice as large as Ed.

Roy Mustang: A military colonel who goes by the nickname "The Flame Alchemist." His gloves are made of pyrotex, which he uses to create alchemy-controlled flames. He does this by snapping his fingers to create a spark. From there, he uses alchemy to transmute the air and create massive explosions.

Riza Hawkeye: A military lieutenant, and a close aide to the Colonel. A woman highly capable in any assignment, she is secretly feared by her peers for her imperturbable manner. She assumed the identity of Margott Orange Peko to infiltrate the Eiselstein estate in order to gather info on Wilhelm's work. Her acting is apparently really bad as Mustang cracked up after their rehearsed "accident" to learn what she's found out so far.

Alex Louis Armstrong: A major in the military. He is capable of fancy footwork despite his burly physique. His giant knuckles enable him to perform powerful alchemy, for which this State Alchemist has been given the alias "The Strong-Arm Alchemist." He loves art, often creating such shapes with his alchemy.

Armony Eiselstein (アルモニ・エイゼルシュタイン, Arumoni Eizerushutain): The daughter of Professor Eiselstein, she believes her father is cold to her because she is inept in the art of alchemy and has been forbidden to learn alchemy as a result. However, it is actually because of the Philosopher's Catalyst she contains in her own body. He is afraid that if she uses alchemy, it may have some effect on the alchemic amplifier, which she has no knowledge of having. She becomes Edward’s student in hopes of becoming proficient in the ancient science. She has a cheerful disposition and is a hard worker with a love for flowers, especially the Etherflower.

Professor Wilhelm Eiselstein (ヴィルヘルム・エイゼルシュタイン教授, Viruherumu Eizerushutain Kyōju): One of ten famous Alchemists and considered a world authority on catalytics – the study of making efficient alchemy. He was researching the “Philosopher’s Catalyst,” a legendary material that has powers comparable to the Philosopher’s Stone. When the town of Hiessgart (where he and his daughter resided) came under attack of chimeras, he brought the refugees to safety and led the efforts in building New Hiessgart.

Selene Eiselstein (セレネ・エイゼルシュタイン, Serene Eizerushutain): Selene used to help her father with his alchemic experiments as he tried to obtain the legendary amplifier: the Philosopher's Catalyst. However, she got caught in a rebound from one of his attempts to create a prototype of the Catalyst, and her body mutated. As a result, the Catalyst, taking the form of a glowing white wing, fused with her and she became the girl Wilhelm now calls Armony. Armony however, having memories of playing with Selene as a child, has no knowledge of the fact she (in a sense) is Selene, and believes Selene was her older sister who had died. There is a grave for Selene at the Hiessgart church Armony often visits and leaves behind an Etherflower for her; however she doesn't know the grave doesn't hold her "sister". Selene was always quiet, yet very intelligent and an alchemic prodigy.

Camilla (カミラ, Kamira): A mysterious and beautiful woman dressed in black. Old records describe her as a legendary alchemist who disappeared several years ago. She is now a bounty hunter of sorts seeking out Professor Eiselstein's "Philosopher's Catalyst". Camilla helps the Professor create the true Catalyst by posing as a scientist named Greta Riddell, who he makes his assistant. She eventually reveals herself when she kidnaps Armony in an attempt to take the wing from her to become more powerful. However, Wilhelm interference with an Etherflower and the wing is destroyed as Camilla appears to fall to her death after attempting to kill the Elrics for her plans being ruined. In a final report regarding the incident, Lt Hawkeye states that while connections were made between Greta and Camilla, the person known as Camilla first appears in military reports from sixty years earlier, so she dismisses the notion that Greta and Camilla are the same person. Greta Riddel is listed as missing.

Senior Colonel Genz Bresslau (ガンツ・ブレスロー上級大佐, Gantsu Buresurō Jūkyū Taisa): A military policeman who proclaims himself to be "The Armor-Piercing Alchemist" and the strongest in the military. He has no interest in rank or honor; his only pursuit is his own physical strength. He is quick to anger, and shows no mercy for subordinates who fail in their duty. He fights Ed repeatedly over the course of the game, replacing more and more of his body with Automail until the only human part of him is from his knees to waist. He is to undergo physical rehabilitation.

Brigadier General Mudi Nemda (ムーディ・ネムダ准将, Mūdi Nemuda Junshō): Chief of the military police in the Hiessgart region. Tenacious in expanding his own power, he has almost completely privatized the army. His ambition is to build his own Nemda Kingdom. Not particularly bright, Camilla uses him as a pawn in her game, offering to create special combat chimera for Nemda's army in exchange for his non-interference with her schemes.

Story

Taking place between episodes 17 and 18 of the anime, the game begins with the Elric brothers (somewhat unwillingly being escorted by Major Alex Louis Armstrong) heading to Central City via train. While Ed moans, Al consoles, and Armstrong flexes, the train is suddenly attacked by terrorists. The skirmish eventually ends with one destroyed train and the brothers in the town of New Heissgart, looking for a ride to Central. There, they meet a girl named Armony and learn more of the Philosopher's Catalyst, an item nearly as powerful as the Philosopher's Stone itself, but used to increase the efficiency of alchemy. The Philosopher's Catalyst seems to be directly linked with the berserk chimeras running about, the rogue military force, and the gathering of alchemists in the town. The Elrics soon find that their simple mission for a train turns into much more as they learn about the Catalyst and the dark mysteries surrounding it.

Development

Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel was developed by the Japanese company Racjin and initially produced by Enix, before their merger with Square in April 2003.^[1] Development for the game began before that of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime series.^[2] Hiromu Arakawa, the author of the original manga, oversaw the story of the game and designed its characters, while Bones, the studio which would be responsible for the anime series, produced 30 minutes of animation.^[2]^[3] Themes emphasized during the creation of the game include the bond between Alphonse and Edward, as well as the series' basic concept of Equivalent Exchange, which states that "man cannot gain without sacrifice". The developers looked at other titles for inspiration, particularly Square's action role-playing game Kingdom Hearts, in addition to other games based on manga series, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto or One Piece games. The biggest challenge they had to overcome was to try to make the title a "full-fledged" game rather than a simple "character-based" game.^[3] Tomoya Asano, the assistant producer for the game, noted that development spanned more than a year, unlike most character-based games.^[1]

In Japan, the game was showcased at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003, the first time that Square and Enix had appeared at the show as a single company.^[4] In the United States, the game was showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo of Los Angeles in May 2004, with the presence of Asano. For the North American version of the game, the developers made the difficulty level more challenging and aggressive.^[3]

Audio

Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel Game Original Soundtrack

Soundtrack album
Released	February 18, 2004
Genre	Video game music
Length	60:43
Label	Aniplex

The score for the game was composed by Tomohiko Sato, Makoto Suehiro, Isao Kasai and Kenji Tani. It includes three vocal songs: "Flowers of the Hearts" sung by voice actress Motoko Kumai, "Emotionally" sung by Saori Yamada, and a remix of the first TV ending theme song, "Kesenai Tsumi" (Inerasable Sin) sung by J-pop singer Nana Kitade entitled "Kesenai Tsumi~raw“breath”track~". The soundtrack was published in Japan as a copy-protected album by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, on February 18, 2004.^[5]

Tracklist
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Running"	Tomohiko Sato	2:05
2.	"The Intersection of Fate"	Makoto Suehiro	1:54
3.	"Tears of an Angel"	Makoto Suehiro	1:21
4.	"A Young Girl's Memories"	Makoto Suehiro	1:05
5.	"Flowers of the Heart" (sung by Motoko Kumai)	Tomohiko Sato	1:32
6.	"Rest for an Angel"	Makoto Suehiro	1:43
7.	"A Clear Evening in the Wilderness"	Makoto Suehiro	1:10
8.	"Eyes of Corruption"	Makoto Suehiro	3:11
9.	"Prayers of the Saint"	Makoto Suehiro	2:13
10.	"Bottega"	Isao Kasai	2:01
11.	"Black Conspiracy"	Kenji Tani	1:22
12.	"Crowd Round"	Isao Kasai	1:05
13.	"National Alchemist"	Kenji Tani	1:28
14.	"Crisis Game"	Isao Kasai	1:37
15.	"Rush 2"	Kenji Tani	2:52
16.	"Fight It Out!"	Makoto Suehiro	1:14
17.	"Go Ahead Rapidly"	Isao Kasai	1:05
18.	"Pizza Time"	Kenji Tani	2:18
19.	"Armor Piercing Alchemist"	Makoto Suehiro	3:05
20.	"Cold Breath!!!"	Makoto Suehiro	4:21
21.	"Go!!"	Kenji Tani	2:27
22.	"K.M.E < RA"	Kenji Tani	4:09
23.	"Biter"	Isao Kasai	1:18
24.	"Moving Squall"	Makoto Suehiro	1:55
25.	"Cutting Edge"	Tomohiko Sato	1:57
26.	"To My Small, Yet Great Teacher"	Uncredited	4:04
27.	"Emotionally" (sung by Saori Yamada)	Isao Kasai, Makoto Suehiro	4:51
28.	"Indelible Sin" ("Raw 'Breath' Track", sung by Nana Kitade)	Uncredited	1:20

Reception

Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	59%^[6]
Metacritic	56 out of 100^[7]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	C-^[8]
AllGame	^[9]
Electronic Gaming Monthly	5.83 out of 10^[6]
Famitsu	30 out of 40^[7]
Game Informer	4.75 out of 10^[6]
GameSpot	6.2 out of 10^[10]
GameSpy	^[11]
GameZone	7.1 out of 10^[12]
IGN	6.4 out of 10^[13]
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)	3 out of 5^[6]
Play	3 out of 4^[6]
PlayStation Magazine	5 out of 10^[6]
X-Play	2 out of 5^[6]