 "Don't Mess With New Yorkers!" |
| Review Date: June 14, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Marc Ruby™, Warren, MI USA |
Normally, I would consider any year that promised a squel to Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy a banner year. But for some reason, 2006 has seen enough new fantasy games that I'm actually behind on playing them, something that hasn't happened since I first acquired my PS2. This may be the year of the new high-powered game consoles, but Sony developers certainly haven't forgotten their old reliable platform, this new Shadow Hearts sequel is exceptional, and it looks like there's more to come.
Xseed games has decided to start a new story on the Shadow Hearts model, set a few years after the great release of malice in Shadow Hearts 2. The main character is Johnny Garland an orphaned 16-year-old who has set up a detective agency in New York City. His big cases are still finding lost cats, but weird Professor Gilbert from Arkham University asks Johnny to help find a missing criminal and, in short order, Johnny finds himself plunged into a fight with evil monsters. The beautiful shapeshifter Shania comes to his rescue and soon he has assembled a team of unusual characters, including a martial arts cat and a musician with a loaded guitar.
As in earlier games, character relationships are an important part of the quality of the game. Johnny's attraction to Shania is kept low key, and is balanced against that of the mysterious Lady and the psychotic Killer. In Shadow Hearts, heroes don't beat their chests. Instead they struggle with internal conflicts every bit as important as their battles in the game world.
Play is still turn based using the Judgment Ring and various player strike combinations. I have mixed feeling about this scheme. It works well, but it's complexities introduce a level of thumb dancing that is sometimes a bit beyond my limited reflexes. You have the opportunity to mix magic, medicine and muscle in complex and devastating attacks. My real criticism is that there aren't enough monster (or human) types, so the longer missions can get on your nerves. Dungeons characteristically only have three to four different monsters plus the boss. A dozen more varieties would have made the end game a bit more interesting.
From the New World has more sidequests than most games have game. Everything from quizzes to the attack of the sushi warriors. There are lots of ways to get neat accessories and level up. To the point that you can over level up and sail through the ending a little two quickly for my tastes. In fact, the endings (there are two) are the weakest part of the story. Suddenly things are over and it's time to save a cleared game and start all over again. But you've had 80 hours of fun on the way, and that's nothing to complain about. |
A different spin on the wonderful series
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| Review Date: May 24, 2006 |
| Reviewer: D. O'Regan, New Jersey |
| Everyone seems to have problems with this game, comparing to the other sequal and all. Well first it's not really a continuetion of the story, it's a like a whole new one so of course it's not going to be as dark as the other one was. I thought this game was an excellent roleplaying game and I loved it because it had everything a video game needed. Yeah, some of it was a little dragged out but hey, what video game doesn't drag their plot out? This game follows a whole new character very different from Yuri, though to make up for that they put a hot female into the mix who is barely dressed and who is able to transform into spirits. And yes a couple of old characters make their apperance, like Roger Bacon the deformed creature thingie and the very gay motorcycle dudes. And I personally love the talking cat because Meo is very sassy. The basic storyline is follow is that your this 15 year old kid name johnny garlic, who is also a detective. Then suddenly everything changes when you meet up with Shania, a beautiful girl who is able to transform much like Yuri did. They team up and try to stop Killer and Lady from releasing on malice, which is evil spirits. And along the way Johnny's power grows stronger and there is something very mysterious about this boy that everyone sees. The game made me wanting to never shut off my ps2. And yes, at first I was disappointed to find it out it didn't have all the same characters in it but all you got to do is enjoy this game for what it is, accept it flaws and don't compare it with it's other sequals. If you enjoy a roleplaying game that takes you on a great adventure, at least rent this one. People give it bad reviews but really, I love it for it's wackyness. And buy the gaming guide! Or it will take you forever to figure out the puzzles. |
Beautiful...
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| Review Date: August 5, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. Moore, Northern VA USA |
| This game, though it starts a little slow, gets better and better by the minute. The interactive battle system, using rings that spin around and around, is a fun addition to this RPG. It draws you slowly into the new Battle System so that it is not hard to get used to. There are also ways to slow the rings and create more opportunities to attack. Enjoyable game with beautiful graphics (mostly the movie modes but still good during gameplay) and even better music with a blend of a Native American style and old western with a modern rock influence. All in all, a great installment of the Shadow Hearts series and a great addition to any RPG collection. |
A Generic Final Fantasy
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| Review Date: September 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. Jones, LA |
I had never heard of the series Shadow Hearts. I dont know HOW I could have missed the existence of this game. However I'm glad I got the chance to find out what it was about before this game would be declared "rare" and hard to find like the first one is right now.
This game will make you smile because its funny. I wouldnt say dead-hilarious but its funny. I enjoyed each character even though at first I was a bit skeptical, especially with the big white cat. Each Character has a handful of sidequests that WILL keep you busy, thats what makes the game so dang-on long. The sidequests are extremely helpful when it comes to the Characters equipment, weapons, abilities and Steller Magic. Also when you do their sidequests, they each have a place of their own on the world map that you can visit and it will also explain the character's background so you can get to know them better or at least their origin.
I Think its safe to say that there is NO loading time in this game. Its quick, especially when you Load or walk into the next area. Its nice to have a game that doesnt make you stair at a black tv.
The difficulty of this game will leave you gritting your teeth. There are some things in this game you will have to do that will take ALOT of time, so if you like a challenge, this is the game for you.
the graphics are pretty nice, i wouldnt say perfect, but it's really nice and smooth. When i first played the game, it reminded me so much of Final Fantasy X. I do NOT know why, I guess you can say it was probably the graphics.
The music was okay, the only annoying part about it was that almost every temple or land area they went into, had the same music playing. but other than that, you'll enjoy the battle music. It Jams good! :p
There is a New Game at the end, however I just finished it and discovered that you don't really get to keep everything you had from the previous, which really, really sux.
There are SOME connections to Shadow Heart: Covenant. To understand the little things better, i would play THAT game first (which i bought :))
The most annoying part of this game is waiting on the enemies to finish up with their combos or attacks. Its annoy is heck. If you are familiar with Double and Triple from Final Fantasy, then this game is alot like it, only its called Combos and Double which comes in handy 99.9% of the time. Your magic can also upgrade or level up, it costs a fortune though if you want to completely leve it up on the steller chart.
The Menu is packed with alot of things to look at. It will give you the option to see your status so far, like how many times you've escaped and your performances in battle. Each character has their own space called "Personal" where you can read up on their biogrpahy and look at their status. it has an animation where you can see a preview of how they attack. There is also a very neat option of putting your characters into seperate teams and you can even name the team. you can use the L1 button i believe to do a convient-quick switch or go to the menu and do the same.
The game is awesome. I would buy it. |
Kept it real
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| Review Date: March 24, 2006 |
| Reviewer: David Skipper, Memphis TN |
| Theres no need for a long review of this game. I loved Convenant, but considerin money's tight I was gonna pass this one up. In the end I gave in to my temptation. Thank God. This game reminded me why I love the SH series so much. Theres some small changes, but I assure you if you liked the rest, you'll love this one too. |
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