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Tout: An excellent RPG it its own right and one of the best available for the PS2.
Publisher: Midway The Bottom Line: For years now the Midway name has been synonymous with a handful of properties. Be it year after year of NFL Blitz, the latest incarnation of Mortal Kombat, or a new classics compilation, their lineup has been sorely lacking in both diversity and quality. It was interesting then when, in late October of this year, Midway announced that theyd acquired the rights to a Japanese RPG called Shadow Hearts. Published in Japan by Pachinko-kings Aruze and developed by Sacnoth - the company responsible for such games as Koudelka on the PS1 and Faselei on the Neo Geo Pocket Color - Shadow Hearts is an excellent RPG on a multitude of fronts and is the best title that Midway has published in years. A Closer Look: One of the most crucial aspects of any RPG is its storyline. The storyline serves as a foundation that the other assorted elements of the game are predicated on and a means by which to drive the action and keep things interesting. When an RPG lacks an engaging storyline the rest of the game, no matter how good, becomes secondary and rather moot. That realization or one similar mustve occurred to the folks at Sacnoth because Shadow Hearts contains a fantastic story of mystery, intrigue, magic, and murder. Shadow Hearts is the story of a 24 year-old military brat named Yuri Hyuga - the son of a Japanese father and a Russian mother. Tormented by a mysterious voice in his head that speaks to him constantly, Yuri is searching for the owner of that voice. He travels with a young, beautiful female exorcist named Alice Elliot who is being pursued by some very powerful people who seek to exploit her talents for their own purposes. Through the course of the game both Yuri and Alice remain together, though additional party members come and go. The personalities and interplay between the two are very reminiscent of characters from another notable RPG; last years Dreamcast release Grandia II. Like Ryudo and Elena, Grandia IIs two main characters, Yuri and Alice have wholly opposite personalities that youd think would clash but actually compliment one another. Yuri is cynical, sarcastic, and quite lackadaisical - even in stressful situations. Alice is more restrained and a little on the timid side. Shes also more optimistic and naïve than Yuri. The juxtaposition of the assertive Yuri and the passive Alice allows for Yuri to assume the role of protector as he and Alice travel together. Through their travels the two visit some very interesting locales, such as a rural airfield to a village full of cannibals to name but a few. Like the character contrast, this contrast in locales wouldnt seem to work, but it does. As the events unfold and you progress through the game the many plot and scene transitions are done seamlessly and do a great job of holding your interest. Also, the dialogue is superb as well offering a nice mix of humor, seriousness, sadness, and the like. Graphically, Shadow Hearts is very solid and respectable, if a bit under whelming at times. Because of the gothic, macabre emphasis in the game a good portion of the action takes place at night and or in dark places resulting in the use of a lot of black. This contributes to a lack of graphical variance that makes certain scenes seem a bit repetitious and derivative of other scenes, but conversely, much of the game is decidedly non-gothic so the imbalance is only slight. Also, like any respectable RPG, there are plenty of monsters to fight and spells to cast. Some of the monsters look a little generic, and many of the spells look a little too basic, but again, only slightly so. A little more flair resulting in a few more notches of visual splendor wouldve been welcome, though regardless, nothing looks bad in the least. In the aural sense Shadow Hearts is above average. Theres a lot of variety in the music as there are fast paced, eerie, and even whimsical tunes. The only notable exception would be the in-battle music. Its not terrible by any stretch, but its basically one very short piece of music that gets played over and over again during the course of a battle. If youre fighting some monsters for five to ten minutes you can expect to hear the battle music in its entirety about a dozen times. As for sound effects, theyre all well done but arent very noteworthy in any particular way. Shadow Hearts gameplay is your basic turn-based RPG fare with a few interesting addendums. Protagonist Yuri Hyuga is a Harmonixer, which in the world of Shadow Hearts means that hes an individual that can transform into different creatures, each having their own brand of magic. After every battle Yuri gains attribute points in a number of earth element categories like wind, water, and so on. These are formally known as Soul Energy categories. Once Yuri has filled up a category he can travel to an otherworldly graveyard and challenge the spirits of long-dead beasts that correspond to the different Soul Energy elements. If he defeats one of said beasts he gains the ability to transform into them. The other interesting gameplay aspect is the The Judgment Ring. This ring appears as a big circular stone tablet containing flashing portions or slices. A line runs clockwise around the ring, kind of like radar. When you attack a creature or perform any number of other actions you have to successfully stop the rotating line on the flashing sections of the ring. There are between one and three flashing sections on The Judgment Ring depending on the character youre using. Additionally, each flashing section has a tiny subsection thats harder to stop on. If you stop on one of those sections it improves whatever action youre trying to do (i.e. attacking does more damage than if you stop the line on a larger flashing portion of the ring). There is one minor point of contention though. Whenever attacking each character delivers multiple hits. This is common in a number of RPGs, but in most of those games when you start a multi-hit attack and fewer than all the hits are needed to kill a particular enemy, the attacking character will then deliver the remaining blows to another foe. Thats not the case in Shadow Hearts. If you attack a foe that only needs one hit to be finished off thats the end of your turn. The remaining hits you could have delivered to another foe are just lost. If you consider yourself an RPG connoisseur then you should go out and get yourself a copy of Shadow Hearts ASAP. Its got an engaging storyline, interesting characters, lots of plot twists, and a host of nifty options and gameplay features. Despite its few flaws it is perhaps second only to FFX as the best RPG available for the PS2 in North America and one that will surely give you hours and hours of enjoyment. Pros/Cons:
Graphics: B+
Sound: A-
Gameplay: B+
Replay Value: B- Overall: B+ Disclosure: Core purchased this title for review directly from retail. -Ian Johnston
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