Malik
(4/20/04)
Shadow Hearts
From Midway
This review originally was
presented on lazy.GEEKS (5/29/03)
Well, this one goes out to all
those who think I complain a lot. So Today I shall tell you all
about a game that actually made me quite happy. Also, here a game I
think that most people would have overlooked. Well, as I mentioned
in my FF2 vs. FFX comparison, Shadow Hearts came out only a week or
two before FFX, so it was greatly overlooked; even more than the
pathetic Pokemon rip-off of Jade Cocoon 2 (which came out only a few
days apart from S.H.).
Story
Shadow Hearts, unlike most RPGs,
takes place on Earth in a real time period (not the future) and not
in a medieval setting. The story opens around WWI (an era overlooked
by even most war games) in Eurasia. I should mention at this time
that SH is an indirrect sequel to the almost unheard of game,
Kaudelka, which came out originally for the playstation. You play
Yuri, a young man who's father is/was Japanese (is he still alive?
You'll have to play to find out) and mother was Russian, who is
being guided through life by an unkown voice only he can hear. For
those of you who know little of WWI (read some books, people. U.S.
education usually overlooks WWI, but it doesn't mean we should all
forget it), Japan and Russia did not have the best of feelings for
each other (in other words, you play a guy who doesn't belong
anywhere). A few months prior to the game starting, a priest from
Enlgand is brutally murdered and his daughter goes missing.
Fast-forward...One day on a train ride through Japan, Alice, who you
learn is the daughter of the priest, and is an exorcist by trade, is
attacked my Roger Bacon. Those who played Kaudelka should recall
Roger Bacon was a crazy old man in that game, and in S.H. he's an
even crazier psychopath of an old man. After he uses some dark magic
to annihilate a series of Japanese soldiers, he confronts Alice.
That is when you step in. Using some dark powers of your own, such
as the power to fuse your body with that of a demon (like how one
summons a dragon in the Breath of Fire series), you stall Roger long
enough to save Alice. Long story short, without revealing any
important surprises, you begin a quest with Alice, along with a team
of unique and wacky sidekicks, through Europe and Asia, on how to
stop the insane and (as you learn soon enough) immortal Mr. Bacon.
This trip also involves the hero learning about how to control his
powers and to discover the truth behind his past.
Game Play
Well, the best place to begin
is the game play. This
game has a great classic RPG feel to its controls with a few
innovative (and at times, crappy) twists. These new elements include
your fusing with demons (very cool), and trips to a dark and twisted
graveyard in your soul to expel the malice that builds within the
spirit world as you slay vengeful creatures of darkness. These
expulsions of malice are at times annoying since they means you have
to keep going back and forth from reality to the graveyard as you
slay enemies (and you slay many), but it isn't too distracting from
the game. If you let your malice meter fill too high, you will be
confronted by a mysterious figure who wears a fox mask. So what?
Well, when the malice meter is first introduced, the reaper, also
known as fox face, arrives to kick your sorry ass in one of those
all too common "you automatically lose" fights seen in far
too many RPGs. Anyways, if this sounds confusing, it is until you
play for a little bit; the story is too deep for me to explain, and
this is tied directly into the story. As for another innovative
twist to S.H., there is the one bad point of the game;
The Judgment Ring...aka the
wheel, to keep it simple. The Judgment ring is a spinner, like on
the board game Life (but a needle moves around the wheel, not the
wheel around a needle). A needle on a wheel spins and you must click
the button when it is in a safe area. When do you do this, you ask.
All the time. You do it when you attack (better weapons have bigger
safe areas, and thus you hit more easily), when you use an item in
battle (weak items like potions require no skill to use, but complex
items that give nice bonuses are a pain in the arse), when you try
to solve puzzles, and even when you...well you get it; all the time.
This was the one point of Shadow Hearts that almost made me not buy
the game. However, there is hope...once you play for about an hour,
the wheel becomes second nature and you don't even have to think
about it. The only time it becomes an issue is when enemies hit you
with certain status ailments (it's like being blinded in most
games...the needle speeds up, so it's harder to attack...just hope
you don't get the invisible safe area ailment too often), but you
can find some easily obtained items that will slow down the wheel or
enlarge the safe areas...so it's a two-way street. Also, status
problems that affect the wheel tend to only last for a few rounds.
Needless to say, you will get over the wheel if you play for just an
hour...I mean if I, Malik, the bitchiest person about video games
that may have ever lived, can get over it, than you can too.
The rest of the gameplay is
like any traditional RPG (with 3D graphics); you fight random
battles (you little wusses who cry at the thought of random battles
can first go screw yourselves, and second don't buy this game
because it is too damned good for you), you gain traditional levels
(experience points lead to gaining a bunch of stats every so often),
you get money from monsters, you buy new gear, you have a cast of
psychologically messed up, fun, and wacky characters who join you
and Alice, and you have a good time for 30-50 hours. Sound good?
Good.
Visuals
Now to the part that all of the
wusses who hate random battles will like; the visuals. The graphics
are truly top notch. They are not as technologically superior as FFX,
but they fit the mood of the game and look good none-the-less. The
special effects, like ones you get from magic spells look really
nice and realistic. Fire looks like fire, not some pixilated mess,
and so on. The characters move fluid when in action (Zhuzhen, the
resident wacky old man/sage looks a lot more like he knows kung fu
than Keanu ever did), and still look nice when lounging around.
Cut-scenes look like they should; dark, disturbing, and beautiful
(like they should in a game like this). Anyways, I hate basing
reviews on eye-candy, so let me just say this; for those who need
their eye-candy, look no further.
Audio
As for the audio; the music is
nice and sets the mood. It sounds well orchestrated, as if the music
team put some thought into it, and still matches the tone of the
game; it's not overly happy and is mostly dark and eerie (being
chased by a psycho killer in
WWI era Eurasia will not put you in a cheerful mood, now would
it?)...too bad FFX failed at this...yet you all bought FFX instead
of SH...for shame.
Anyways, I wanted to keep this
review fairly short, and I failed, so I will stop here. Play the
game, give it an hour (so you'll get over the damned wheel of doom)
and you'll either be hooked, or you should avoid RPGs. Anyways, as
for all of you self proclaimed RPG fans who ignored this game so you
could get FFX, there is still time to redeem yourself. I see this
game for sale at hella good prices every time I hit the mall, so get
it already. As for a score,
I'd say 9.25/10...if the wheel did not exist, 9.75/10.
Malik
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