Shadow Hearts: Covenant

"The PS2 Game of 2004"

WARNING: This is NOT a Spoiler-free Review. Read at your own risk.

Last summer, I managed to come accross a used version of the game Shadow Hearts. This was an RPG that was released in 2001, when the Playstation2 was a new system, when the developers were learning how to take most advantage of the Hardware. Long story short, I played the game and enjoyed it. I was pretty disappointed with how I got the Bad Ending. A few months later, I managed to find the sequel for even cheaper than the original, while still used. Personally, I felt that this was worth every penny.

While the Shadow Hearts games may not be best sellers, they certainly have a fanbase. Many RPGamers were immersed with the alternative history setting and the Lovecraftian Horror, or how the first game wasn't quite your average "Unlikely Hero and Girlfriend save the world with a few unimportant friends they meet along the way".

Shadow Hearts: Covenant begins after the first game ends, which is at the assassination that sparked World War I. The plot begins with Karin Koenig, a member of the German Army, being sent to Domremy France, a town that has stubbornly refused to fall to the Germans. While not containing any strategical advantage to the German army, they simply cannot let a little town to stand up to them. Karin returns the only survivor of the "Demon of Domremy", who has single-handedly protected the town and massacred her men. A man from the Vatican, Nicolai, is sent to help her deal with the Demon of Domremy. However, once Karin sees that the Demon of Domremy is Yuri, the protagonist if the first game, she defects and joins him after he is cursed by the Mistletoe. The plot evolves into chasing a mysterious Organization, Grigori Rasputin, a man from Yuri's past, and the Japanese Army's plan with Russia.

Along the way, more people join Yuri. Gepetto, a puppeteer, Blanca, a wolf, Joachim, a vampire pro wrestler, Lucia, a Fortune Teller, Princess Anastasia Romanov, and a fledging Harmonixer like Yuri Kurando. Just about all their voices are good...though Joachim and Lucia's sound pretty fake, and Anastasia's voice actress makes her sound pretty young. But in a way, these also help with the tone of the game, which is much lighter than the first. Shadow Hearts had an "M" rating, and was much more serious than Covenant. Covenant only has a "T" raiting and is much lighter. Despite the intro that sounds like something out of an '80's-90's Horror Movie, the plot lightens up into a tale that is serious at times and just funny/weird in others. Like the graphic novel "Bone", for example.

"Movies" with voices tell the story to the player. These are very frequent in Covenant, where Shadow Hearts only had a few spoken tracks in battle and some scenes where a character narrates the scene. The difference between the in-game graphics and the graphics in most of these scenes (There are a few special movies) is very little. It's noticeable, and the animation is pretty fluid, even when you are looking pretty close to the character. This game isn't really trying to be realistic though. A few characters look rather cartoony but blend into the artstyle pretty well. Rasputin, one of the game's antagonists, looks rather cartoony compared to everything else yet he still looks like the real Rasputin.

The plot is definitely pretty well thought up, mentioning real life events that took place at the time of World War I and even forshadowing to World War II a little. (Ishimura says "Japan nees more space", or something like that, at one part of the game). However, do not play this game and expect to pass a history test. This is an alternate history game, meaning that this is purely a work of fiction. Reading something like this in the history books would be pretty interesting though.

The plot of the game is even contributing its own to the little story fad started by games like Tales of Phantasia, where the villians are not truly evil. Sure, some of them in this game are, but scenes from other points of view on the events of the first game show that the villian of Shadow Hearts, Cardinal Albert Simon, wasn't truly the man you thought him to be. Sure, he did do all that evil stuff, but his intentions were still more than just the destruction of the world. Even the primary antagonist of Japan isn't truly evil, and neither is Foreign Minister Ishimura, because he is doing what he believes is right for Japan by not wanting it to get taken over like China and Korea.

However, I feel that the portion of the plot that takes place in Japan was a little rushed. I may not have listened well enough, but when Yuri wants to kill Ishimura and he starts yelling at him, I didnt' really get why. Why did Yuri suddenly want to go after Ishimura so badly? Kato was really the villian from the start of Japan, why was Yuri going after Ishimura like he killed Yuri's father or something?

Gameplay is where this game truly shines. The judgment ring, the series trademark, was improved from the first game. Combos between party members can be performed now, and different types of attacks determine what kinds of combos can be used. Despite this, you can still just use standard attack and blast your way through, though I personally used Hard Hit on bosses becasue you can knock them into the wall.

An element of Physics has also been added to the game. Party members and enemies have certain weights to them, and this is the key to connecting combos. For example, using High Angle on a light enemy that's knocked down will send them flying into the air, while sometimes an enemy whose already in the air will evade your attacks. You can also set up shortcuts to reduce the time to make a combo but with one press you can easily combo break.

The special abilities, because not all characters can be attackers, has been changed from just "Level up, get new ability". All the characters have a certain way to get/power up abilities in this game, though its mostly hidden ways for some. You can go all the way to Japan without teaching Joachim any Muscle Techs, and if you dont' use Solomon's Trials, you wont' be able to get all of Anastasia's Album spells. While you're told how to get the new abilities, it's rather easy to miss some of them without a guide or if you dont' take the time to look and revisit old places.

The Crest Magic system has also been added. Anyone besides Yuri or Kurando can equip the crests, which allow them to use magic spells. You can only equip a certain number of them and they each have a value, and you can't equip any ones that go past the max value of the character. There is also a Solomon's key, where, if you place the crests in the correct locations, you will be able to unlock new magic spells that the Crests bestow upon you.

Like the abilities, the Crests can easily be missed while others you simply find or are more obvious to obtain.

I personally enjoy the soundtrack. The BGM's are pretty good but, like any, they get annoying after awhile. The voice acting is okay, despite Joachim's obviously faked voice and obvious fake accents. These are okay though, since this is a more cartoony-setting game and they aren't really super-annoying. (The only ones who'd probably get annoying after awhile are Lucia's high-pitched voice and Anastasia's battle cries) They could be better but they could be worse too. The song that plays when fighting a boss in Japan is pretty catchy.

Also, the sound is distorted when your characters run out of SP (Sanity points a la Lovecraft) and go berserk. Berserk is when your character's SP is below zero (Yes, it can go below zero) and they're uncontrollable. So yes, this means taht your healer can bo berserk and heal a boss up to full health or Yuri can go berserk and slaughter your party.

In the end, this truly is a pretty good game to pick up for your Playstation2, and a worthy title of 2004. It may not be as well-received as Halo 2 but its certainly worth adding to your library. If you want Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, prepare to do some looking. These games are pretty hard to find, and sometimes they may be rather expensive because they're so hard to find. I was personally lucky that I managed to find the first Shadow Hearts, and I probably hit gold when I found Covenant a few weeks ago, during the Playstation3/Wii line-ups and riots.

I give Shadow Hearts: Covenant a 9/10. This is certainly an RPG that does its own to stand out in a genre of games that want to be Final Fantasy but fail.

Pros:
-A very in depth battle system that makes the game much more than a Final Fantasy clone
-An alternative history setting
-A few good tunes in the soundtrack that make the game seem like an interactive movie.
-A really good sequel in a genre where most of the games are unrelated to the last.
-A lot of voiced movies that help deliver the game's story.

Neutral:
-I personally never really got why Ishimura was so evil to Yuri.
-Alright voice acting. (I'm not counting it in the score)

Cons:
-The plot's mostly centred around Yuri and Karin. The other characters are just supporting characters and Lucia doesn't really get much development.
-Like most RPGs, the game's pretty easy. BUT...BUT the game starts off rather difficult for the early parts, and, like the first game, the final boss and a few of the optional bosses are pretty hard if you haven't done the sidequests and have leveled up. I had craploads of Pure Root/etc items (restore SP) in my inventory because I very rarely had to use them, whereas I was using them a lot in Shadow Hearts, I'd kill some bosses in >10 rounds.
-The characters' personal abilities can be easy to miss.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06