Shadow Hearts

"Extremely Fun, Dark And Unique, Whilst Overlooked At The Time, It Still Stands Tall Today"

I've never heard of Sacnoth before, and unfortunately, looking at their list of released games on Gamefaqs, it doesn't look like they have done that much. It's a shame since they managed to create an extremely good RPG with Shadow Hearts. If this was released with the Final Fantasy title it would probably go down as one of the best RPGs of all time, since it's far better than FFX. Maybe not entirely revolutionary, but the game provides a fun mix of a lot of different elements.

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Storyline (8/10)
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Not that it's entirely bad, but this game is very text-heavy, and if that's not your kind of thing then it can really bring down your experience of Shadow Hearts. It's also not voice acted, so those who have become accustomed to having everything read out for them will probably complain doubly so. However, through all the text in this game, an extremely deep storyline is presented, and not in bursts as many other games do, this game presents the story at a steady pace adding in new unknowns that will be explained later on in the game. Everything from the voice you hear in your head to the numerous characters who appear to have ulterior motives is paced perfectly. The script is also rather adult in nature, and despite being dark actually has a pretty decent sense of humour.

The characters are also a refreshing change from playing games where the heroes are void of personality and infuriatingly generic. Yuri isn't that likeable to start with and he's not supposed to be, but throughout the game his character gradually changes, which can best be seen from his only being with Alice because the voice tells him to be to when he's there because he likes her. This transition is done gradually, which is something a lot of games get wrong and they just have characters completely changing personality at random.

I can't deny that at times the storyline does linger on a bit too much and it feels like you're just kicking your heels waiting for the next plot device, but compared to most games that have been released in recent times, this game provides a story that can stand up next to most books.

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Gameplay (7/10)
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Most aspects are the gameplay are rather standard for RPGs. The battle system is where this game holds most of it's unique aspects, so I'll start from there. The Judgement Ring is the game's selling point in a way. Basically, whenever you choose an action in battle, you'll be presented with a circle with an arrow that rotates around it. Some areas of the circle are “hit” zones, where if you stop the arrow in those areas you'll successfully perform your action, there are also even smaller areas which correspond to performing “criticals”, therefore you do more damage. Every move has it's own patterns for the hit areas, which makes every character different to play with and is a nice feature that makes battles in this game a lot more tense than in a lot of games. However, it does have it's problems; it can be infuriating when you go several turns without performing a single action because you keep missing, and even more so when you're using a healing item to stop someone from dying, then you miss on the circle and they die. It's not so much of a problem if you just go for the normal hit areas, but the fact is that they're so much weaker than the critical areas that you're almost forced to go for them otherwise have the prospect of the battle lasting twice as long. It is also used in other areas, such as shops where if you successfully get hit areas three times then you can get a discount.

Another unique feature is that of “Malice”, which is basically the souls of the monsters you defeat haunting Yuri. If the malice level gets too high, then Yuri's worst nightmares manifest themselves and come after him. You can reset the malice by going to the graveyard and calming the monster's fury… by beating up their union representative. It doesn't really make much sense why killing one monster again calms it, nor is it explained, but you just have to accept that it does. It's another feature that keeps battles and walking around the maps quite tense, since obviously you don't want it getting to higher levels.

The final battle feature worth mentioning is that of Yuri's Harmonixer ability, which essentially allows him to transform into a variety of monsters. Similar to Breath Of Fire's dragon system, when used transforms Yuri's appearance, and also his stats, making him far stronger. The different monsters also represent different elements, and thus choosing the correct monster can make a difficult boss battle that much easier. Most are obtained through the graveyard, but some are found through battles on the map.

The dungeons and maps in Shadow Hearts are very well designed, and kept to a good length so that they don't really get boring and searching through them for all the treasure doesn't take too long. There are also a variety of sidequests, which give a welcome break from the main adventure when needed. While the sheer amounts of text can slow the gameplay down somewhat, the quality of the script does make up for it. This is a game that provides a very unique experience that many games simply can't offer nowadays. The battle system is actually challenging, and as mentioned in the explanation of the storyline, the script is very compelling.

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Graphics (8/10)
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For what is a pretty old game now, the graphics still stand up pretty well. The environments are designed really well and constantly retain the dark, moody, gothic feel. The characters look good and have their own distinctive appearance that suit them pretty well, however, the enemies models do not look anywhere near as nice. The special effects aren't groundbreaking, but at least look fine enough and fit in with the rest of the graphics. The reason I've marked this so high is that while some of the graphics aren't wonderful, they have at least done a great job of creating graphics that work well together and don't glare or stand out in any way.

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Sounds (7/10)
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As with the graphics, the majority of the music is suitably dark and moody. There is some voice acting during cutscenes, and it's not that great, however, considering the age it can probably be forgiven, and at least you're not forced to listen to it every time the characters speak. The sound effects in battle are fine enough, although some of the things Zhuzen says are a bit annoying to hear over and over. Whilst the voice acting is pretty bad, there's not enough of it to completely ruin the experience, and the great use of music really does enough to save this part of the game.

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Lifespan (7/10)
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The first playthrough will probably take somewhere between 25 and 30 hours. However, unlike many games I have played, I actually enjoyed the prospect of playing the game through again. There's a lot of side quests to keep you occupied if you decide you don't want to do the main story for whatever reason. There are also multiple endings, and it isn't just a case of choosing a different response at some early part of the game or taking some item to a person during the game and then all of a sudden you get a different ending. Instead to get a different ending, you do actually need to do some extra things in the game, such as defeating a certain group of people. The length of the game is pretty good just for it's first playthrough, but for it to actually be enjoyable on successive plays is a testament to how good the lifespan of this game is.

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Summary (8/10)
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This game's biggest problem is how rare it's become. It can go for higher than some new releases, although not quite as high as games like Suikoden 2. The game has it's faults, but all games do, and this game is a rarity in that it hits far more often than it misses. There's a lot to do in the game, and while some parts aren't quite so fun a lot of the game including it's script is extremely enjoyable. It's easy to see why this game is treasured by many and it's easily one of the better games made for the PS2.

If anything this game has one of the top ten scripts in gaming history, and in all honesty, I can't think of one with a better script off the top of my head. As said earlier, maybe it's not a revolutionary experience, but it doesn't need to be, because it provides a fun experience, something that a lot of modern games are just failing to do. Definitely worth a buy if you can get it at a reasonable price, which unfortunately probably isn't possible.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/07