Shadow Hearts

"SHADOW HEARTS: A Game Not For The Children"

In a year dominated by the behemoth Final Fantasy, a gem of an RPG stood in the shadows. Shadow Hearts, a very dark twist on the traditional RPG, lets you know that you're in for one creepy trip from the blood-drenched, gory opening.
The adventure begins with a full CG cinema, explaining that a priest was murdered in a small town in Europe. The priest's daughter is being escorted to Japan by the military when a mysterious stranger in his Sunday best appears on the train. He immediately slaughters most of the soldiers (in a gruesome cinematic) on the train just so he can get his hands on the young damsel. But his plans are thwarted when a rude hero runs in from one adjoining cars.

The trench coat-clad young man follows the gentleman down through the cars and ultimately to the top of train where a fight ensues. After another CG sequence that gets your blood going, you are finally treated to the title screen. And off you go.

The battle system is the traditional turn-based one where the player must choose to attack or defend. However, Shadow Hearts introduces a slight twist to this system. That twist comes in the form of the Judgement Ring. To some this might be the game's undoing, and to others, its saving grace. After you choose to attack, a ring will appear with a bar that rotates once. In this one rotation, the player must press ''X'' in the correct ''hit areas'' of the ring to successfully execute up to three attacks. If you miss the proper areas on the ring, too bad. The same is true for items, spells, and fusions. The ring keeps the game interesting - especially in tense boss battles . . .

Now what the heck is a fusion? Yuri, the hero (echoing cheers . . .) possesses the ability to ''fuse'' with demons, of all things. A fusion is what most would consider a ''summon'' in other RPGs, except they're a whole lot creepier (or cooler if you're into that sort of thing). So, each fusion possesses it's own special abilities to heal, attack, or strengthen the stats of your party.

So, I have to say that the graphics, particularly the in-battle spells and attacks (though not the caliber of a certain other RPG <cough Final cough Fantasy X cough>) are very smooth and quite pleasing to watch. They have their own style, with very little jaggies. And yeah, and some of the demons will give you nightmares . . . The CG cinema cut-scenes are also very well done and provide some of the game's most exciting and blood-curdling moments.

The gameplay itself is extremely easy to jump into with the standard exploration of areas, sites, and dungeons going hand-in-hand with good old random battles. (Oh yeah, a few puzzles are thrown in to stretch your brain, too.) However, battles with enemies happen with just the right amount of space in between. Let me put it this way: you won't take two steps and say: ''ANOTHER battle - oh man!''

There are two places where Shadow Hearts shines - its story and its music. The story is just taught enough to pull the gamer along, and the character interaction is quite skillfully done - the characters actually TALK to each other and INTERACT. They react to situations and sometimes take cracks at each other. What I'm saying is that the characters are not just there to advance the plot. The characters and story really start to come alive in the second half of the game (by the way - the first half is interesting too). And it just so happens that much of the human element of the story can be missed if the gamer forgoes the sidequests. And, yeah, Shadow Hearts, amidst its demons and darkness, has a few things that are essential to an RPG plot: human interest and, well, heart. But don't start thinking that's all there is to this game. Believe me, it houses enough mind-blowing plot twists to satisfy that epic appetite of yours.

So what about the music, huh? While maybe not quite on the caliber of games like Final Fantasy VII, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross, it's still quite sweeping. At times, its touching and at others it's just downright freaky. The score of Shadow Hearts is the first big outing for Yoshitaka Hirota - and it's a monster of a soundtrack. Assisted by RPG music legend Yasunori Mitsuda (of Chrono fame), Hirota pulls off a compelling musical score infused with a mix of industrial techno, middle-eastern and Chinese influences, heart-felt piano scores, and chilling gothic-like chants. Certainly a plethora musical styles that stands as one of the best soundtrack efforts in recent years.

So, I would have to say that, yeah, I enjoyed Shadow Hearts. Although you can find games out there that are more epic or have sweeter eye-candy, I'll say that Shadow Hearts was interesting enough to keep me from turning off my PS2. (Okay, so I had to turn it off to go to bed and school and stuff like that, but I kept turning it back on.) Its just a bit different - but you'll know that from the moment you hit the power button.

- Fable12 8-)

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GRAPHICS: 7
GAMEPLAY: 8
MUSIC: 8
PLOT/STORY: 7
CAFFEINE BUZZ (or FUN FACTOR): 9
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Total: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/02, Updated 06/16/02