Shadow Hearts: Covenant

"3 years later, Shadows Hearts 2 is finally out, with Yuri back of course."

3 years ago, I remember doing a review for the very first game, but being a ignorant brat I am at that time, comparisons to other games make me seem a bad reviewer. 3 years down the road, I finally appreciate what games had the others don't and this is what we call, the special features of the game.

With that aside, Im going to give the review of this game, purely a gamer's way of seeing the game. Shadow hearts 2 is by far the most unique RPG I had ever come across my gaming life. Despite not really following the first intro scene Shadow Hearts have, it still has awesome and at most of the times, humorous scenes.

Story : The story is practically following after 1 year odd of the original story plot line, with our main character, Yuri back. Getting into details here will actually make the review very spoilerific, so I will just tell you, the game follows after the original game bad ending. With that, the game is set at the scene of beginning of World War One, and we see the heroine of the game, Karin, through an FMV scene, raiding a church to rid off of a demon protecting the village. But the plan backfired when she notices that Yuri isnt a bad guy, and the story picks up from here when Yuri gets impaled by the Holy Miseltoe. Just like the original, the story is indeed interesting and captures light moments with the gamer, although the game itself is pretty much a serious content, gamers will be treated with Yuri awesome jokes antics and many funny dialog throughout the game. For this, the game deserves a 10 for this section..

Graphics : Graphics wise, i personally now don think graphics makes or breaks the game anymore, as long the playability of the game is there, the game is worth my time to play it. However, I could say that the graphics had vastly improved over the 3 years, they are much more beautiful and much more appealing that its original. Details are added to almost everything to make the game worthwhile. Lightnings are also superb, with the game acting as if its a real scene. A 10 score for here

Music : Probably the only disappointing feature in this game. Although the music is still captivating like the original, I still find a lack of music in it. I do not know how to explain, but you just have to play the original and this to really find the meaning to what I said. However, back from the original themes are the battle themes(A little remixed here) and the after battle theme. This section deserves a 9 here.

Voice acting : So good, it just need a section of its own for its own justice. Voice acting has been real great, and characters voice actors portray a very good and realistic view to the characters they are acting for. Emotions are poured out realist-ily and have very little to often none mis match lips sync hing. Often than not, some scenes also has humorous approach, like during the subway tunnel section when Lenny were chasing Yuri and the gang in the cart. During battle scenes, characters groan and moan when they were attacked and have some winning battle lines after the battle. These features adds a more appealing of the game that you are as though actually interacting with the game itself. For this, 10 score for this section.

Gameplay : The most unique feature of the game, the Judgement ring system, where everything you do decides on the ring of fate, selecting an action in a battle requires you to hit the coloured spot in a ring which will then execute when you strike it right. outside of the battle, you will actually find the ring to more uses, such as getting discounts from the Pieere brothers(Yikes), playing lottery with NPCs and in all, getting some of the quest items. Almost everything is focus on the ring system, which greatly becomes a novelty that I think most games in future should adopt so that gamers wouldnt be treated to simple point and click style gaming. Besides that, the ring system is upgraded from the original, with many more customisations to add to the ring itself, like adding more strike areas in smaller spots of your particular character, or enhancing the ring with status effect to the opponents, or even adding more attacks to the character he/she can uses more effectively. Besides that , a special NPC, called the Ring Spirit (Its RING SOUL, CROONER) also appears from time to time to aid the group, not to say suffering sarcasms from Yuri, often disappearing in vexed mood. This deserves a 10.

Misc : Some parts that I couldnt find where or when to put, so im putting them all here, besides the sections above, the game also has a really humorous approach despite the serious nature of the game like i said earlier. Jokes were in abundant throughout the whole game, and there is often many light moments to share around, like the Pieere brothers (YIKES) and a muscular vampire known as the gold bat we seen in Shadow Hearts. Above all, just getting through the game once without doing any side quests is 40 hours or odd, while actually doing the side quests, getting all weapons and armors for all characters,and getting all fusions and maxing them out actually takes more than that. The game pits you into different countries and different regions, and maintaining the fun throughout.

Overall, the game scores a total of 9 and its being regarded of the MUST BUY list of games for me, and I highly reckon to people who are new and old to RPGs genre, go get it, and be trance into the world of Shadow Hearts!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/13/04