Shadow Hearts: From the New World

"Welcome to our world."

Ever since I played Shadow Hearts: Covenant, I've been expecting this third edition to come out. And thankfully, it's finally here! The Shadow Hearts series has never been as popular as others like, say, Final Fantasy, but the SH series should be. I gather that the series become a cult favorite, and I still believe, just one of these days, that it will shoot up into the stratosphere.

CONCEPT - 9/10

Just like its predecessor, the game/series is jam-packed with wit, originality, and creativity. One of many things that the series is praised and known for is their cast of characters. From a 40-year-old ninja to a female drunken kung fu master cat (that's right, CAT!), named, of all names, Mao, to a pink vampire that can turn fat or slim depending on how much she indulges in calories, what more can you ask for?! Just in the characters itself, it already has more originality and creative juices than 90% of RPG games out there, FF games included. And part of the fact that this game incorporates locations from the real world so well just blows my mind.

There was just one thing that I disliked was that there are two to three main antagonists that were perfectly uninteresting and dull with no any real visible motivation. Any time they show up on screen, the story comes to a screeching halt. With the fun and exuberance our protagonists get, I'm sad to say that the baddies got the short end of the stick.

STORY - 7/10

We start off with Johnny, a wise-cracking 16-year old teen running a private eye office. One day a weird looking guy comes to ask him for help to track someone down. Johnny is more than eager! And with that, the ball just keeps on rolling.

The thing about it is, to me, this game has two stories. But without revealing anything, I'll try to do the best I can writing about it. For the first third of the game, I really liked where this game was going: the dark areas of human emotions, just like the last game. Then, the game took the turn for the worst into generics: the world is in trouble and we must save it! Just like the last game. Bleh! As I promised I won't reveal anything, all I'll say is that the first part of the story was very “The Godfather”-esque. And this is coming from a guy who didn't like that movie as much as the rest of the world. I loved that story because it was specific, focused, and interesting. And after that little episode, the whole story just kind of ended for me. Sadly for me, that “story” was just the set up for the “big picture.” I really hoped that it wouldn't go into that territory of “saving the world” crap because in the RPG world, it is very over-used and stale. Just stale! And did I mention uninteresting! It didn't help matters that the baddies were not all that engaging. But on the plus side, they somehow manage to blend in amazing humor into a dark-toned themed game. Yum! Dark comedy, my favorite! It just wouldn't be SH without twisted humor.

GRAPHICS - 8/10

The graphics are beautiful…within the cinematic scenes anyway. Although they don't come in handfuls, when they do come, it's just a pleasure to look at. It's definitely on par with the best looking games around. But as for the rest of the game, it's not that inspired. The character designs are great, but just by looking at them, it's a little off. The environments and the dungeons aren't that eye-popping as you would like, but it gets the job done.

SOUND - 8/10

The music in this is just fantastic! This is one of very few games that I don't rip out my hair just listening to the music and therefore putting it on mute and just turn on the radio instead. I believe it covers everything from rock to whacky to classical.

The voice acting, while far from superb, it's still above average compared to some of the really horrible ones that I've had to endure. One problem I have is that some characters don't really sound like as they should. Johnny verbally sounds older than he actually is. You can actually tell it's like a 35-year-old doing the job. Another thing that was a little off was the choice of Mao's voice, which was a little asexual, but also somehow masculine??? And lastly, but certainly not least, some line deliveries just sound plain without emotion or sometimes too much of it. I guess I'm just being overly picky. Bottom line? Great work on the music, good on the voices.

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

The best for last. And yes, that's right, a 10! A perfect 10! I'm giving it a 10 because of its ingenuity and extreme uniqueness. I have not seen another RPG gameplay mechanic come close by a mile. It's undeniable that 99% of all RPGs are just plain or when they do try something new, they fall flat on their faces. This is one of those rare games that got things right.

This game uses a system called The Judgement Ring! Everything you do in battle involves it. What this “ring” is essentially is a huge grey, well, ring (duh!) that pops up with colored portions. A needle then starts spinning. Where it lands is up to you. You can hit the bigger colored portion and execute your command or the smaller red area which makes your command more powerful. Or you can miss altogether. Unlike most other games out there, you cannot be lazy and just mindless button-mash. It forces you to pay attention and strategize. My-oh-my, it forces you to think as well! *pause* Oh sorry, I just thought I heard an bunch of people running away.

The magic system is just as unique as rest of the game. How you obtain magic is by collecting stellers. And what you do with these stellers is input them into charts that are named after the constellation. With these charts, you can then just equip them on anyone you wish. Talk about customization!

One last thing that I will mention is the stock gauge. You, along with your enemies, will have these gauges. When you deal or take damage, the gauge fills up. What these gauges are is for you to use combos or double-attack. So when it comes to bosses, it can become fairly challenging.

Another thing that I appreciate is the fact that physical damage seems pretty much balanced with magic. I hate games that magic is either useless or over-powered. Finally a game that knows how to balance pretty much everything! *sounds of holy choir*

OVERALL (not average) 8.5/10 A-

SH: Covenant is one of my favorite games and I think probably always will be. I think of SH: Covenant as some people *cough* think of FFVII. Although I do love this game, I can't say, for some strange reason, loved it as much as that one. Maybe I'm just comparing it subconciously. But on it's own, it's still great and will be among one of the greats (the series anyway). I just hope that this series will eventually find a bigger audience. Considering how this game almost didn't hit North American shores just scares me. It's just like how bad movies keep getting made because there are people who actually go see it and the gems are often, for some reason, unseen. Although most of the time that doesn't happen as often in video games, there are still greats out there that people will be miss. From the sublime gameplay and music, with humor and wit that is unmatched in the gaming world (especially RPGs) this is a great game from a great series. Despite that there are obvious speed bumps in the story, everything else pretty much makes up for it. I hope this game will finally find an audience. Fingers crossed.

RENT OR BUY?
Well, if you hate thinking, strategizing and light puzzle solving, this is not for you. But I'll say rent anyway! For the rest of you? Go buy the game and be a video game couch potato!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/06