Vandal Hearts

"Pretty good game, but rather short"

Vandal Hearts is quite an interesting tactical game not unlike Final Fantasy Tactics. It also reminds the nostalgic player of the "Shining Force" games. It can't quite be called a RPG - there is nothing in between the battle scenes. The graphics are OK. I mean, they are shockingly lo-res, but then again it's 1997. The cutscenes are pleasant and there is a definite style that supports the athmosphere pretty well. The story is also interesting, not overly complex with ten thousand characters all being amnesic, paranoid or otherwise schizophrenic a la Square, but with enough depth to maintain the player interest. Characters are quite endearing. The game authors have adopted a deliberate and firm anti-exploration stance. The player goes from preset battle to preset battle and that's it. There is no such things as building up characters with random encounters. The game system is also built so that characters progress quick enough. I guess Konami had the rental market in mind or something, because this dramatically shortens the game duration to somewhere between 10 and 20 hours. But then again, if you don't take time to level up your characters and remove the wordy cutscenes, and that's pretty much what you'd get in Final Fantasy Tactics. The game difficulty is easy to moderate. Some battles are definitely no-brainers but most maps come with a trick or two. Also, most of the time, the winning conditions are original (i.e. you seldom have to kill everything in sight to win). So, if you couldn't get enough of Final Fantasy Tactics, if you don't mind old-school graphics, and if you have a free week-end, go rent or buy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99