Vandal Hearts

"Simple. Fun."

Hmmm. For all of you out there who've never played Vandal Hearts, or even heard of it, the point of this review is to make you change your mind. Now, I'm not saying that Vandal Hearts is the best strategy game out there, as good as say Ogre Battle or Front Mission 3, but it's still fun. (Be fore-warned; while I thought FF Tactics was a fun game, it is not in my opinion, the best strategy game out there. Therefore, I won't be comparing these games to each other, as I've found other reviews ceaselessly seem to do.)
Okay, so why was Vandal Hearts such a good game? Basically because of its simlicity, and difficulty. There were no job points, no fancy graphics, no turn based actions, just simple gameplay with less than memorable characters. Basically, it's an old-school strategy game from the same vein of NES strategy games like Gemfire or Emperor of Destiny. When I first played it about four of five years ago, I was amazed. Not because of the graphics or anything, but because of its simplicity and fun. Other afore-mentioned strategy games can sometimes be a little too complex and involving to be totally hassle-free and entertaining. Alright, so let's look at why I like it.

Gameplay: 7/10 Okay, there's nothing really special here. You start off with like three characters, and then from there you gain more as the story progresses. There aren't any secret characters, (as far as I can tell... and I'm almost positive there aren't. ) nor secret or extra level or maps to explore. It's a straight forward plot which pulls you from stage to stage. Simple, no? As far as jobs go, your characters get to choose what job they will occupy at every tenth level. So, at level ten, you choose one job, and then at level twenty you choose again. Simple, but requires a lot of thought, since you can't completely change your job at the twentieth level. For example, I made one of my characters, Diego, a bowman at level ten. However, because I chose this, at level twenty I could only choose between being a sniper and something else. (I can't remeber what the other thing was...) So it's not even really a job change, but more like a job advancement. This requires some very crucial decisions early on.
In terms of customizing characters, there's none of that. Other than a few secret weapons and armor, everything you get will be from shops, and these are basic stat-boosting items. Even the magic that your characters learn will be based on what level they've reached. I had two sorceresses who both knew the exact same magic since they were at the same level. So, no customizing there. Characters can only carry two items into batlle other than equipment, and they are usually damage items or healing items.
The game isn't even turn based. You start off a battle by performing actions with all of your characters, and then it will be the 'enemies' turn, where they will get a chance to act with all of their characters if they choose to do so. What this translates into is a bit of a guessing game in terms of trying to decide what the enemy is going to do on their turn. On one hand, it makes the game more difficult which is good, (unless you're a weiner...) but can sometimes get a little frustrating. For example, the enemy decides to horde on one of your characetrs, and all you can do is watch until your turn comes around again. But whatever. I seemed to do a hell of a lot reseting than I did with Ogrebattle or Tactics, if that means anything.
So how could I give the gameplay a 7? Simple. Fun. The game was down-right fun. No head-aches over what you did with a specific sword, or whether or not you characters have the proper skills. Just go-ahead gaming. The levels were designed very well, in my opinion, and while most of the missions were to not get Ash, the main character, killed, there were other very ingenious levels. One level had you find the four switches required to stop the platform one of your characters was on from dropping into a vat of lava. Another level has you escaping from jail, or protecting stones, or saving a possesed village without killing any of the villagers. My favourites were in one level you had to kill the guard dogs leading to a tower before they sounded the alarm, or hop from car to car on a train before the enemy could drop each car. Fun stuff! Never before have I played a strategy game where the point of one level was to run away from the enemy before they killed you, or hide and wait to ambush a group of mercs and prevent them from fleeing. Whoah! Actually more strategy and diversity than just 'kill the bad guys'.
Graphics: 6/10 Nothing special. Everything is quite clear and not too grainy. You can tell which character is which simply by looking at them instead of checking their stat chart. Enemies are diverse and interesting to say the least. Perhaps my favourite part is when you kill an enemy, they'll usually yell 'arghhhhh!' and then spray a geiser of blood from their chest. (Unless it's a stone enemy, in which case, they'll spurt a geuser of rocks instead!) And believe me when I say geiser! It even makes a really funny Pshhhhhhhhhh! sound for added effect. *Hooh boy*
Plot: 7/10 Simple, interesting and to the point. It was actually the first strategy game I played where not only the story made sense, but was even slightly entertaining. It depends on how much you care about intricacy....
Music: 7/10 Hey, if I can actually remeber one of the tracks two months after I beat the game, there's gotta be something there... right? No Nobuo Uematsu stuff, but good nonetheless.
Replaybility: 5/10 It's long enough and interesting enough to play again, but with nothing new to find, you'll find yourself playing the same adventure.

Overall: 7/10. Simple and fun, a rare combo for strategy games... and it's actually pretty difficult, in my opinion, but then I thought Ogrebattle 64 was harder than the SNES verions, which a hell of a lot of people disagreed with, so... Don't look at the graphics and pay attention to the gameplay!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/15/02, Updated 02/15/02