Shining Soul

"Strikingly familiar with another game"

Forget Diablo and it's expansion, the lord of destruction. There's a new crap in town, called shining soul! Okay Just to let you know I will try my best to remain unbiased and keep my game bashing skills to a minimum, but hey forgive me if sometimes I can't help it.

Anyway, back on to the review of this thing which I hate to classify as a game.

GRAPHICS
The graphics of this game are pretty good in my opinion and probably one of the few things which saves this game from having a really bad and nasty review from me.

The game has crisp and colorful spell and magic effect which I really really like, which was my only incentive in playing this game. It is also smooth and no choppy parts what so ever but then again, the enemies and the characters are not well detailed.

SOUNDS
Nope. Nothing really good here, but I'm not going to go on commenting about it since almost all Game boy advance game has problems to this department. Just put it on mute, and then pop in a CD in your CD player or what ever you got and listen to that.

STORY
Yawn. I'm already sleepy even before I mention the story. Anyway I'll just try to keep awake for my readers sake. Here is the story of the game. You are the chosen one that is supposed to be the first killer of the Dark dragon and now is the one who needs to kill off the generals of some sort who are hidden in different places. An yes, that is it. Wow even my kid brother who is six year old could think of a better plot than that, seriously.

GAME PLAY
Now let's see. As far as I'm concerned, this has got to be one of the most important aspect of the game and rightly so. Now the problem is, did the game makers did a good job on it? The answer is a resounding HELL NO! and why? because all you have to practically do the whole time is to press the A button over and over an over again.

Like what my title said, it's a Diablo wannabe. But unlike that game wherein you press the mouse button until it is destroyed, this time you get to destroy the A button. The other button has other uses but you would be utilizing them about 5 percent of the time.

In this game you get experience by hacking the enemies into bits or if by pulverizing them with magic spells. At any rate it will become tedious as you progress.

Now one thing about this game that can either make it or break it in the eyes of the other players is the fact that you can customize you characters stat wise. There are four stats that can be adjusted and they are :
1. Strength
2. dexterity
3. vitality
4. intelligence

Now adjusting you character depends on what character you are using in the first place. Just as a re cap, here are the characters to choose from.

1. warrior - this one is good for close quarter combat, your best hack and slash character and is beginner friendly.
2. magician - well this one, the name explains itself. It is you typical sorceress in the game Diablo. This character is best utilized from long range, as it is pretty weak to physical attacks and has fairly low hit points. Try to melee with this character and you end up dead just a short period of time.
3. archer - another long range character. Using a bow, it eliminates the enemy with the power and accuracy of his trusted bow.

In this game there are towns where you can buy stocks and weapons and other stuff which well, like all role playing games does.

Now the bad thing about this is that you can't pause in the middle of the game. You can hit the start button but it will only open up the menu while your character gets pummeled by the enemies if there are any around.

Saving is also a pain in the ass whenever you are in the dungeon, as you will go back to the beginning of it. Although thankfully, it doesn't restart everything. All the stuff you have done there, the items you got and also experience are retained.

CONTROLS
Ha ha. Don't even get me started. It's so easy it is quite ridiculous. Of all the buttons you need to remember, It's is the A button that you should never ever forget, as it is the bread and butter of this game. It is the attack button, and you will be utilizing this one a whole lot. The other buttons aren't really that important.

This is however, a good thing since it's great for beginners and younger players who don't have to remember various sequences and button combinations.

And yes, the directional pad is to maneuver your character and scroll through menus, just like about any other games.

REPLAY VALUE
Now this is all up to the person. As for me, I did try various characters to see which one is best to play with or should I say which one is enjoyable. I found the magician to be the most fun to use with, although at the same time more challenging and needs a little more thinking and planning than the other characters.

Anyway, it has a decent amount of re playability if you get to like the whole slashing and A button mashing thing, but if your not into that kind of thing, then you will die in frustration due to the redundancy.

GOOD POINTS

1. Decent graphics.
2. Various characters to choose from.
3. Customization capabilities, stat wise.

BAD POINTS

1. Too redundant.
2. Shallow story.
3. Frustrating game play.
4. Awful sounds.

OVER ALL

This game has a good possibility of becoming a good one, but the fact that it is a striking resemblance of another game is not a really good idea.

RENT OR BUY
Definitely rent. I mean is, I don't recommend it as a must have but you ought to give it whirl and see if you will like it. Although there are some exception to this. If you are a Diablo fan or a Shining soul fan, then you might want to buy this game for your collection but if not, heed my advice on renting it first.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/04, Updated 03/10/04