Shining Soul II

"More Super-Deformed Diablo-esque romping fun"

This title has been at the top of my ''Most Anticipated'' list for months now. After a mildly fun time with Shining Soul 1, I was slightly disappointed with its droning hoards of duplicate enemies, tissue-thin plot, and lack of variety in character choices.
This sequel improves on the tried and true Hack N Slash genre without drifting from the formula.

Gameplay: 9 For those of you who haven't played Diablo for the PC, I'll provide a synopsis of this type of game: Kill everything that moves! Pretty simple concept, eh? SS2 plays a lot like Diablo (only with cutesy, super-deformed character models) and is a true pick-up-and play game; the d-pad moves your character in the appropriate direction ... A button attacks with chosen weapon or spell ... B button uses chosen item ... L & R buttons toggle through 3 slots of weapons/spells and items, respectively ... very little learning curve. Why so popular then, you may ask? In my case, I enjoy the level of customization that these games provide; after vanquishing an enemy, some drop items that you can either equip or sell at a later time in the town. Experience points accrue towards new levels, and gaining levels awards you with ability and skill points that you assign as you see fit; this in turn improves your character's different abilities.

Story: 7 The first Shining Soul's story was unbearably lame, the plot was nearly non-existent, and I didn't really care. The sequel is vastly better in the story department; your reasons for traveling to the different areas is actually explained fully by The town's king and is appropriate to the somewhat lengthy background story.
Another nice touch is how your character is introduced during the opening scenes; depending on who you choose, the intro is different. Cool :)

Graphics/Sound: 9 Presented in the ever-familiar isometric 3/4 view, the graphics do their job exceptionally well. Backgrounds are vivid and look almost hand-painted. The sprites are colorful and well animated, items clearly stand out from the backgrounds and the attack and spell animations all blend perfectly with the accompanying action.
The music and sound effects while good, didn't impress me all that much. Nothing too repetitive or annoying, but no real innovation or any tunes that were noteworthy.

Play Time/Replayability: 10 Here's the real 'Shining' spot of this game (heh); with eight characters to choose from at the start (twice that of the first game) and a multitude of different weapons, armor and spells to discover, and with complete freedom in customizing and leveling up your characters, I know that I'll be re-playing this for awhile.
Recommendation/overall score: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/04