Shaman King: Master of Spirits

"Strictly for fans of the animation series"

Introduction

I'm not usually thrilled when it comes to game adaptations of animation. Most of the time, they come as part of a franchise, and every aspect of it would be compromised just to give fans a good kick of controlling their favourite characters for once. This game simply proves my point, as much as I'm a Shaman King fan.

Game play - 6/10

The premise is simple. As like other side-scrollers, you control your character and kill enemies to get past the stage. You find "spirits" to control along the way that help you get past certain obstacles, or generally aid you in battle. Simple enough, but more flawed than it seems. The stages are linear, with identical-looking monsters. The most unnerving part of the game probably has to be that you have to go through all the previous stages to get back to an earlier stage once you find out that you're missing a particular spirit to get past something. The spirits themselves are not any spectacular. Some of them merely serve one purpose. For example, you are limited to the "Big Thumb" skill that pushes objects around when you acquire Tokagero. If you're a die-hard fan of the animation series, you'd know that Tokagero has far more impressive abilities than that.

Story - 5/10

The story is so simple and superficial it's actually laughable. A mysterious character, Magister, demands the Tome of the Shaman to resurrect a previous Shaman King, Mephias, from Anna, who of course doesn't hand it over. In a tussle, the tome is torn and the pages scattered all over the world. You have to find the pages before Magister does. For gamers not familiar to the animation series, following the story will be hard as characters are not introduced, and terms not explained. The plot deepens slightly as you progress, but generally it's one that lacks depth.

Graphics/Sound - 7/10

The characters and spirits are well drawn. Though some of the stages look similar, you can see some sort of variation. The only part of the graphics that I'm critical of is that most of the monsters are identical. More variety would have made the experience more pleasant, as killing the same things over gets tiring. The sound effects come complete with the voices of the characters in the actual animation. The background music, though not spectacular, is commendable.

Replay value - 5/10

Not much worth to play over. By the end of the game, you'd have gotten tired of all the repetitive monsters and stages. There's nothing in the game play that would make you replay this, like secret passages or interesting unlockables after the game.

Final Verdict

If you're not a fan of the animation series, there's a high possibility that you'd get lost easily in the plot. The game play and story are not that compelling enough to lure gamers looking for lots of action and fun. Fans, on the other hand, would enjoy playing their favourite characters such as Asakura Yoh, and the flawed game play could be overlooked. Rent it if you must, but otherwise this is strictly for the fans.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04