Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2

"A totally honest review from someone who has actually played the game"

To start with, if you have read any other reviews for this game, especially ones that claim the game is geared down for small kids and can be completed in under 8 hours, totally forget them. While it is true that in the beginning this may seem to be the case, after the first boss, who is neither that hard or that easy, the difficulty level ramps up at an unbelievable pace. In the first game in this series, the difficulty did not become mind numbingly hard until the 80-90% mark, this time around, however, it is at about the 20% mark. In addition to the extreme difficulty there are other problems to contend with, making this far inferior to the first game. If you liked the first game, enjoy a super tough challenge, and do not mind the other frustrations I will outline below, then this game is for you.

GRAPHICS: 5/10 While the graphics themselves are fantastic, and better than the first game, and worthy of a 10/10, they come at a very big price, SLOW DOWN, the likes of which have never been seen this bad before in the entire history of gaming. Whenever there are more than 2 objects on screen at one time, which is 90% of the time, the entire game slows down to a floaty bullet time effect, but totally unintentional and unacceptable. Any reviewer who does not mention this in his review, has obviously not played very far into the game and should be ignored. You may say I must be exaggerating, but if anything it is worse than I can convey, and has to be seen to be believed. It is so bad, in fact, that I was tempted to make the grade a 1/10.

MUSIC/SOUND: 6/10 Not much to say other than it is totally unmemorable, but also rather unobtrusive.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 6/10 This is a 2D game so there are no camera issues worth mentioning. The controls are about 90% responsive. The problem is that there are just too many menus and constant changing of spirits, and far too many totally superfluous spirits to deal with.

GAME PLAY: 6/10 If you played the first game than you have played this one. Most of the enemies are the same, even some of the bosses and levels. Outside of being a bigger game and a bigger map( forgot to mention this before, but the slow down even occurs on the map), and some new enemies and bosses, this plays exactly like the first one. They have added some warp spots on the map, but they are too few and far between, and never even close to where you need to go. Far more effective is the spirit that lets you pass a level you already completed, and it shows up about 40-50% in, far earlier than in the first game. The one thing good that has been added: whenever you equip the right combination of spirits that gives you something special, it now becomes a spirit of its own in red, so even if you forget the combination you can easily get it back. Once again, as in the first game, there is an incredible amount of backtracking, and it really isn't necessary.

VALUE: 5/10 I doubt you will actually finish this game, but if you do then that grade would be higher, as it will take 20-40 hours to get 100%, or even just finish the game at all.

FINAL COMMENTS: This has the potential to be a great series in the "Castlevania" tradition, it just needs a few changes. First, more and longer levels that are half as difficult. Second, fix the slow down problem that was not in the first game. Third, have at least 50-75% less spirits and more slots to put them in. If you have not played the first game, you should before you even consider getting this game, and at this point in time it is half the price.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/05