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Shadow Hearts from the New World
Shadow Hearts from the New World is a
Japanese style RPG that revolves around 16-year old Johnny Garland who
lost his father and sister in a terrible accident. Unfortunately for
Johnny, his memory has also been lost.
As our hero hunts down an escaped criminal,
he stumbles on a supernatural encounter that forever changes his world
and now it's up to Johnny and his companions to investigate this
unnatural occurrence.
With this in mind, this tale is extremely reminiscent of the Final
Fantasy series and proves that the PS2 is still capable of producing
games that challenge the next generation games.
The gameplay of Shadow Hearts is your
traditional Japanese RPG game where the player must engage in a variety of
creatures in order to gain the powers needed to challenge the madness
behind this entertaining game.
Apart from the main storyline, gamers
must also engage in a variety of side quests which the average gamer
taking around 20 to 30 hours to successfully complete. However unlike stock standard RPG games,
Shadow Hearts requires the player to carefully time their attacks which
is definitely a twist in the genre.
This new method employed is called the
judgment ring which is a spinning disk and depending on where the player
stops the ring or on which colour, it will create the attack needed and
needless to say, produces a great variety of actions. The variety of
different uses for the judgment rings have their pros and cons, however
for the newbie gamer there is also an automatic version that does ease
the gameplay a litte
By collecting stock in the game, players
can also perform double and combination actions which ups the ante of
the combat, allowing players to increase their artillery available on the enemies.
Each of your characters are also different
on the battle field, ensuring varied gameplay that will definitely draw
you into this amazing universe. Which also brings up the gorgeous CGI in
the game which is definitely up there with Squaresoft.
Graphically, Shadow Hearts is a visual
treat on the PS2 with its cartoon-like characters, brilliant special effects
and varied gaming environments. Include some great voice-overs and a
immersive soundtrack and Shadow Hearts is a first class experience from
start to finish.
In conclusion, Shadow Hearts from the New
World heavily
borrows from the Final Fantasy series, however there are enough
differences to set this game apart from its competitors and is a fun
game for those waiting for the next Japanese style of RPG's. |
