Shadow Hearts: From the New World Review (no fat)

Game Description

The latest installment in the Shadow Hearts series will have you laughing at the quirky characters and dying to know what’s up next in an intriguing storyline. Shadow Hearts: From the New World, a turn-based RPG, will keep gamers guessing as to what comes next.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Gameplay

You play as a young boy living in New York City. The name? Johnny Garland. As the game begins to unfold, his father and sister are murdered. Johnny then opens up a detective agency, only to find that the jobs in his location are very small, and don’t lead up to very much. Until one day when a crazy man becomes one of Johnny’s weirdest clients. This man needs Johnny to locate someone, but this assignment turns out to be more than Johnny bargained for. The man is located, but what happens next is out of the ordinary…and we’ll offer no spoilers.

A crazy cast of characters join Johnny in his journey (don’t take the word crazy lightly). This cast of characters includes; a Vampire with split personalities depending on how many calories she intakes, a young woman who can take the form of spirits, a master of “gun-fu” (a mix of martial arts and guns… go figure), and two gay guys who run a shop that offers many items that will help Johnny throughout Shadow Hearts: From the New World.

The battle system is based on a judgment ring. A variety of other aspects in the game are also involved with the ring, such as item discounts, lottery games and items used in a battle. A disc will appear every time a player picks an action in battle. The disc is divided up into segments, and you must hit X every time a line passes through the segment that they wish to use. Hit X exactly on the segment and the attack will follow through. Miss a segment and the attack will fail. You have the option of an “auto-hit” feature, which automatically stops the line on the correct segment, but you’ll lose some of the bonuses of battle with this feature on.

The latest from the Shadow Hearts series also features a stock system, and let’s players fill up stock meters that allow for extra energy to be used during battles. This energy can be used for combo attacks, hard attacks and double attacks. Enemies in the game also can use stock meters, so be careful about how they are used and when they are used, as enemies can unleash combo and hard attacks on the gamer as well.

You can also use magic by collecting ‘stellars’ to put into a stellar grid. This grid goes by character, and can equip certain spells. Think Final Fantasy 10. The grids are in the form of popular constellations, and each stellar chart is interchangeable between characters. Special moves are not obtained through leveling up as normal, they must be equipped.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Graphics

The visuals are good, with an emphasis on design of the characters. Each character has a different and distinctive look, and corresponds with their personality type. The details as well as the color in the design of the characters are very vivid; however, the environment in the game is a different story. Colors aren’t as bright and the environments lack the amount of detail that was put into the characters. The cut-scenes in the game are nicely done, but can be a bit repetitive.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Audio

Haunting scores fill this game, and will stick in the players mind long after the game is finished. The music is as unique as the game, which is a plus, as some RPG’s seem to have the same type of music throughout game play. However, the voice acting bit could have used more work.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World 2cent & Cost

Shadow Hearts: From the New World has a very interesting storyline and a crazy cast of characters that will amuse any RPG fan. Pick this one up if gamers are looking for a good laugh and an in depth story line. Totally worth the $39.99 price tag.

journey (don’t take the word crazy lightly). This cast of characters includes; a Vampire with split personalities depending on how many calories she intakes, a young woman who can take the form of spirits, a master of “gun-fu” (a mix of martial arts and guns… go figure), and two gay guys who run a shop that offers many items that will help Johnny throughout Shadow Hearts: From the New World.

The battle system is based on a judgment ring. A variety of other aspects in the game are also involved with the ring, such as item discounts, lottery games and items used in a battle. A disc will appear every time a player picks an action in battle. The disc is divided up into segments, and you must hit X every time a line passes through the segment that they wish to use. Hit X exactly on the segment and the attack will follow through. Miss a segment and the attack will fail. You have the option of an “auto-hit” feature, which automatically stops the line on the correct segment, but you’ll lose some of the bonuses of battle with this feature on.

The latest from the Shadow Hearts series also features a stock system, and let’s players fill up stock meters that allow for extra energy to be used during battles. This energy can be used for combo attacks, hard attacks and double attacks. Enemies in the game also can use stock meters, so be careful about how they are used and when they are used, as enemies can unleash combo and hard attacks on the gamer as well.

You can also use magic by collecting ‘stellars’ to put into a stellar grid. This grid goes by character, and can equip certain spells. Think Final Fantasy 10. The grids are in the form of popular constellations, and each stellar chart is interchangeable between characters. Special moves are not obtained through leveling up as normal, they must be equipped.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Graphics

The visuals are good, with an emphasis on design of the characters. Each character has a different and distinctive look, and corresponds with their personality type. The details as well as the color in the design of the characters are very vivid; however, the environment in the game is a different story. Colors aren’t as bright and the environments lack the amount of detail that was put into the characters. The cut-scenes in the game are nicely done, but can be a bit repetitive.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Audio

Haunting scores fill this game, and will stick in the players mind long after the game is finished. The music is as unique as the game, which is a plus, as some RPG’s seem to have the same type of music throughout game play. However, the voice acting bit could have used more work.

Final Verdict

Shadow Hearts: From the New World has a very interesting storyline and a crazy cast of characters that will amuse any RPG fan. Pick this one up if gamers are looking for a good laugh and an in depth story line. Totally worth the $39.99 price tag.