The Shadow Hearts series has come a long way since it was first release to the public a few years back. Once an unknown rpg game with little fanfare has now burst into a series with a cult fan base much in the way of the Suikoden series. While the Shadow Hearts series won't be as popular as the Kingdom Hearts or the Final Fantasy series, it's come to the point where it has made a name for itself within the rpg community. The success of the second installment of the series, Shadow Hearts Covenant, have led new fans looking for the original and first Shadow Heart game as well as waiting with anticipation for the sequel to Covenant, Shadow Hearts From The New World. From The New World promises to continue the storyline of Shadow Hearts but also set up as a new beginning and chapter in the series as we say good byes to old characters from the series and say hello to new characters with in a new world, North America, instead of old Europe. From The New World seek to strike a balance to please the long time loyal fans and the new fans that have since joined the fan base from Covenant. How does From The New World stack up against Shadow Hearts Covenant without the series main hero, Yuri and his friends? Very good. You might miss not seeing Yuri around but in terms of gameplay, graphics, music, ect, From The New World is but a mirror image of Shadow Hearts Covenant. It might not be as good as Covenant but it is close enough so fans can't be disappointed at all.
STORY
The power within us all.
Why are we the bad guys?
In the year 1929, 16 year old Johnny Garland, runs a detective agency in New York City with his butler, Lenny. A few years back, Johnny had been involved in an accident that left him with half of his memory lost. The accident itself also killed his father and sister. Johnny had inherited his father's fortune which he had used to run his own detective agency. On most days, the cases he would get are to find clients missing pets, however one day he had a strange client by the name of Gilbert. Gilbert requested Johnny to find and track down a particular missing person that Gilbert had dealings with. Johnny agreed to accept the case and headed out to find the missing person. After a day's search, Johnny had finally track down the missing person at an old theater at night. Upon confronting the missing person, a strange portal opened up and a monster appeared out of it and killed the missing person right before Johnny's eyes. The monster then turned its attention to Johnny. But fate smiled on Johnny as a female winged Thunderbird creature dropped from the sky and saved him from the monster. After the monster was defeated by this Thunderbird creature, Johnny witnessed the Thunderbird transform into a beautiful female before passing out from the whole affair. Next morning Johnny awakened back in his apartment where Lenny introduced Johnny to two Native Americans, Shania and Natan. Shania explained to Johnny that a couple of year's back, a mist known as Malice has infected the world. This mist is the cause of monsters appearing in the world and that Shania and Natan are monster hunters. Shania has the power to transform into Fusion Guardians that help her fight these monsters. What Johnny had witness back at the theater was one of her Fusion form. After the initial introduction, Shania and Natan agreed to accompany Johnny to see Gilbert to help explain what had happen to the person that Gilbert hired Johnny to track down. The meeting with Gilbert did not turn out as expected as Gilbert himself seems to be an evil being that is seeking out more Malice for an unknown reason. Gilbert summoned a monster to attack Johnny and his friends before fleeing. Johnny amazingly displayed a hidden power within him that helped him fight off that monster, a hidden power that Gilbert seems to be aware of. With more questions than answers, Johnny and his friends decided to track down Gilbert to find out what Gilbert knows about his hidden power and the spreading of Malice. This journey soon led Johnny and company in a confrontation with a mysterious female being known as Lady and her companion, a serial killer name Killer. Lady appears to be the source of Malice and her goal is to engulf the world with Malice, something that Johnny and his friends won't allow to happen. They must race across the world in search of Lady, Killer, and Gilbert to stop them from bringing about the destruction of the world. A journey that will introduce Shadow Hearts fans to new characters and a new modern world.
Now the story itself is very slow pace that seem to lack a sense of direction. The problem is due to that fact that you don't have a sense of what the main bad guys in the story are trying to achieve. From the good guy stand point, you know that Johnny and his friends are trying to track down Gilbert to find out what he knows about Johnny's hidden power and Malice. And since Lady seem to be the source of Malice inhabiting the world, it's clear that they need to stop Lady from spreading Malice around by finding her and defeating her. Looking at the bad guys, you don't know what's going on. First there's the problem with Lady who suppose to be the center main bad guy in the story or game. Lady doesn't talk at all so we have no idea what she's doing or what her motives are. All we see is her walking around and infecting a few people with malice here and there. But she doesn't really do anything that makes her a bad guy. Killer is suppose to be some serial killer but all we see him as is some lost love puppy following Lady around because she supposedly save his life. The funny thing is that Killer too has no idea what Lady is doing and where she's going. Out of the three bad guys, Gilbert is the most sinister looking one and the one that seem to be the most evil. But just like the rest, the story doesn't really clearly explain to us just what Gilbert motives and intentions are. He like with Killer is just basically following Lady around. For about 90% of the story, it's more of a pointless cat and mouse chase between the good guys and the bad guys with a few character developments on the way. This leaves the story with an above average rating when it comes to having interest in it. Things do become more interesting once you reach near the end of the story when plot revelations and secrets behind certain characters in the story are revealed. But waiting for the very end to make the story interesting isn't the way to go. You want your readers or players to be interested in the story from the get go and not at the end of the story. The story behind From The New World is a bit of a set back when compared to what was told in Covenant. Not something that will completely make the game boring or anything, just not as interesting as it can be or should be.
Score 7/10
CHARACTERS
We're here to save the world.
After two games, the series finally said its good bye to Yuri who's been the main hero for the series in the last couple of years, and said hello to seven new characters including a new main hero name, Johnny Garland, a 16 year old detective. The other characters introduce in this game are Shania (a native Indian with the power of fusion who is a monster hunter), Natan (Shania friend and protector), Frank (a ninja), Mao (a giant talking cat), Hilda, (a vampire who just happens to be the sister of Joachim from Covenant), and Ricardo (a musician or guitarist). The story itself tends to focus mainly on developing Johnny, Shania, Ricardo and Natan's background. The other characters don't seem to have much purpose in the story other than to provide comedy relief. As you start to settle down in the story, you'll start to notice right away that this is the most oddball cast of misfit characters around, hardly the cast of characters that you expect to save the world. But for some strange reason, this cast of characters actually comes off good together. They actually play off of each other quite well that makes them very colorful and funny. It's their unique oddball insane personalities that make them so likeable. Normally in rpg games, if the main hero is someone that's barely into their puberty, they just come off very annoying to the older gamers but in this case, Johnny is the only actual sane one of the group that makes his character likeable and normal. The Johnny character actually works well as a main hero due to the fact that the other characters are so oddball that you forget that a 16 year old running his own professional detective agency isn't believable at all but he's seem normal compare to the others. I guess the best way to make a hero look good is by making those around him look stupid. Ricardo and Natan are more the silent types of the group. And of course Shania is without a doubt the hottest female rpg character right now. In the end, there's a character here for everyone to love and pick as their favorites. The drawback is the game should try to focus more on the other characters besides just Johnny and Shania. There's also the fact these characters aren't too memorable individually down the road once you start playing other rpg games. Memorable characters are characters that have a lasting effect in the rpg genre such as a Cloud or Shion. My final thought is this, how come when I was 16 years old, I don't have some hot babe like Shania around me? Hmm.
Score: 8/10
GRAPHICS
Are you watching me now?
Nothing has change much here from we saw in Shadow Hearts Covenant. From The New World still sport top notch graphics from the awesome and sometimes very sexually teasing CG sequences to the solid in-game graphic engine. At times there are certain spots where you probably prefer the in game graphics over those of the CG ones which pretty much tells you just how good some of the in-game graphics design are. The background environmental designs of the in-game graphics are done exceptionally well with very good 3-D detailed designs. Building, houses, and cars all sport the late 1929 look from good old U.S.A. The colors used in the designs are nicely blended with different varieties where the whole game isn't too bright or too dark. It's the character model designs in the game is what you will notice the most. Most of the character designs are excellent with characters being nicely rounded with good facial and body details to them. However the preference of looks on the character designs between the CG and in-game character designs play a factor on how pleasant and pleasing these characters will look to you. Normally you think CG would always look better than in-game but that's not the case here. For example Shania CG model comes out a bit too skinny in body design and her face and hair isn't as soft and rounded as her in-game character model. In fact I would dare to say that Shania looks more attractive from her in-game character designs than her CG model. On the other hand, Johnny looks kind of scary with those bugged out eyes and bad hair cut in the in-game designs while his CG counter part looks much better. The CG models give a more slender look while the in-game models give a more rounded healthy look. Still the graphics don't seem to be on par as what was seem in Covenant. Maybe this is because the characters themselves aren't as attractive in looks as the characters in Covenant. Shania really is the only so called attractive character in the game. I can't put my hands on it but there's just something missing from the graphics that doesn't seem to make it out as good as it should be.
Score: 8/10
MUSIC
I'm going to be the next Slash.
From The New World sports a nice variety of different musical tunes to showcase its soundtrack.
Most of the regular themes are there such as character, cities, dungeons, battles, and bosses. The musical tunes are nicely done but aren't too memorable and don't have much impact to the game or the story. The boss and boss battle themes are the more memorable one. There's one really good tune that has the sound of looming doom over it as each time you get a good story cut scene where you are confronting the major bad guys in the story. But overall the musical scores seem to be less spectacular than what was feature in Covenant and I have to say I really only like one musical score in this entire game and that was the impending doom score when confronting the main bosses in this game. Sound effects are average at best as the game doesn't really feature many sound effects at all or you really don't notice any sound effects from the environmental surrounding other than the noise of footsteps as you travel from one area to the next. The voice acting is pretty good in general although I believe some of the voices seem to be misplaced for some of the characters. For instance, Mao is supposed to be a female cat but her voice sounds more like a male than a female. This doesn't mean the voice acting is bad just a bit misplace for certain particular character. Shania voice is perfect though as it comes off very mature and yet very sexy from a woman. If Covenant was a high 8 than I would say From The New World is a low 8.
Score: 8/10
GAMEPLAY
Get ready for some pain.
May the force be with me.
Game Information
Genre: Traditional Rpg
Publisher: XSEED Games
Disc: 1 DVD Disc
Memory: 68 KB
Players: 1 Player Mode
Analog Control: Yes
Digital Control: Yes
Vibration Function: Yes
Rating: Teen
Release: March 2006
There have been a few minor changes to the overall gameplay but for the most part, it's very similar to what you saw in Shadow Hearts Covenants. The only changes that you will notice is how magic is now set up through the use of Stellar Charts and the way combo are set up by the use of your Stock Gauge. Everything else is using the Judgment Ring to decide your actions in battle. The way the world exploration is set up is similar to Covenant too. This time around you'll be traveling around the United States as your main background in the story as oppose to Europe. Once you enter a U.S city, you can explore around a bit and talk to various people or key people to get the story going. This usually leads you to a dungeon that you need to explore and to reach the end for a boss fight. Most of these dungeons are fairly easy to explore and you do have a mini map to guide you. The fights in these dungeons are random base fights but the frequency of when you encounter a random battle is very good. You won't have to worry about being overwhelm with random battles at all while you explore dungeons which is good news to players who can't stand having to be put in a random battle every 2 or 3 steps. Once you get into a battle, you can only have 4 party members in the battle out of the 7 possible party members you may have. The battle themselves are set in a turn base system using the Judgment Ring and the battles are a bit more challenging this time around. This is due to the fact that the game introduces a Stock Gauge system where enemies can easily overwhelm you and kill your party right off the bat due to using combo, double combo, or double attack. But having a more challenging gameplay isn't really a bad thing. So let's take look at the new features and returning features in Shadow Hearts From The New World.
Judgment Ring: There are different types of judgment rings. Each type
of ring has certain advantages and disadvantages in terms of added abilities or
effect. You can customize what kind of ring you want to use that best suit you
through the Ring Menu. Now within the judgment ring are two key areas. These are
known as hit areas and strike areas. Your goal as the ring handle start to spin
around is to stop and land the handle within either the hit area or a strike area.
Failure to do so will result in you missing a hit on the enemy. The only difference
between a hit and strike area is that strike areas are smaller in size but gives
more attack power than a hit area. For best result you should try and land the
judgment ring on strike areas as often as you can. The maximum number of hit areas
that a ring can have is base on each character as each character has a maximum
number of hit areas that he or she can have. You can expand the hit areas with
an attack boost item which the Soul Ring will give you if you can find it. Status
effect can also be added to the ring as well. You can find these status effect
items from chests or shops. Mastering the judgment ring is very important as it's
your key to success when using attack, magic spells, and items. Attacks: Normal attacks are base on four different types, Standard, Hard
Hit, High Angle, and Knock Down. Of course each attack has its advantages and
disadvantages when it comes to fighting a particular enemy. Judgment ring comes
in play here of course. Standard attack is a mid range normal attack. Hard Hit
basically is a damage attack that takes away a percentage of the enemy stock gauge.
High Angle knocks the enemy up in the air. Knock Down knocks the enemy down. Special Skills: Each character come with their own unique special abilities.
You can call it special attack if you want to. I won't get into each character's
special ability as that's what the in-game help menu is for but I will say that
as you progress deeper into the game, you can upgrade or unlock more special abilities
through various side quests. The judgment ring plays a role in whether or not
you will be able to get off a successful special attack. Land your judgment ring
handle on either a hit area or strike area and you should be fine. Failure to
do so will result in a miss. Stellars: In this game, magic is now known as Stellars as oppose to Crest. Stellars comes in various levels, elemental attributes, and type. In order to use the magic of the Stellar you have to equip them on a slot of a Stellar Chart. The Stellar Chart too must also be equipped on the player casting the magic. Stellar Charts: Stellar Charts are similar to other rpg games that uses
a chart where you place a magic sphere into a chart node. Each chart has various
types of nodes that you can place a Stellar in. While initially all nodes are
preset in their level and the type of node they are, but the game does allow you
to customize any node to the point where you can raise it's level and change it
to any type of node you want allowing you to put any type of magic of your choice
in the Chart. This is very good and handy. The introduction of Stellar Chart also
gives each party member a wider range of magic that they can use unlike what was
feature in Covenant. Stocks: The newest thing in the game is that the game uses a Stock System. Each time you do an action or is attack, your stock gauge goes up. The maximum level your stock gauge can reach is level 2. Once your stock gauge reaches level 1, two options will open up for you and they are Double and Combo. Once your stock gauge reach level 2, a third option called Double Combo is open up. If you use one of the 3 options available from your stock gauge than your stock gauge is reset back to zero. Combos: Combos work in the same way as what was seen in Covenant. The only difference here is that you no longer need to line up party members to set off a combo. Combos can be achieved if a party member has at least 1 level of Stock. So one party member starts the combo and after that you just choose the next party member that has at least a level 1 stock to continue the combo. If the last person at the end of the combo which is usually the fourth person, has at least a level 2 stock, a special combo magic option will appear and you can finish off the combo with a special magic attack. Double: Double means double action turn. This option uses at least 1 level
of stock. There is a restriction on what type of double action you can take. For
instance you can't cast the same magic twice in a row. However you can use double
to cast two different type of magic. D-Combo: This is known as a Double Combo and works basically the same as
Combo but uses Double in it. So basically you get a double action when you are
setting up for each combo. Regular combo you only get to have each character choose
one action while double combo allows which character that has a level 2 stock
to choose 2 actions. Fusion: Shania is the only person in this game that uses the Fusion abilities. Fusion is the ability for Shania to turn into an elemental Guardian and to use their special skills or magic in battle. Since Shania can't use Stellar or Stellar Charts, her Fusion abilities are her way of using magic in this game. Shania has a total of 4 fusion forms. You can level up the Fusion Forms by using Soul Energy. Soul Energy of course will be received at the end of each battle.
If you enjoy the gameplay in the previous Shadow Hearts game than there's no reason why you won't enjoy this gameplay since it's still fun to play. It's a bit more challenging in this game than what was in last one, I believe. The Stellar system and Stock system takes a bit getting used to but nothing too serious that you can't get a hang of. I believe that for the most part the gameplay is pretty much exactly the same as Covenant gameplay. This can be good or bad depending on what you expect. The introduction and use of the Stock system seem a bit lop sided toward the bad guys. Enemies gain stock too easily and fast that they can take out your guys in a single round if you don't manage to kill them off with your own stock combo. This is especially true in boss fights as trying to do a combo on a boss means that the boss with gain double to triple turn and end up killing your guys out. This is where the stock gauge system seems to be friendlier toward the enemies than you. Still this is just a minor thing as all it means is that you should save your stock combos as a finishing blow on bosses than anything else. I had a good time playing this game. The judgment ring is still unique in an rpg game since this is the only series that uses something like a ring system for its battle system. However hopefully on the next Shadow Hearts game, we can see an improvement in the ring system than just using the same type of rings with their hits and strike areas reappearing again. You'll be spending about 50 hours or more on a complete game here if you plan on unlocking all the extras and sidequest events. Well worth your money here folks.
Score: 8/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
Welcome to the He-Man competition.
No surprise here as From The New World provides a long list of extra side quests to accomplish other than the in-story gameplay. You'll be spending a lot of time on extra side quests for each of your characters to get them their best weapons and armors in the game. Each side quests opens up a new area to explore as well as optional boss fights. You'll also have the He-Man tournament to do, similar to the He-Man tournament in Covenant. Mini games include the lottery with the lottery members, snap trading, and quizzes. The biggest bonus dungeon is provided through a dungeon know as the Purgatory where you can't save at all till the end. Completing all of the characters bonus dungeons will net you well over 20 hours of extra gameplay time. The game also provides two optional endings, a good and a bad one, that you can try and unlock. Once you complete the game on your first try, there's a New Game+ feature that you can use if you decide to replay the game again. All the stellar magic, stellar charts, snaps, and fusion that you have collected on your first game will be imported over to your new game to make things easier. All in all a complete package here. Lots of extra stuff for you to do and some nice feature to have if you decide to replay again. Theater option is also unlock once you finish playing the game your first time. In theater mode you basically can view the entire story cut scenes and CG scenes in the game at your leisure.
Score: 10/10
From The New World isn't as strong as Covenant when comparing the story and graphics but from the rest such as characters, music, gameplay, and extras, From The New World is pretty much identical to Covenant. From The New World is sure to please all Shadow Hearts fans. There's no real reason why a Shadow Heart fans wouldn't like to game. The year 2006 is still has a long way to go but for now, Shadow Hearts From The New World is definitely one of the better highlight rpg game of 2006. Don't miss out on getting this rpg game before it's too late and out of production.
