Shadow Hearts is a solid RPG that is definitley worth playing.
User Rating: 7.9 | Shadow Hearts (PlayStation2 the Best) PS2
Shadow Hearts is a dark RPG which a unique setting and a great battle system. It was released early on the PS2 and aside from the cut scenes, it doesn't look much better than a PS1 game. But it does some unique and sometimes disturbing monster designs and the music is quite haunting and fits the game very well. There is some voice acting but very little of it, I think it would have been a lot better if there was more. Overall the presentation is pretty good even though the visuals aren't all that great. The story is pretty good, it isn't very original but it does a unique time and setting. And even though the story mostly revolves around Yuri and Alice, the male and female protaganists each characters has their own back story and purpose. Overall it is devolped very well. The battles in Shadow Hearts are turn based but due to the judgement ring you will get to feel much more involved in battles. For the most part it is great, a line circles around the judgement ring and you have to press 'X' to hit the strike areas(1-3 of them). Not doing so will cost you your attack or you will get less hits. This system is used for everything in battle and even shopping. It does get a little annoying sometimes when you're trying to get through an area and you can't just plow through the weak enemies but for the most part I found it to be better than a standard turn based system. There is also some strategy thrown in, each character has their own element and abilities so that they are all useful in battle for different enemies. For the most part I found the battles to be pretty easy so unless you have bad timing it isn't really that hard. With each battle you build up malice and when it reaches red you will be attacked by fox face. To clear malice you have to find a save point to visit the graveyard. So if you feel the need to level grind then stick by a save point. Shadow Hearts can take up a lot of you time if decide to tackle the secret dungeons and extras or otherwise it'll last you around 30 hours. If you've missed Shadow Hearts up until this point, it's worth it to find a copy.
