Shining Tears Preview

Sega's Shining series has been all over the place since it debuted with Shining in the Darkness on the Genesis way back when. With games from Shining Soul to Shining Force to Shining the Holy Ark, Sega has explored turn-based strategy, hack-and-slash dungeon crawling, and other RPG-style gameplay types. Now internal developer Amusement Vision is bringing us Shining Tears, a new offshoot for the series that presents a slightly unconventional take on the standard 2D action RPG model.

The story begins when a mysterious boy washes up on the bank of a river in the kingdom of Shildia. The boy is discovered by the slightly rambunctious but well-intentioned Elwyn, who nurses him back to health and discovers that while he has--surprise--amnesia, he can at least remember his name: Xion. Per RPG convention, Elwyn discovers that Xion has in his possession not one but two magical trinkets--in this case, a pair of legendary rings that are purported to confer vast power on the wearer. On a routine trip to the hills, the duo discovers that they can each put on one ring and become instantly combat-ready. Good thing they learn how to fight so quickly, since the malevolent Rune Geist Empire wastes no time setting its armies on the march to breach Shildia's sovereignty.

It won't just be Xion and Elwyn up against an entire army, though--the two will be joined by an eclectic cast of freedom fighters, such as the somber priestess Ryuna, the tough-talking wolfman Volg, and the requisite spunky catgirl Mao. Each of the characters in the game will have his or her own special abilities that can be invoked in battle and upgraded as you gain experience and level up. Gameplay is split between downtime in town, in which you visit shops, discuss the situation with other characters, and so on, and battle scenes, which are set up sort of like action levels, in which you have a particular goal to satisfy ("slay the commander" or "clear all enemies") and are rated on your performance once you've completed that goal.

The game puts you in control of Xion and has a second, AI-controlled character fighting alongside you in each scenario. The controls are pretty simple--you have a regular attack that you can chain into a basic combo, a number of special moves, and the ability to block or break into a sprint to charge at the enemy. Your second character also has special moves, and you can even invoke a combo special attack that varies depending on the second character. When you're fighting with the ice sorceress Blanc Neige, for instance, you can form a ring on the ground by moving away from her strategically, and then unleash an ice spell that will seriously damage all the enemies that are inside that ring.

Early on in the game, the story will dictate who you fight alongside, and you'll have to accept the second character being controlled by the AI. After the storyline and world open up a bit and you begin to take the fight to the Rune Geist, you'll have more control over the order of the battles you wage, and you'll be able to choose who you want as your companion. At this point, the game will let a second player take control of the second character, who controls just like Xion but has unique special abilities, of course. So you could conceivably go through most of Shining Tears as a two-player experience, if you're inclined to do so.

Shining Tears has a few interesting things going on beyond the core combat. You can buy new equipment from shops, of course, and you'll also gain new stuff as you fight--but the catch is, you won't know exactly what it is. You'll have to take your newly acquired mystery items to the appraiser in town and pay a fee to find out what the equipment is and who can use it. You'll pick up a lot of what looks like random junk from downed enemies--stuff like dragon scales and shinobi stones--but these items are actually quite useful for improving your weapons. You can visit a blacksmith and have him temper a weapon or piece of armor with the items you've picked up. The combination of items you choose will affect the way in which the equipment is improved. There's no clear indication of which items you should use on a given piece of gear, so there will be a lot of room for experimenting to find the best ways to temper your sword, helmet, or what have you.

Amazingly, Shining Tears is an entirely 2D game. It has typically anime-style character designs, which you'll see plenty of, since they're presented in large size in all the dialogue sequences. The hand-crafted backgrounds have a nice, painterly sort of look to them that's also reminiscent of cel animation. The character sprites aren't extremely huge or flashy, but they get the job done with a good bit of style of their own. There's only a little voice acting in the build we've been playing, and strangely it's all been attached to incidental characters like shopkeepers so far, but the voices have been pretty good up to this point. You'll hear the standard assortment of Japanese RPG-flavored background music throughout the game as well.

Fans of the Shining series--if you can even call it one series, what with its myriad gameplay types and monikers--have been waiting for a new console entry to reprise the greatness of those past games from the last 15 or so years. Will Shining Tears satisfy them after their long wait? We'll find out soon--the game is scheduled to hit American shelves in March. Stay tuned for more on the game before then.