Basic Information Published in North America by XSEED Games Belongs to the JRPG genre Takamasa Ōsawa (game director) Miyako Kato (character director) Yoshitaka Hirota (music composer) Current price: new $18.99 used $14.99

Basic Information Made for the Sony Playstation 2 Save game files require 64 kB of memory card space Played with a normal analog PS2 controller

Story Line 1929: New York City Hired to find a man by the mysterious Professor Gilbert, 16 year old private detective Johnny Garland closes in on the successful conclusion of his first major job as a private eye. Upon finding the man, Johnny is shocked when a mysterious glowing green hole in the fabric of the universe opens and spits out a grotesque monster.

Story line The monster promptly devours the man Johnny had been searching for, and is about to do the same to Johnny when it is interrupted by a winged form crashing through the room’s skylight. The two strange creatures do battle, and the monster is defeated by what appears to be a winged woman, after which Johnny passes out. When he awakes back at his office, he is introduced to his saviors, a Native American woman named Shania and her warrior attendant Natan. They inform him that the green hole is called a “Window” caused by event that took place over ten years ago. Creatures from other dimensions pass through “windows” and cause havoc in our world.

Story line Shania and Natan hunt and kill these monsters, though they are less than forthcoming about their motives. They accompany Johnny to see Professor Gilbert about what happened. Upon hearing Johnny’s report, Gilbert shows an alarming lack of surprise, and manages to open a Window on his own, calling forth a monster to distract Johnny and friends as he escapes.

Player’s role Guide Johnny and his companions in their search for Professor Gilbert and a better understanding of the “Window” phenomena. Direct the party’s strategy in combating their foes from this world and beyond.

User Interface Much of Shadow Hearts: From the New World’s interface is a standard menu driven system found in nearly all RPGs. A player is provided a series of menus containing options like magic, physical or special attacks, and consumable items.

Game Play Two things set Shadow Hearts: From The New World apart from other RPGs and JRPGs: –The Judgment Ring system –Sanity Points

Judgment Ring The Judgment Ring is a sort of spinner that appears to allow the player influence events in the game world. By pressing a button as the spinning needle passes over the shaded section of the ring, a character is able to accomplish a task with a degree of success depending on where the needle was stopped.

Sanity Points Sanity points are not unlike the normal Hit Points and magic points normally found in RPGs. Fighting monsters from other dimensions is bound to play havoc with one’s nerves. Sanity points are lost as a battle with the monsters progresses. Some abilities cause sanity points to expire more rapidly. Effectively, they serve as a time limit to the battle, making a combat a puzzle that must be solved within a set number of moves to continue. Sanity Points (SP)

Game Review Shadow Hearts: From the New World is fun because of its unusual characters and storyline. While sometimes farfetched, the story is entertaining and avoids many of the cliches common in other RPGs. The Judgment Ring system makes it feel as if you’re actually playing a game rather than just selecting menu options or hitting a single button over an over again like in most serial RPGs. Unlike the previous Shadow Hearts game, From the New World does not center on characters or events from previous games, and its refined combat system provides significantly more entertainment.

Game Review While entertaining to fans of JRPGs Shadow Hearts is still a JRPG. This means the game involves a lot of reading and following of a story line as well as repeating mundane combats that really do not do much to further the plot. While some players may appreciate these aspects of the game, other players might not. ESRB rating for the game is Teen for crude humor, mild language, suggestive themes, use of alcohol and tobacco, and violence. People who enjoy long stories and reading are more likely to enjoy this game than those who don’t.

Strengths & Weaknesses Good story, interesting characters, entertaining combat system Many pitfalls of other JRPGs; i.e. repetitive combat, reliance on save points

Personal Opinions on the Game Yes the game is worth purchasing at the current price. The only improvement I would make is the option of cutting the fusion cut scene short

Demo of game play, artwork, sound and music

Things I’ve Missed The game comes with a manual, though I bought it used and it did not come with one. The game did not have any bugs or design mistakes that I encountered in the 20 hours of the game I’ve played There isn’t an explained method of scoring in the game, though it does track a number of varying statistics.

Things I’ve Missed It’s a PS2 game, there is no installation.