For the most part, Shadow Hearts does very little to push the PS2's power to the limits. The environments are statically rendered locations the likes of which you've seen in many a RPG in recent times, and the character models, while high-resolution, aren't particularly detailed. The battles fare better, with a smooth framerate and a high resolution, but the enemies aren't particularly detailed (bosses excepted) and the spell effects definitely leave something to be desired. The main character models, on the other hand, are usually quite cool-looking, and there's plenty of gratuitous female show-offing for those of you into that sort of stuff. Still, the game doesn't look like much more than a sharper PSOne title, which is something of a shame. I also feel that the Japanese-style 'feeling-bubbles' are rather out of place in the game, but as it never takes it self entirely seriously it's not as bad as it seems.

The sound ranges all over the place, from very solid (the music) to weak (the voice acting). The game sounds fantastic, with rousing themes and groovy background tones, the sort of stuff you don't mind turning up to hear better. The sound effects are standard, with clangs and whacks and the occasional screech from an enemy as it dies in pain. The voice acting, on the other hand, is weak; while this is the sort of thing that's commonplace in video games, after playing Soul Reaver 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 recently it's something of a letdown.

Thankfully, for the most part Shadow Hearts is not a letdown. While many RPGers will find themselves frustrated by the Ring of Judgment, I found it a delightful change of pace for the dry button-pushing of almost every other RPG out there, and there's something about the actual experience of playing Shadow Hearts that engrossed me.

The storyline starts off fairly freshly--there's a mysterious girl being abducted for unknown purposes, the dashing hero appears to save her, and some major badass comes in to try to take her away again. Now it's up to you--Yuri--to protect her from The Evil Surrounding You. Moreso than the actual story, the setting is absolutely fantastic, a warped version of modern-day where magic and technology live side-by-side. It's like stepping into a scary version of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality books. Despite this, the game maintains a sense of humour not often found in the genre, especially in the scarier games. It's as if the game never takes itself completely seriously. I wish that a few of the treatments--homosexuality in particular--were handled a little more adroitely, but nonetheless it's a refreshing experience to play a semi-satirical horror RPG.

Yuri is something of a special case. (Aren't all heroes?) His particular peculiarity is the fact that he's a Harmonixer, able to turn into various spirit beings and wreak much havoc on enemies. The different creatures that he can transform into are all element-based, and enemies all have elemental alignments, so strategic execution of Harmonixing abilities is required for a successful experience.

Indeed, battles in Shadow Hearts are quite different from standard RPG battles. Along with the requisite special abilities of everyone (spells, Harmonixing, whatever), the game makes use of the Ring of Judgment. The ring is, well, a ring, with a sweeping bar that's reminiscent of old radar displays. Every weapon, spell and item in the game has one or more 'hot zones' in which you're supposed to tap the X button as the arm sweeps. Miss, and the spell doesn't work or the item isn't used or the attack doesn't happen. Different spells and weapons have different strike zones, so it's not just a matter of memorizing the timings; in addition, most of the skills have a 'perfect' zone that's just past the normal one, which is harder to hit but lets you do more damage/heal more health/whatever.

I can see how the addition of the Judgment Ring would piss off a lot of RPGers. After all, the games aren't supposed to be games of timing, but of strategy. However, I think that it adds spice into a genre that is too often 'attack-attack-heal-attack,' and even if it does frustrate me at times I'm never frustrated because the game cheated; it's because I didn't hit it right. I like that.

Along with the Judgment Ring, there's a lovely new set of 'points', Sanity Points. You lose one Sanity per turn, and if a character ever drops to zero, they go Berzerk and gain no experience for the battle. This gives an added tension to every encounter, especially boss battles; you'll want to complete them as quickly as possible, and items that give back SP are necessary to keep your team from going completely crazy.

Another intriguing idea, although somewhat less solid on the execution, is the Graveyard. As you fight enemies, you generate Malice. Generate too much Malice, and you become hounded by, well, Death; the fights are arduous, and it's just a Bad Idea to be fighting Death. So to relieve the Malice you have to go into the Graveyard, a world inside of Yuri's head. There you fight incarnations of that Evil; defeating them nets you no experience, but it eases the Malice. It's a neat idea, but it ends up distracting from the core gameplay more than it should have, and ends up being an annoyance.

The game is long, and complex, and should satisfy any RPGer. Characterization is sometimes a little weak, but nonetheless the various folk who join your party are much more original than most of the RPG fodder nowadays.

I was surprised by Shadow Hearts. Maybe I've grown soft recently, but I found myself actually losing in some of the boss battles. Surprised, I walked around and leveled up a bit, and the battles became feasible. This was actually a pleasant surprise; it's about time that RPGs started pulling themselves out of their 'simplified slump,' and a challenge every now and then is good. It's always possible to level your characters when you need to, and you may even gain enough points to get some new Harmonixer forms to kick boss butt with. Careful management of items is necessary, as is a steady hand for the Judgment Ring.

Shadow Hearts uses standard RPG controls. You run around, open boxes, open menus, equip characters and the like. The battle system, as detailed earlier, is pleasantly challenging; it's also turn-based, which is good for those of use who like to plot our strategy. The Judgment Ring is very cool, but some may find its presence a little too ubiquitous. Whatever. The game sports short load times, and a friendly save system. I didn't experience any glitches as I played, which was nice. I also felt that the level of achievement constantly pushed in the game was excellent; you always felt that you were getting somewhere, and levels come fast and furious enough to keep your interest to the next one.

Shadow Hearts is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but even then it proffers a lot more than most of the stale RPGs in the genre nowadays. With a unique setting and intriguing characters, there's a lot to like about Shadow Hearts. The Judgment Ring will frustrate some gamers, and I realize that; once you get past the couple of innovations, the game really doesn't offer anything new to the genre. But it's a very pleasant romp, and almost all genre fans will find themselves pleasantly enthralled.

P.S. Yes, I know the game ties in to Koudelka. It's loose enough, though, that those who didn't play the original game will have absolutely no problems picking this one up, and as such doesn't really figure into the review.