By Anthony Swinnich on August 5th, 2005

I know it’s hard to believe, but if Konami had changed the main character to a Belmont, and wrote the story differently, this game would be a decent entry in the Castlevania catalog. In fact, one of the only problems I have left with this series is the fact that it uses the Shaman King license. If these games were given the right push, fans everywhere would be buying them up. Well, I’m here to help give that push; you shouldn’t just wait for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on the DS when you could be playing a new Castlevania right now.

Improved in Many Ways

Master of Spirits 2 scared me at first, because it seemed like it was going to be the same exact game as the first one, and in a lot of ways nothing has changed. You still control a character whose main weapon is a sword. You still explore areas filled with monsters that you’ll need to defeat, and these monsters will still give you powers to use against the unending horde of monsters still ahead of you. Tapping down twice still does a dash backwards, and there is still a good amount of oversized yet pathetically easy bosses for you to tackle.

But it’s important to note that all of those elements were positive in the first game, and they weren’t tampered with in the sequel. It’s good that they were so solid too, because the additions made are all solid as well. There are small combo-type maneuvers added, deepening combat and removing redundancy. For example, double-tapping in the direction of an enemy and attacking does a dashing-downward slash; additional methods of attack are always welcome if implemented correctly, and in Master of Spirits 2 they were.

Enemies also seem to be placed better in the environments as well, and some of the enemies in the first game that did a lot of damage have been scaled down to a more fair level. Once in a while you’ll get hit by one you didn’t see coming, or an overpowered foe, but nowhere near as often as in the first entry. In fact, the level design in the entire game seems far more solid than the previous one’s. The world map, where you do your saving and where you go from stage to stage, has warp points added on to it, which were sorely needed in the original, and the Spirit system was also worked slightly differently, so it functions much better.

The Spirit System: A Step Up

The Spirit system in this game is light years ahead of the one used in the previous title, which is commendable because it’s largely the same thing. In the original, you were given four ranges to equip spirits. You were able to equip five spirits on each range. Two of them were accessible through the L and R buttons, and while you could equip inactive spirits to them, it was usually smart to map ones you needed to those buttons to use them. The problem was, you were only given four ranges total, and there was a large amount of spirits in the game, many of which were necessary to use, so you were constantly equipping and unequipping.

There are two key differences that make the new system superior to the old one. First of all, you’re given access to more than just four equipment ranges. You’re able to buy more ranges at the store, though you start out with only four. Also, you’re able to turn them on and off, so if you don’t need one range for that particular stage, you can simply turn it off, rather than unequip all of those spirits again.

The second improvement is a more minor one, but it adds to your appreciation for the range limit. You start off with four ranges, but only one slot per range. As the game progresses, you find items which add a range each. While you did this in the first title, the pacing used for finding these upgrades seems smoother, making for a minor yet welcome change. These upgrades seem to appear just as you need them, and open up the usage of the spirits more naturally than it did in the first title. Also, there are a lot more spirits in this game, and while many of them aren’t really practical, it’s good to see the developers being creative with design.

Areas Still Slightly Lacking

It’s unlikely we’ll see a third entry in the series, but I feel that if some of these areas were improved, we’d have the makings for a true classic. First of all, I’d like to see an increase in the amount of weapons. Sure, the spirits could be considered weapons, because they are. But having just a sword is sometimes boring, and adding new and unique weapons would greatly expand combat. I would also like the amount of unnecessary spirits to be reduced, even if it means that you’d have less to choose from. I don’t ever use probably three quarters of the spirits in the game, and that’s a shame.

Secondly, I’d like certain moves to be mapped to the controls. This is a problem I had with the first game. It’s awkward to not be able to slide by pressing down and jump, but rather only being able to slide when I have the sliding spirit equipped. It’s good that the amount of spirit ranges was increased, but it definitely didn’t make it any easier to use moves that should just be mapped to the buttons. Also a problem in the first game, it would be nice if I could turn off the little animations that accompany using certain moves, especially the ones that are necessary to use. They’re time-consuming, irritating, and they break up the flow of action.

Lastly, I’d like a story that even people who aren’t fans of Shaman King could get into. It’s tough for me to become angry at Zeke when there isn’t any real reason presented to do so. He should have done something evil, or at least something worse than saying he had an evil plan. If I didn’t enjoy the gameplay so much, I’m sure I would have lost interest, and I’ve played many a game through with worse gameplay simply because the story drove me to do so. If the Master of Spirits series had a better story, I’m sure more people would feel compelled to play.

Strangely Worth a Look

Don’t turn your back on this game or its precursor just because of the license. Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2 is an improvement in nearly every way that counts, and that’s saying something since the original was nearly as stellar as a Castlevania title. You’re only depriving yourself of an enjoyable experience by not picking these awesome titles up. If you’re a fan of Castlevania, don’t hesitate to buy these. If you’re an action/adventure fan, you’ll also enjoy these titles.