The Shadow Hearts series has always stood out from most games in the RPG genre, thanks to its excellent gameplay, wild and unique cast of characters, dialogue, and most importantly, the setting. While the majority of titles simply place you smack dab in the middle of some unknown fantasy town in a magical land, the Shadow Hearts series takes place during times normally read about in Social Studies class back in high school, in this case, America. While the original Shadow Hearts took place way back during the World War I era, From The New World continues forward through time and tells its story around the time of Prohibition and The Great Depression during the 1900s. Only in this game will you find yourself face to face with Al Capone himself. Did I mention a giant talking cat?
Meet Johnny Garland, a spunky 16-year old who just so happens to run his own detective agency in the Upper West Side of New York City. As with most children, Johnny is full of spunk and itching for some adventuring, but often finds himself cleaning chimneys and chasing cats around instead. Having lost most of his memories due to a tragic car accident resulting in the loss of his father and sister, Johnny’s hoping that somewhere down the line, he will find the one clue that will help him recover his memories back. Things seem rather stale and boring at the Agency, until a professor suddenly walks in the door and gives Johnny his first real assignment, to track down a missing person somewhere in the city. Things go rather smoothly and Johnny makes progress to a rundown Theatre, where he finally comes across the person he was sent for, when a "Window", a large green colored portal, suddenly opens and brings forth a giant monster, who then eats him right up. Right. Soon after, a human-bird hybrid crashes in through the ceiling and defeats the monster, with Johnny passing out out from this surprising turn of events. Upon waking up, Johnny meets Shania and Natan, a couple Native Americans, and learn of their story and how these Windows have been appearing all over the world. Rather than spoiling the story, it’s from here that Johnny sets off on a quest to discover the mystery behind these Windows, the professor, and above all, his own past.
"Shadow Hearts does a pretty decent job of keeping the story nice and fresh..."
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I’ve told you all about Johnny, but what about the rest of the cast? As mentioned, Johnny will meet up with quite the unique set of characters during his quest, such as the lovely Shania, a Native American with the power to fuse with spirits and change into powerful beings, not to mention have quite a nice rack, as Johnny quickly notices early in the game. Following Shania around is Natan, another member of her tribe, who also happens to be quite the marksman and weilds the power of Gun-Fu, allowing for various dazzling displays of gunwork. As you progress through the game, the rest of the ensemble soon joins your group, such as Frank, the American Ninja with a light on his forehead and an appetite for justice, along with using a Swordfish as a weapon; Hilda, a vampire with a dangerous appetite that changes her appearance, altering her stats in battle. Finishing the list off is Ricardo, a simple mariachi out for revenge, and Master Mao, who just so happens to be a giant talking cat and a master of the Drunken Fist martial arts. Just for good measure, throw in an ambiguously gay duo that follows you around, selling you items and equipment. With a cast of characters like this, Shadow Hearts does a pretty decent job of keeping the story nice and fresh, throwing in plenty off-beat humorous moments along the way.
Returning to the game is the all too familiar Judgment Ring, one of the many staples of the Shadow Hearts universe. The Judgment Ring determines anything and everything that occurs in Shadow Hearts, from getting discounts at the shop, playing the lottery, all the way down to using a simple item in battle, the Judgment Ring will be involved in some way. How the Judgment Ring works is this: at any given point in the game, a disc will appear on-screen and a line will begin sweeping around, with various sections of the disc colored in. In battle, the object is to tap the X button as the line hovers over the segmented areas of the ring. Successful hits result in an attack on an enemy, while missing a single time stops the ring entirely and your action is performed partially, depending on how many hits were made, or not at all. On the ring are strike zones, small slices of red found at the end of each segmented area, that make your attack a bit stronger for each successful hit around the ring. When performing magic, the same rules are in effect, however there is a gradient that makes your attack stronger for how close you land to the strike zone. Don’t feel like tapping X all the time? Then make it so the game automatically hits the areas for you, but in return you will lose some bonuses in the process. Think you’re a pro? Then turn off the hit areas completely and do it all by memorization, and gain bonuses instead. Also available are items and accessories that slow down or speed up the ring, along with expanding the various hit and strike zones each character has, as well as increasing the number of attacks a person can make.
"...colorful detailed visuals combined with eerie melodic tunes, the preferred style of Shadow Hearts..."
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A new addition to the series is the stock system, a meter that when filled up, allows for some extra options to be performed, such as combos or performing two attacks in a row, along with an attack that lowers an enemy’s stock. Stock is acquired by attacking or being attacked, and charges a little before each turn. Performing double attacks will increase your character’s time to its next turn, so it’s best to only use those during dire times in battle. Stock is very important in this game, and is one of the more necessary things to keep in mind in battle, especially with some of the later bosses in the game.
Magic has received a facelift from Shadow Hearts: Covenant, but everything remains the same for the most part. By incorporating the various Stellar Grids found throughout your travels, you can equip Stellars on them and build up your magic list among your characters. Stellar Grids are also customizable, by stopping at the nearest shop, you can pay them money to tinker around with your Grid to allow for more powerful magic to be equipped, along with changing what type of magic can be placed on a node, lowering the cost of casting it, and other things. Magic adds yet another layer of strategy in battle as well, as different spells strike different regions: Air, Midrange, and Ground. In battle, if you were to cast a ground attack on an enemy who is only available in the midrange and air areas, your attack will simply miss and you will waste a turn. By planning ahead what spells to cast while in the middle of a combo, it’s very easy to rack up some devastating damage to your foes, making for a very satisfying feeling.
Customization is the name of the game for the most part, allowing for the player to easily mold their Stellar Grids and Judgment Rings to their preference. While some may get overwhelmed by what’s laid out before them, over time you’ll eventually get a feel on how the way things work and will soon after find yourself pulling off various devastating combos with your characters, making random battles and boss battles alike all the more interesting.
Shadow Hearts both looks and sounds great, offering colorful detailed visuals combined with eerie melodic tunes, the preferred style of Shadow Hearts, throughout your experience. There’s a lot of aliasing to be had here if that bothers you, as it is very noticable during the many voiced cutscenes found in the game. Voice acting is very hit or miss as well, depending on how you see it. I found it to be very good, with the exception of a few people, Roger Bacon in particular. Having played and enjoyed Covenant previously, it was like a slap to the face to hear Roger use a voice completely unlike the prior iteration, as if he were a totally different person. The game simply marvels in individuality however, and it shows with the amount of design put into the characters, allowing each of them to have their own unique personalities unlike any other found in a RPG. There’s a decent amount of environments to be found on your adventure, but unfortunately most if not all of them consist of a select few small zones filled with a bunch of people packed in that particular spot, making exploration slim, allowing you to see all there is to see within the first 10 minutes of entering. While it is nice to see, watching Shania undress as she transforms into a fusion gets rather repetitive and with no option to skip the process, you’ll be bored of it in no time. Fortunately, Shadow Hearts allows the user to both skip and pause cutscenes, both in-game and FMV, however they see fit, should something come up suddenly.
"From The New World dishes out a particularly short main quest..."
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For those looking for an epic story to tell with tons of playtime, step away immediately, as From The New World dishes out a particularly short main quest that can take roughly up to 20 to 25 hours, depending on how you usually fare in RPGs. That is to say that the story is not without faults, there is a rather huge dip in the game around the middle point where the entire game feels like a huge fetch quest, but as soon as the drought is over and it begins to get more interesting again, you’re already near the end of the game. But that’s ok though, as another thing Shadow Hearts seems to be good at are sidequests, and boy are there a lot of them. Each of your characters has a unique personal ability to them, and the only way to upgrade these skills is by performing various side tasks that will come along your way as you progress through the story, such as fetching various special coins, hunting down fabled creatures, or taking photographs of monsters to trade with other people, arena battles, along with much more. These particular skills aren’t mandatory for finishing the game, but they do act as a means to take a break from the main quest and power up any character you see fit, extending game time to upwards of 40 hours if need be. Upon finishing the game and receiving one of the two endings found in the game, those who adore replay value in their games will be happy to know that there is a "New Game+" of sorts, allowing you to keep a bunch of things from your other save, should you want to make another run through.
From The New World doesn’t overhaul the series much, it’s simply the same old formula found in previous titles along with a couple new additions to the family. The game as a whole feels more like a spin-off from the other two previous titles, with plenty of fanservice to boot. Don’t feel too bad if you happen to miss a reference that’s from a previous title, as it’s probably unimportant anyway. However, From The New World sets out and does what Shadow Hearts does best, which is provide a unique and entertaining experience, thanks to a refined battle system allowing for mass customization and an off the wall cast of characters to learn about through the many sidequests available. Being a fan of the series myself since the beginning, I can say with certainty that From The New World does not disappoint both newcomers and veterans alike.
