An underdog from the early days of the ps2 has got an impressive sequel

Back in the early days of the ps2, when everyone was still eagerly awaiting ffx with the idea that it would be as fun to play as it was pretty to look at, a small and fairly underrated RPG got there first, and was ignored.
That game was Shadow Hearts. A semi-sequel to an earlier ps1 game called Koudelka it continued the plot but with new characters and a battle system featuring what at first seemed like just a gimmick, the judgment ring. The battle system was the same as any other, yet upon selecting an attack, players had to succeed in striking the judgment ring (basically a roulette wheel) in certain places in order to determine the success and strength of the attack. It may not sound like much, but much like Paper Mario it makes a big difference to the gameplay - rather than just selecting attacks from menus, the game requires some skill to pull them off, which actually makes the who experience more enjoyable. Plus the attacks are more challenging to pull off than the attacks in Paper Mario.
Shadow Hearts still had 2D backdrops, fairly first gen graphics and wasn't really well known at the time, so it's easy to see why many ignored it and waited for the final fantasy. However the game had a good plot, a lot of humor, and a lot of soul, and it was one of the great underrated RPG gems on the system. It was also very interesting to play such a dark RPG. Most RPGs are happy, anime inspired affairs done in bright colours. One that was dark and featured lots of grimness and death, yet still pulled it off with good humor, was very refreshing to play.
It's only real pain was the sheer historical inaccuracy. It was set in pre-WWI Asia and Europe, yet the developers showed no understanding of the locations or time period. It was also annoying to see them put historical figures in the game and get the details wrong. (For example they put Roger Bacon in the game, but have him mixed up with his mentor.)

Your usual RPG crew of oddballs. And these guys manage to be odder than most.

Anyway, that was then. This is now. And we have a sequel. The only difference now is, suddenly everyone is paying attention to it. Maybe it's because everyone has realized that final fantasy is no longer the holy shining grail that it once was, and other RPGs have proved themselves worthy over it? Maybe it's because it now features better graphics, higher level of details on it's characters, and 3D backgrounds? Maybe it's because this time Nautilus have put many female characters with large breasts in it? Who knows, the point is with the amount of attention it's getting, the series is no longer underrated. But has it become over-hyped?

Like the last game, it is divided roughly into two, the events in the second half given away only by a few forward references. There are also a lot of references back to the previous game. They're a nice touch for people who have played it, but they are eventually explained for people who haven't played. The only small niggle is that once it uses these recaps to insert forward references that weren't there.

The start of the game is a bit confusing. You start by playing Karin, one of the afformentioned females with large frontal attachments. Quite what a woman is doing as a lutenant in the German army in that time period is unclear, but anyone gaping at her chest might be tempted to let Nautilus have that one.
Seeing as she adjoins the front cover of the game and is given priority in the screenshots you might expect her to be the lead character this time, but no, Yuri from the last game retains that roll. You get to play her from the start seemingly to just give you an introduction to who she is and her motives. A good idea, and one that is repeated for a couple of other characters. It does make the first hour or so of the game a bit confusing though. Especially when you switch over, when events are shown out of order.
Thankfully, this is only a problem at the beginning of the game, and it's not too long before you know what's going on. And you soon find that Nautilus have made an interesting choice, and have continued from the bad ending of the last game, rather than the good one.

Not sure why this screen is here, seeing as the game includes historical figures...

And from then on, the game plays like a graphically improved version of the last one. Not only have the graphics gone fully 3D, the animation has been improved too. In the last game, it used the system that ff7 started, where characters mostly use a set of animations which are done on cue during cutscenes. Not really a bad thing, it didn't exactly harm the game, the story or the humor. Shadow Hearts 2 has made a big jump and is now using fully motion scripted cutscenes. Possibly it's just them trying to get up to the graphical standard set by ffx, but it works really well and unlike the game it is copying the Shadow Hearts humor is still there too.

The music is quite good. Like the first game, the score is again composed by Yoshitaka Hirota and Yasunori Mitsuda. There are somewhat fewer tracks in the soundtrack here than before, but what's there is done a little better. It means that there some repetition of tracks between dungeons, but that's not too much of a problem.

The battle system is much the same as the previous one, only with four characters at a time rather than three. Typically there is not that much strategy in the battles, any further than which enemy to take out first, and when to attack and when to heal. But most of the fight is decided on the judgment ring - getting good at that is the key to success in the game.
Oddly enough when everyone else is showing enemies on the field, the battles in Shadow Hearts are still random encounters. Only here, they have toned them down to a level much less frequent than other games. The end result is a system which is old but familiar, which can get annoying at times but often manages to avoid it.

Crests are a little bit like materia, giving some characters spells if they equip them. If you collect all of one type, then solve a riddle, then each one of that type gets powered up, which is quite cool. Only thing is, dispite being told about it right at the start of the game, it's not really until the end that you can do it.

There is, however, a lot of strategy in setting up your party. As the game goes on, you'll eventually get eight playable characters, out of which you can field four. The characters of course, are not the same, having different stats, strengths and weaknesses. And to add to it, each has a collection of special moves, side effects, or some way of fighting unique to them. Yuri has his fusions, Karin has her sword arts, Gepetto (called Gepetto because he's a puppeteer... nice original name ^_^) has various elemental special moves, which vary in power depending on which puppet he is using at the time. Later on you find a character who changes form after every few battles, a character with a scan/copy ability, a Cait Sith-like gambler character, whose various random effects can help you or hinder you, and so on. You are also given the ability to equip spells as you like to each character (each has a set number they can equip), and can give each character up to three accessories.
New to the game is the combo system. Yuri and his party no longer line up in two rows, they now move around like in Skies of Arcadia or Wild Arms. If they are standing next to each other, they can attack together in a group, for a higher hit count and thus slightly more damage. Powerful attacks are also unlocked if you manage a 4 combo. But unless the enemy knocks you into the combo position, you have to manually tell your characters to move together first, meaning that you have to jump through a quite a few menu selections first though.
One small niggle I do have is with the balancing. Pretty early on in the game, you can buy an accessory that slows the judgment ring down and makes hitting it much easier. I see this as a problem, because without it the judgment ring is a tad too hard to hit, but with it it is too easy. It doesn't make the game too easy, because it's an RPG and your stats are also important, it just cheapens the main draw of the game.
Also, it would have been nice if they'd done something like Paper Mario and given you some sort of ability to defend yourself. In Shadow Hearts, short of killing them first, you're helpless to watch the enemy laying into you with their turns. Same as most other RPGs, granted, but it's odd they didn't go just a little further.

One of the bosses is a giant cat. A giant pink cat. There must be an explination somewhere...

While I'm talking about the negative points, I'll get the last one out of the way (and there is only one more really). The game's complete lack of historical accuracy. Just like it's predessesor, the game is terrible about giving a feel of the times it's set in. No-one gets out a mobile phone this time, but it's still off in many areas. No, they did not have nuclear fusion powered jets in World War one. Their homosexual characters, while it is nice to see a game brave enough to put an open homosexual in, are out of place in 1915, when the practice was illegal and certainly wouldn't be as open. All the references to popular culture that hasn't happened yet will strike you as odd too. And feel free to walk right across the areas in France where the war is taking place, without even noticing it. Honestly, none of this impacts on how good the game is, but it feels very wrong. I mean, undead creatures, monsters and demon summoners aren't exactly realistic either, but at least that's excusable in a game like this. They'd have done better to set the series in some fictional universe. It can get on your nerves when they use historical characters with a complete disregard for checking details too.

What would an RPG be without minigames? Here, Blanca is subjected to a Metal Gear Solid minigame - actually really funny.

So, in the end, is this a good game? Well yeah, it's a great game! But, should you buy it? Well, if you like RPGs, it's one of the big ones out this season. Tales of Symphonia and Paper Mario just have the edge over it, but if you want another one, or if you want a game that is darker, Shadow Hearts 2 is for you. If you've played and enjoyed the first game then I'd definitely recommend getting this one, but short of knowing the previous plot it's not required to play.

I say 9/10.