Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Dual Hearts

Written by Chris Reiter on September 23, 2002

Full Review: With the help of a flying pig, you'll teach the latest spiky haired hero there's more to life than hair gel and hot RPG chicks.

Sony's at it again. Earlier this summer, Sony had brought PlayStation 2 owners a taste of airborne paradise with the Atlus published release, Sky Gunner. Atlus has decided to obtain the rights to another of Sony's Japan only games, this time by nabbing an RPG that blends together elements of both action and RPG in a more carefree way. It's curious in their method of operations how Sony works with so many different genres, and yet, many of their internally developed titles have a significant amount of peculiar quality, but one most anyone can live with. And once more, Sony has made their mark into the realm of the strange, unusual, but light heartily entertaining in their newest PlayStation 2 Action/RPG adventure, Dual Hearts.

Where in a world, where hopes and dreams of people morphed into reality, and reality could interact with that, there was serenity for everyone. However, not everyone wished for peace within this world, as an evil nightmare spread across the land and began engulfing the people who were able to unlock the very thoughts from their heads with fear. That was until one day when a sage stepped forth and together with a Baku companion by his side, they led a war against the evil dread of dreams for seven long days and seven long nights, eventually storing it into a chamber. But, in doing so, the ability to unlock people's dreams was lost with the human's reality and the dream world's reality now divided in two. Time has long passed since then...and now, evil has a new plan. Play as Rumble, an adventurous Ruinseeker and his dream weaver buddy Tumble, a clumsy Baku in an attempt to find the missing keys of the dream world to unlock an ancient temple's gates in order to prevent the fate of humanity ultimately ending in doom.

Part action, part RPG; Dual Hearts introduces itself to a gameplay system where teamwork is the key to winning. By that I mean you'll have control over both Rumble (a human) and Tumble (looks like a furry pig with large ears) more or less, with Rumble being the primary character and Tumble sort of an extra to add flavor in the mix. Even though you're not able to physically control Tumble as a stand-alone character, the game just isn't the same without him. Throughout the gameplay, you're basically on the lookout for people who might have a key stored within their dreams. Tumble, a Baku (one who has the power to enter dreams) serves as Rumble's ticket into Slumber Ville. There is a bit of strategy involved in this gameplay system, though. To enter into one's sleep, you have to figure out the time of day that one individual goes to sleep at, where they sleep at, and if you can enter their dreams once you figure it all out due to a timer that steadily counts the frame in which day and night exist in the real world. If for instance a second person were in the room awake with one who is sleeping, you wouldn't be able to enter their dream, and might have to wait it out until later on in the game -- overall giving a fair amount of thinking challenge to the gameplay.

Once you're in a dream though, it's a whole turn around in directional terms. Not only are you after making it to the end of every dream stage to finish off a boss and receive the key you've earned, but you must fight a different assortment of enemies that pertain to each person's ideal and twisted visions during their off time and collect useful pickups along the way there. Amongst these items are things like golden rings and dream orbs that will later on unlock paths to certain areas. Besides advancement pieces, you can also find and gather specialty items that will build onto your character statuses that in effect make either Rumble's health span longer or Tumble's amount of Eamons he's allowed to carry bigger. Eamons are tiny creatures that only exist within dreams, and in dreams, these power Tumble's abilities. As you get further into the game, Tumble will learn more and more about himself and as will you. Butt stomps, dash attacks, and even restoring your health meter to its fullest are just some of the things Tumble comes accessorized with. By cutting blades of grass or killing enemies gain you Eamons. Without them, Tumble's line of help can't go very far, and neither will you.

You may be thinking that Tumble has all the moves, but he's only half the fun. Rumble is the one you'll have full control over, and the one that makes the other portion of gameplay complete. Rumble, like any other human, is given a set of weapons during the gameplay. These weapons however are a special set, and continue to build up in diversity, as the game grows older. In both hands at the same time, Rumble has the ability to carry tools like a sword and spear, or even a bomb and then its detonator in one hand and an elemental card in the other. All and every weapon has more purpose than the eye may think. The spear or sword for example can be used to attack all enemy types. However, they can also be powered up by holding down on the corresponding attack button and then swung for an extra hard hit, that can lift heavy switches into the air or swipe at falling objects that you may need to move into a direct location. Other puzzles such as sucking up a red Eamon into the elemental card to create fire and use it to light torches or setting a bomb near a switch and blowing it up when you're near the door it opens are what's to be expected on the course for Dual Hearts.

Using Rumble, it's possible to run, jump, climb, and of course block and attack against the enemy stronghold. Each one of Rumble's maneuvers are fairly easy to get a grip on, and should never be of too much trouble with an on screen interface that always reminds you of which buttons do which action. Speaking of that, Rumble can also hop on Tumble's back and go everywhere Rumble can from running faster, jumping higher, and even swimming below water level. Tumble's control scheme is just as easy with a similar setup towards the same kind of path each direction takes itself towards. If not a little clunky, the controls do leave a little more to be desired. Especially with the camera angle that's not only slightly loose, but only goes where it wants to go. You're able to bring the camera to a position right behind Rumble, although looking in different points of view from up above or down below you are almost always impossible since the camera can't fully span great distances manually, locking up if you attempt the undoable, and it suffers because of that.

It'd be fair to say that the visuals for Dual Hearts aren't Sony's best effort even though they do turn out good in some respects. The facial expressions in each of the storyline characteristics are at their peak. So fluent, so emotional, so lifelike, every character tells his or her way of body language in a realistic, albeit cartoony sense that does the game justice. One good example would be how Tumble gets excited many times, with a joyous expression and smirk, and proceeds to trot around in a happy circle. During the actual gameplay, character movements also look good from the way Tumble flaps his ears as you draw nearer to the ground, Rumble spins and swings his weapons with power and divinity, and the enemies surprise you with an assortment of interesting looking attacks.

On the other hand, the game sports graphics that are not all that impressive. Simplistic shapes, colors, and textures make up a good portion of everything to be seen in a cartoonish world. There's both the real world and the dream one -- where you'll notice such things as blocky trees, rocks, buildings, and even slight stiffness in character models in the former of the two areas. With the time of both day and night going around and around throughout the real aspect of the world though, the game does show differences in naturalistic lighting and shading effects between the environment's surroundings. As the day draws down towards its darker shade, you can catch a glimpse of sparkling watery spots, people out and about through their daily routines, and a small shift from the clear blue into an orange, to red, to darkened sky. That's where you'll start walking by windows outside of houses with the lights on inside and the darkness on outside, lightning bugs sifting through the drift of air, and everything around you take on a calm in its faded light of purity. In surrealistic environments of snowy mountain sides, grassy green hills surround by water, gold encased dungeons, platforms hovering in thick air and more, the dream world always varies between each person's personality and always takes on a different shape. But, like in the game's reality, these levels aren't all that spectacular with just more of the same amateur fix -- and the game could really use the extra polish.

It's the game's sound though that makes the quality of Dual Hearts poorer than it should be. Quirky, orchestrated tunes moisture the background track and aren't at all bad, just not anything too special. Exceptionally, some of the music is decent enough during the more emotional points of the plot, but for most of the game, the music never changes too often, and rounds out around only a few different pieces that eventually you'll become familiar with too quickly too often. Dual Hearts doesn't have a cast of voice actors unfortunately, although some of the time Tumble will actually say a single line -- a line of dialogue that gets a bit repetitive and even annoying. In certain points of the storyline, Tumble becomes excited and starts dancing around saying, "Yay! Yay! Alright!" His voice is merrily and eerie at the same time, and is something that the game could've done without. Sound effects make up for whatever the rest of the game lacks, and does a good job at it. Hearing the clinging of weaponry against enemies and objects, the sound of your footsteps as they stroll and thump across different platforms, and even the thuds of banging Tumble's body into a wall or an explosion set off by a bomb all sound great and exact to their origins of existence.