Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Written by John Scalzo  on July 29, 2004

First Impressions: I must have mistyped Covenant as Convent twenty different times when writing this. That would be an entirely different game...

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Midway picked up Aruze's RPG Shadow Hearts for release in late 2001 and it was promptly left in the dust by a little game known as Final Fantasy X. But Shadow Hearts had promise, it lacked polish, but it had promise. In fact, I wrote this about Shadow Hearts in my review: "what is a good game on the surface is bogged down with a clichщd plot, less than strategic battles, and terrible dialogue. A lot of terrible dialogue. I really like the battle system and Shadow Hearts definitely has a style that could fuel a game. If only Sacnoth could take those things and place them in a game that doesn't drive me crazy after a while. It's good, don't get me wrong, there's just this nagging feeling it could be a lot better." So I was very pleasantly surprised when Midway picked up Shadow Hearts II (which has been out in Japan since February of this year) for an American release.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant, as the game will be known in America, picks up in 1915, six months after the original ended. The hero of the first game, Yuri, returns as he must do battle with Sapientes Gladio, the Covenant of the title. As the game opens he is cursed by a powerful wizard that severely limits his strength and ability to transform into demon forms. Later on, Yuri discovers that the Covenant is using the first World War as a cover to take over the world. So with his party in tow, including a man named Gepetto (who not surprisingly uses dolls for his attacks), Yuri goes off in search of a way to break his curse and to stop the Sapientes Gladio.

The part of Shadow Hearts that made it stand out as more than just another Japanese RPG was the game's battle system. The Judgment Ring bore more than a passing resemblance to the swing meters in any golf game, a circle with an arm that sweeps around. Stopping the arm on a point in the circle would result in either a hit or a miss against the enemy your party was fighting. But then there were the enhancements and changes to the ring. Hot spots on the circle would result in critical hits or double attacks. Magical items and spells had a real effect on the ring. Some would make the arm move slower, some made it move faster, others still made the hot spots bigger. It was a truly unique addition to the RPG genre.

Thankfully, the Judgment Ring is set to return in Shadow Hearts: Covenant in full force. This tiem around, combination attacks have been added to the Ring so that if you line up each character in the right order and manage to hit all of the right combo buttons, your party will unleash a magical attack that will completely wipe out the forces of evil. The Ring also makes a return when dealing with items and spells and how they affect your party. Once more, hot spots and the like will add bonuses to the command or "Miss" areas could render it useless.

Another holdover from the first game is the Sanity Points system. Unlike most RPGs, Shadow Hearts recognizes that fighting a 40 foot tall ogre in the middle of a boggy marsh will wreak havoc on your psyche. And so the Sanity Meter was created. Each time you engage in battle, your character's Sanity Meter will rise. Once it passes a certain point, that character will go insane and the player will no longer be able to control them. They will attack other members of your party and other monsters at random until they calm down. Thankfully there are items and spells that can reduce the Sanity Meter, but monsters also have items and spells that raise the Sanity Meter.

One unfortunate reappearance in Shadow Hearts II is the Graveyard. Yuri has to atone for the demons he kills and so he has to enter "the Graveyard of his mind" and cleanse his spirit by fighting a large monster. It was a tedious addition to the first game, but word is that this time the Graveyard will only have to be visited sparingly.

One completely new change for the sequel is the new magic system. Players no longer earn spells, they have to find Symbols that will teach the new spell. There will be 72 spell symbols in all and finding them is just one of the many side quests that Shadow Hearts: Covenant is supposed to offer.

New characters abound in Covenant. Besides the cult, a mysterious character named Kurando appears who has the same demon transformation powers as Yuri, although not as strong. Filling in for the buxom female spy from last time is Kallen, a buxom female German soldier. And even though Gepetto is a new character, he is also Alice's grandfather from the original Shadow Hearts. And naturally, the sorcerer Roger Bacon will return in Covenant.

Shadow Hearts looked decent enough, but the Resident Evil-like pre-rendered backgrounds really got on my nerves after a while. So in a good turn of events, Covenant will feature full 3D graphics and they look marvelous from screenshots so far. The other big news swirling about the game is pure numbers. Shadow Hearts: Covenant will span two full DVDs and will include over six hours of Full Motion Video. In fact, I believe it is the first PS2 game to spread out over two DVDs (Star Ocean III was the first 2-DVD game - Ed.). Unless you count Champions of Norrath, which was a double layered disc so Sony wouldn't have to spread it over two discs.