Reviews VideoGame / Shadow Hearts Covenant

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Video game sequels are often disappointing, but many fans of neglected cult classics would give their arms for one anyway. Shadow Hearts, by some miracle, spawned two sequels, both of which managed to soundly outdo the original.

Covenant's battle system has been beefed up to an amazing degree. With a customizable Judgment Ring, expanded character abilities, and a proper magic and combo system, it's one of the most fun and dynamic RPG battle systems I've ever experienced. Good thing, too, because the random encounters are pathetically easy, and most of the bosses are little more than glorified punching bags. Your party simply has too many cheap skills at their disposal.

The game has cleverly toned itself down to a T rating while losing none of the violence and naughtiness of the original, replacing on-screen murders with horrific discretion-shot beatdowns and oral sex jokes with anal sex scenes. But it looks more wholesome, I suppose; the dark environs have been replaced with World War I-torn towns with eternally crepuscular mood lighting.

You may come to loathe these towns eventually. They are not intuitively designed, not at all, and lead to something I like to call 'exit paranoia', when you can never tell which buildings you can enter and which invisible lines will scoot you, unwilling, right back to the world map. The dungeons don't hold up any better, as they tend to come in two types: the long, winding maze with identical areas, and the frustrating, backtrack-happy pit-o'-puzzles.

The game has an excellent soundtrack, though you wouldn't notice because the best songs are used once or twice and abandoned, leaving the same two town and dungeon themes to be repeated ad nauseam. Be sure to keep your ears open for the awesome ones, though.

Yuri is as charismatic as ever, and his friends/enemies/would-be groupies are deliciously quirky. Lots of distinct personalities are bumping around. Still, the plot meanders up until the end, and the cut scene direction and VA can be awkward. You may prefer the simpler storytelling of the original.

The graphics are impressive. Covenant doesn't go for eye-popping CG scenes so much as atmosphere and subtle touches. I like the way Blanca shakes out his fur in battle. I also like the effort put into making sure Yuri's fanny pack jiggles just so on his well-defined buns.