"A Ton of Games"

JRPG #5/100

#Shadow Hearts: From the New World

Oh boy, I guess once you reach the top, the only way to go is down, eh? :( While there is still a good deal of fun to be had in From the New World, it suffers from the fact that it just isn't anywhere near as good as the other two. While the battles retain the improvements from the last game, this title also introduces a new mechanc which, in my opinion removes the tactical nature completely. Enemies and party members alike are given a "Stock" bar which fills up whenever they attack or receive damage. Once full, this bar can be expended to perform a "double attack" allowing two moves in a row without fear of retaliation. In order to prevent this, certain attacks can be used which deplete the bar. This brings a huge problem though. Enemies can perform huge amounts of damage to characters if allowed to use double attacks, leading almost every battle to be a case of lowering the enemies stock bar, while trying to increase your own. This means that every battle boils down to the same repetitive tactic over and over again, draining the battles of the varied, fun nature seen in #Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Despite this, the characters retain their unique nature and it can be fun seeing Ricardo using a flamethrower disguised as a guitar, or beating down enemies with Frank's giant kebab skewer.

While the characters are definitely still cooky, they lack the charm of the previous protagonists and it is hard to become attached to them. Even worse still, is that the series' trademark fusion system has been largely removed, with a paltry 4 fusions being available, compared to Covenants 21. Fusions are no longer collected throughout the game and are instead picked up at set story intervals, removing yet another gameplay aspect; the collectible nature of demon-fusing.

I did have fun with this game and at it's core, it is still a Shadow Hearts game, but it is hard to think back on it wothout remembering more bad than good. If you find it for cheap, maybe it will hold your interest, but in my personal opinion, I'd say skip this one.

7/10