A great, but weird type of RPG
User Rating: 9.5 | Shadow Hearts: From the New World PS2
After playing the first two games only to hear that the third installment in the series wasn't coming stateside, I quickly felt annoyed. But a couple of weeks after the Japanese release, hope came through. Shadow Hearts 3, or From the New World, was released. Is it as good, or better than its predessors? Maybe not, but it is still great. Lets be honest. What made the first two SH was its use of humor, epic story development, and strong character interactions. SH FNW has all of the above, but the results aren't as persuading. And for those who are familiar with the previous two, you know who Yuri is. Sadly, he is nowhere to be found...Instead, you play as Johnny Garland, a young boy who owns his own detective agency, with partner Lenny. Previous knowledge of the past two games is almost a must to get the most out of this installment, but newcomers can catch on eventually. As for the gameplay, the company used the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" approach. It is pretty much the same as the last two. You use the "judgement ring," a ring that determines everything from attacks to buying/bartering items at the various shops in the form of two homosexuals. This last sentence may see awkward and disturbing in many ways, but this is Shadow Hearts, and things like this are all through the game.
Graphically, things generally look really well. Characters animate move and animate realisticaly, while backgrounds and environments look varied and detailed. Not too bad for an RPG.
Sound wise, things are decent. Speech is thrown in here and there, but you have many text boxes also. But the story and dialogue are well written, so this shouldn't matter much. All in all, this a good installment in the series, but just doesn't live up to the first two. If you can forgive some flaws, like a very slow start to the story (although it quickly speeds up around four hours), then RPG fans will find something to love from this game. 
