Product ReviewsShadow Hearts (Sony PlayStation 2, 2001)

Great action-RPG for those who like dungeon crawlers with a lightweight story.

This is a great action-RPG, which I highly recommend. Here's a rundown of some of the various aspects of the game.

Gameplay: Excellent! This is what you buy the game for. If you like some good ol' fashioned hack and slash action, this is it! Find magic items, mass your gold to buy that awesome armor, endless hoards of enemies at every turn... what more could you want? If you're into dungeon crawlers with lots of fighting, like Diablo games, then you'll want to consider this. It is very similar to Champions: Return to Arms and Champions of Norrath.

Replay: Excellent! There are 3 different characters (and 1 secret one), which all give you a different experience on a playthrough. Add to that different difficulty levels, and a "gauntlet" mode you can unlock, and you have a lot of reasons to play through this game more than once.

Controls: Excellent! This is one of those games where you really feel you have full control of your character. You may face many challenges in-game, but a confusing or difficult controller won't be one of them.

Difficulty: Great. There are multiple difficulties, so you do have options. It can get frustrating at times, but it's a game I feel that most people can play and enjoy, at least on lower difficulties.

Graphics: Great. I liked the look of the game, and felt it was part of the game's charm.

Sound: Good. The sound effects are on par with or better than other games of the time.

Music: Good. Nothing very memorable to me, but decent background music.

Story: Poor... The story is secondary to the action aspect. If you're looking for an engrossing stroyline, look elsewhere.

Best Version: PS2. This title is available on multiple systems, but I recommend the PS2 version. I feel that it is a bit more polished in most aspects.

Of all of the games released on the PS2, I feel that this was one of the better ones. It's definitely worth getting a copy. It's also available on the GameCube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance, in case you don't have a PS2.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: 2014-jamerson

Love this game

I used to watch my mom play this when I was a kid. I thought we needed a second copy.
I have beaten Koudelka, the first Shadow Hearts, and the third From the New World. I never cared for Covenant. Frankly, Koudelka and the first are the best because they are darker and balance seriousness with humor. 2 and 3 go a little far with trying to be funny when it should be serious. The graphics and game play options expand in 2 and 3 with more videos, combo attacks, and double attacks in 3. The music in the first is definitely the best. I was glad they simplified the fusion monsters down to 4 in the third game instead of a billion as it grew old very fast collecting them in the first two games. The games take about 30-40 hours to beat if you do everything and are definitely worth replaying.
The judgement ring is tricky when you have never played the game before. The amount of dialogue in the first game can be annoying.
All in all, the game has great graphics for a PS2 game, the characters and story are interesting, the game play is fun, the music is great, and the replay value is good.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: a.j.collectibles

Old School D&D Adventure ... great retro gaming

Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance is a very compelling old school D&D adventure ... it keeps very well to the D&D feel, and is a great implementation of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

The game does not go easy on you ... it's a wonderful slug fest, and really give you a great dungeon crawling adventure. Loads of gameplay, great graphics, really great voice acting. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: forevernevermore

Fun and easy to play

The game is somewhat linear in the sense that you alway know what to do next as opposed to a open concept were there is no real order of objectives (such a Morrowind). Although this may not appeal to all players I prefer such games because I don't spend all my time gaming and in open concept games I tend to make a lot less progress. Playing on the Normal difficulty setting the enemies present a challenger without being too extremely difficult to result in massive frustration. The game is, for the most part, a hack and slash game but does have a small element of Roleplaying to it with interactive character dialogues. There is a very limited selection of character classes (Fighter, Archer and Mage) but the classes are nicely worked out with ifferent benefits and abilities for each class. The equipment available in the game is not as extensive as other games (such as Diablo II for the PC) but is still fairly extensive and the game provides good scaling of equipment availability making the characters progress from poor equipment to better equipment. Best of all, for all you mage lovers, this is one of the first games that I have seen where the magic user can, for the most part, fight by using spells and rely on a weapon as a secondary backup. I love the mage class and in most games the mages are still too dependant on fighting with weapons and only using magic to supplement their attack. Well not in this game, sure you need weapons when you start out but with a little patience you can quickly make a mage that can predominantly fight with spells only.Read full review...

Fun Game!

This game has Diablo style gameplay, and is pretty addictive as a hack and slash. The gameplay is the key factor in this game. The graphics are decent for the game, and the FMVs. The musical score is amazing, and it does wonders immersing you into the world that the game has created. It's pretty good value since it's an RPG, but I wouldn't shell out more than $20 on this title. The replay value isn't bad either, since it's a hack and slash and is good for vegging when u need to.

Overall I had fun playing it, and would recommend it.Read full review...

Shadow Hearts

This game may not live up in the graphics department, but it came out in 2001. Give it a break. The Judgment Ring adds extra fun for everything from opening locked doors to fighting and buying or selling items. The characters are funny and have a great range of personalities. I think the game tried too hard with the bloody stages and disgusting enemies, but the characters seem very much alive. The Shadow Hearts games all have references to the game before so if you want to really understand all the little jokes in the later ones, start with this one. After all, this one and the second one have the same main character.Read full review...

VERY fun game! Great animation. Complicated though

Great animation. Fun storyline. Re-playability is excellent. A bit overcomplicated with all the buttons and panels to memorize. Ugh. I came from playing my old Nintendo 64 and tried to play this. Did well first time but way more complicated than any video game I've ever played before. If you've grown up with these complicated games and controllers -- I'm sure it'll be fun, but when you come from the world of Mario 64, it's a bit of a pain to get used to at first.Read full review...

DnD in vid game form. Quick , Easy and Fun.

This game is awesome!. But let me explain. I'm an old school gamer. When I was a kid, there WERE no video games.

Not even in the "Arcade". It was all Board games and perhaps a few mechanized toys that took batteries but were not remote controlled (although there were some radio-controlled airplanes and such that were out of reach of most 70's middle class household youths). Sort of like healthcare for anyone that is not a millionaire today *snickers.

Then came 2 things that forever changed my entertainment life. The "Dark Tower" Board game and Pong Arcade size vid game. The Dark Tower was really cool. It took DnD Fantasy-type play for board games into the electronic age. And Pong was the first vid game to grace establishments across the US. Mind you, there were no "Arcades" yet. You found these Pong Arcade-size games in Pool halls and Bars. That was it.

So, I've seen it all. I enjoy it all. Since I know where games came from, I know exactly where they are at. But this also allows me to appreciate older games that may not be "cutting edge" for current times. I go for the "great games" from all time stamps. Dark Alliance is one such game.

It allows players to experience the basic World of Dungeons and Dragons. It's a smooth engine, easy interface, and addictive game play. It's like a basic DnD paper game made easy.

Any old school DnD player will appreciate this game's easy interface and immediate action for those times when you can't get together with friends to run a mod. This game has a little bit of everything and is just the ticket for boredom.

Dark Alliance is just one of those gems that has a smooth taste to it. I am now buying DA 2 as well as the other games that the same producers made- Noratth and return to Noratth.

Enjoy!Read full review...

Excellent Game!

This game is awesome! Just when you think you are through the hard part, it throws something at you! Trying to get over the stepping stones looked so easy, but it is one of the hardest things to do! I was so bummed that the game was over, that I went out and got Baldur's Gate 2! Some of the villans are extremely hard to kill, that last one was a real bummer! But this game is exciting and fun, and you can play with 2 people without using a split screen, which I love! Hubby and I had a blast with it, but you better stay close or your partner might get p.o.'d at you! If you don't stay close, they can't move either! This game is a must for anyone who loves that dungeans and dragons kind of fun, and the second one is just as good!Read full review...

Why do some people keep picking this game apart?

I am really sick of some fools on here who say things like,"the graphics are a bit outdated" or "not up to the PS2 standards".

Ok jokers,obviously you say things like this just to pick apart a really cool game because of your mindless devotion to FF and even the horrible disney kingdom hearts.Look if you like FF so much,THEN PLAY FF!Stop comparing everything to FF.Does anybody do that to any other game?I don't think anybody sits to play mario and says this isn't as good as crash bandicoot,or play spyro and keep chanting that it isn't as good as sonic.They are all different games on there own.

The graphics are really cool,with deep dark colors,grim animations and beautiful,fluid tones.This game is a dvd-rom (with the blue backside) for goodness sake!You know the same as devil may cry 1?When a monster casts a spell and a bunch of demon arms rip out of the ground you are standing on to claw and grasp at you;I'm sorry,but that's pretty impressive.When you first play the game and fight Roger Bacon on top of the train,watch the drak fusion transformation and watch the revelation spell.Yeah.... those are REALLY poor graphics...please;give me a break people.

What's with putting so much emphasis on graphics anyway?I still think dragon warrior 1-4 is really fun to play,and those don't have top notch graphics.The main thing is that IT'S FUN TO PLAY!

And enough ranting from the few who are so completely lost on the judgement ring battle system.A little line spins around a circle and you have to push the button when it's in the orange area.NOT A REAL DIFFICULT THING TO DO...
The orange areas are pretty big,and you can wear accesories to help you if you are having THAT hard of a time.If anything else complain about some of the battle aspects in FF8;now THOSE were bad!

The voice acting is average,but I don't really think that much of it in a game I like to play.There are only a few cinema breaks in the main flow of the game when voice acting occurs anyway.Again this is just something for FF zealots to pick apart.I found the voice over of Tidus from FF10 cocky and highly annoying.
As for the music in shadowhearts,it is outstanding and easily beats the background elevator music in FF10-12.Here there is chanting,violin string plucking,occult new wave,a little rave....... everything is a bit different, but fits the mood and works great.

The storyline is superb;though like all other great RPGs,it gets better and more addicting the longer you play.It takes place in pre WWI and you deal with imperial japan among other things.When it first opens up and a typewriter spells out that a priest has been brutaly murdered in France....THATS AN ATTENTION GRABER!

You travel through a cannibal village,a possessed dollhouse,a warlock's tower,a vampire's castle,an orphanage where children are being sacrificed to raise the dead,a cursed monastery.... does any of that sound interesting to you?You get attached to all of the characters,and the way that Yuri and Alice draw closer and sacrifice for eachother is very touching.You feel for Hailey and Zuzhen;Keith gives a nice mix to the bunch and Margarette adds some great comic appeal.

The issue of sanity points,the extremely bizzare demons you encounter,the hidden sidequests... all of this is fantastic.

To all the people that can only bash something this cool for childish reasons;
leave us alone and go play the FF games you worship so much,you're not ruining all of the fun we are having anywayRead full review...