Shadow Hearts: From the New World

by XSEED Games

Product Features

• Travel to real-world locations like Chicago, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and New York
• Improved Judgment Ring System, adding even more excitement and strategy
• Gripping and inspirational storyline with up to 60 hours of gameplay
• Easy to navigate, visually-stunning backgrounds, special lighting and illumination effects

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000E0VMVM
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 8, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,151 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #50 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Role-Playing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

The third and latest installment in the critically acclaimed role-playing game series, SHADOW HEARTS: From the New World takes place in the United States during the Great Depression. The Story Begins as Johnny Garland, a young 16-year old detective who lost his father, sister and his memory in an accident, accepts an investigation to track down a criminal suspect who has escaped from custody. As he closes in on the suspect, Johnny witnesses a supernatural occurrence - a huge monster appears from a green light known as a "window" and swallows up the criminal. Apparently, a series of horrific incidents similar to this have been plaguing cities across the nation. Johnny's female counterpart is 21-year-old bounty hunter Shania, a Native American who is searching for these mysterious windows, determined to close them using her spiritual powers. Together, they travel across North and South America and are joined by a colorful cast of characters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, Creative, and Just A Little Bit Wacky, March 17, 2006

By 

J. Stern "Professional Slacker / Master Degre... (Pittsburgh, Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Shadow Hearts: From the New World (Video Game)

First off: this is a new game in the series. New locations and characters. You can jump right on in without playing any previous titles (although, Shadow Hearts is a fabulous series, I highly recommend all of them).

For veteran players, the game feels so much like Covenant that there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the new battle mechanics. All the old features are there: combos, collecting magical items (to cast battle spells), the judgement ring, SP, MP, and HP. However, you now need to collect "stock" by either giving or taking damage. You must have stock in order to do combos, or the new feature of "doubles." With a double, you can do any two actions in one turn - just as long as they are not the same.

The story line revolves around malice and some evil/shady characters trying to release it into the world. Your job is to stop them. Along the way, you'll visit North and South America, and learn revelations about your playable characters. The characters in this title are a trip. A boy detective, Native American Princess, Native American Warrior (using two pistols and "GUN-FU," A perky little drama club vampire, Brazilian trained ninja with collects odd weapons, a mariachi, and last, but not least, a giant drunken cat.

If you're in the mood for a quirky, highly imaginitive, and fun turn-based RPG, look no further (but notice the other titles in the series) than this one.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Don't Mess With New Yorkers!", June 13, 2006

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Shadow Hearts: From the New World (Video Game)

Normally, I would consider any year that promised a squel to Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy a banner year. But for some reason, 2006 has seen enough new fantasy games that I'm actually behind on playing them, something that hasn't happened since I first acquired my PS2. This may be the year of the new high-powered game consoles, but Sony developers certainly haven't forgotten their old reliable platform, this new Shadow Hearts sequel is exceptional, and it looks like there's more to come.

Xseed games has decided to start a new story on the Shadow Hearts model, set a few years after the great release of malice in Shadow Hearts 2. The main character is Johnny Garland an orphaned 16-year-old who has set up a detective agency in New York City. His big cases are still finding lost cats, but weird Professor Gilbert from Arkham University asks Johnny to help find a missing criminal and, in short order, Johnny finds himself plunged into a fight with evil monsters. The beautiful shapeshifter Shania comes to his rescue and soon he has assembled a team of unusual characters, including a martial arts cat and a musician with a loaded guitar.

As in earlier games, character relationships are an important part of the quality of the game. Johnny's attraction to Shania is kept low key, and is balanced against that of the mysterious Lady and the psychotic Killer. In Shadow Hearts, heroes don't beat their chests. Instead they struggle with internal conflicts every bit as important as their battles in the game world.

Play is still turn based using the Judgment Ring and various player strike combinations. I have mixed feeling about this scheme. It works well, but it's complexities introduce a level of thumb dancing that is sometimes a bit beyond my limited reflexes. You have the opportunity to mix magic, medicine and muscle in complex and devastating attacks. My real criticism is that there aren't enough monster (or human) types, so the longer missions can get on your nerves. Dungeons characteristically only have three to four different monsters plus the boss. A dozen more varieties would have made the end game a bit more interesting.

From the New World has more sidequests than most games have game. Everything from quizzes to the attack of the sushi warriors. There are lots of ways to get neat accessories and level up. To the point that you can over level up and sail through the ending a little two quickly for my tastes. In fact, the endings (there are two) are the weakest part of the story. Suddenly things are over and it's time to save a cleared game and start all over again. But you've had 80 hours of fun on the way, and that's nothing to complain about.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Covenant, April 29, 2006

By 

Tso Haven Hei Wan "Havenough Dupont Randall-B... (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Shadow Hearts: From the New World (Video Game)

Covenant set a breakthrough for the Shadow Hearts series with solid gameplay, interesting characters, improved battle system and interesting sidequests with an extended and interesting story from the first game. In Shadow Hearts 3, none of these were back and it just turned the series into a blend and sometimes annoying game.

The main characters are not likable right from the beginning. Johnny, a sixteen year old private detective who happens to be for God's sake amnesia. The character design is exacltly the same as the character in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy XII. Shania just lack the death of Kirin in Covenant and not to mention all the other characters who joined the team randomly. The story is scattered all over the place to fit into the world of randomness of the characters. Seriously the most interesting characters in the game are Lady and Killer. The giant cat Mao is annoying, the Ninja is easily the most hateable character competing with Hilda the vampire. The seriously lack of depth for the characters already killed half of the game, not to mention the lack of substance in the story. In Covenant, the side quests naturally blends into the story as they were mentioned here and there even before they were opened up for you to tackle them. In 3, they were just there for the sake of being there. Nothing interesting and nothing exciting, and Johnny's sidequest is just damn annoying, comparable to Kurando's sidequest in Covenant.

The battle system is greatly improved in a way that you need to be more strategic than just go all out and whack. But when your enemies also took advantage of the system, it could leave you breaking the controller into two with tears, and prepare for that in Johnny's sidequest. The battle system is very interesting and strategic with customisable rings, double-attack, combos etc. There are more gauges and stats you need to pay attention to during the battle. It could definitely satisfy players who want to have more interactive and intuitively strategic battle system. However, Shania has less fusion forms compared to Yuri and her fusion for most of the time look like porns - from tatoos on various parts of her body, including all the private parts. These tatoos light up and there will be a close up on them. It is very disappointing that From the New World needs to use that kind of tactic to attract players. For all other characters, most of their moves are mediocre though Hilda the vampire's certain moves could be lifesaving in important and difficult battles.

In all Shadow Hearts 3 is a game that you can play if you are free and once finished, there is nothing interesting to revisit it in the future. Unlike Covenant, it is not a game that you can get yourself addicted to and replay it again and again.