I’ve played a lot of strange games in my time; it’s what I do, really. This is probably why I play as many Japanese RPGs as I do. They have no shortage of strangeness. The game in question this time is Shadow Hearts: Covenant, the second game in the Shadow Hearts trilogy,  and by far the weirdest one yet. This game is definitely weirder than the first game, though.

Now, let’s get down to business. The game basically plays the same as the first game. All your actions in battle are done with Judgment Ring. You have to time it just right when the little arm inside spins around to hit colored sections. Not a lot has changed, Except that now you can do combo attacks that allow multiple characters to attack in the same turn.

What really made this game shine, though, was its cast of characters. Yes, all RPGs have that zany rag-tag bunch of world savers, but this group just seemed stranger than usual. Here’s what we have. First off is Yuri, the main character from the first game,  a transient with the ability to morph into demons. He is joined by Karin, an officer in the German army who is descended from German nobility, Who also happens to be the most normal character in the game. Next there’s Gepetto, who of course is a puppet master. The cast is rounded out by Blanca, who’s an intelligent wolf, Kurando,  a samurai with a power similar to Yuri’s, Lucia, a ditzy Italian fortune teller,
Joachim, a vampire/superhero/pro wrestler, and finally Princess Anastasia Romanov. Yes, it’s that Anastasia. Like I said, they are a very odd group indeed.

The story is also very strange. It does make sense, in a way, and the ending really takes the weirdness and drive everything on home. I’ll spare any spoilers, and let players see it for themselves. It is pretty much a direct sequel to the first game. It would be best to play the original first, though it’s not completely necessary if you have trouble finding the first game, as it’s fairly difficult to find. Graphically the game looks better than the original. The game is at this point around five years old, and I think it’s held up fairly well. It wouldn’t win any awards, but it still looks nice.

I will also say that the voice work in this game, while not top notch, is still decent. This is good, especially since there is a lot more spoken dialog than in the first game. Most major scenes are voice acted. Also, unlike the first game, the battle dialog is translated into English. In the first game, it was still in Japanese.

I really did enjoy this game. It is by far one of weirdest games I’ve played in a long time, even more so than the Persona series, and that’s saying a lot! I would recommend this game to anyone who has played the first Shadow Hearts. It is pretty much closure for the first game. You could play it without playing the first, but I think it’s more enjoyable if you play the original.

Sadly, it’s not a game you can walk into anywhere and find. It’s somewhat rare; I just walked into Gamestop one day and found this and the third game by chance. If you can find it, I would give it a shot. It’s an enjoyable weird game.

	System:	Playstation 2
	Genre:	RPG
	Experience:	Finished the game

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