Speaking of characters, the merry crew you eventually gather for your journey is hands-down the most bizarre of any RPG I have ever played. And I've played a lot of RPGs. Even Secret of Evermore (*shiver*). Your initial group is normal enough for a Japanese RPG, but eventually you'll pick up, among others, a middle-aged Brazilian ninja who constructs swords out of things like cacti, marlins (that's right, the fish), and fireworks; a giant, alcoholic, anthropomorphic cat, and a mariachi modeled after Antonio Banderas's character from the film Desperado. While they might be a bizarro collection of freaks, your gang are remarkably endearing and you'll likely find yourself really enjoying their banter and antics as things progress, particularly when they serve to lighten the mood of the game's somewhat darker latter portion. Often you'll find yourself continuing to play if for no other reason than to see more of their wacky hijinks and learn more of their back-stories, especially since the main story never becomes super-engrossing.

Sounds sound.

   The game's zaniness looks good, too, since the graphics used to depict it are on par with some of the nicer stuff the PS2 has displayed. While overall the visuals go for a more photo realistic look, there is definitely an anime influence in many of the character designs that makes them stand out from the more rank-and-file folk of other RPGs. I'm pretty sure anyone who actually looked like the hunchbacked, scrawny-legged Prof. Gilbert would long since have died of natural causes or mob violence.

   The music is pretty solid too. While there are some of the typical RPG air-filler's that you'd be hard pressed to remember the second after they end, much of the music goes for a Native American flavor, with an emphasis on drums, wood whistles, and interesting vocal work. For several of the cities the game utilizes jazzier stuff that will have you bobbing your head, or furiously dancing about the room if you are prone to overreacting to light stimuli. [WHAAAT?!!! OVERREACTING?!! TO LIGHT STIMULI?!!! WHY, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU SON OF A ... Umm. I guess that would be me. Sorry. - ed.]

Fight for your right to party... with monsters!

   The one area in which the Shadow Hearts series has always stood out is its battle system. While essentially a turn based system, with characters and monsters taking turns exchanging blows and garish, sappy valentine cards, there is a twist to the old formula - every time your characters take an action, whether it be attacking, casting a spell, using an item, or wetting their pants, you must utilize the Judgment Ring, a kind of dial with certain areas highlighted. When you choose an action, the dial's hand begins to spin like a drunken uncle, and if you manage to hit the X button each time the hand is over a highlighted area, your character will successfully execute their chosen action. If you manage to hit X when the hand is on the red-tinged outer edge of the highlighted area, your action will gain an added boost and you'll totally impress the ladies. You know, all those ladies who hang around watching guys play single player RPGs...[hi mom! - ed.] Anyway, should you make a mistake with your timing your character will stand stock-still, as slack-jawed and useless as the average fast-food employee. As such, you can't really space out during random encounters and just mindlessly hit the affirmative button. In the beginning of the game this is great, as it helps keep the encounters engaging, but as the game goes on and the encounter rate begins to rise, the amount of focus you need to have during each encounter begins to make dungeon crawling kind of exhausting. It doesn't help, either, that many of the later weapons and spells have very small bonus damage (i.e. red) areas, and since you'll really want to try and hit those to expedite battles, it ends up leading to a lot of misses (which, as we all know, are the #1 cause of broken controllers and head-first leaps out of windows).

   Several other aspects of the battle system are more universally positive. As your group goes about Greco-Roman wrestling monsters, they'll build up their Stock Gauges. Once said gauges have filled to a certain level, characters can utilize accumulated stock to perform two actions in a turn or to string together combos with other characters. Combos are especially handy for dealing out massive amounts of boo-boos to enemies, but the enemies themselves will also accumulate stock as battles progress and have a nasty habit of unleashing their own double-moves and combos if left unchecked. Also, whenever a character uses a combo or a double, their next turn will be slightly delayed, so you have to be wary of how often you use them unless you want to give your enemies several turns in a row. If so, you are a very generous person. You are also a very stupid person. But, hey, I'm not here to judge. I leave that up to Melinda's Sucking Lemons column and the wrathful God of the Old Testament. Anyway, your idiocy aside, all these factors contribute to some very complex battles, particularly later in the game, but their use increases slowly so you'll never feel overwhelmed by your options.

What other game features Al Capone and Roger Bacon?

   While it might not be the next blockbuster RPG, I've never really gotten the impression that this is what Shadow Hearts is trying to be all about in the first place. Then again, I never got the impression that the weird old man who always invited me over to have ice cream and watch movies might have had ulterior motives, but let me tell you! [Hi grandpa! - ed.] Uh, anyway, Shadow Hearts: From the New World is, if nothing else, a quirky, fun game that follows the traditional RPG formula, but with its own particular twist. Once you've gathered together most of its' more eclectic cast members you'll definitely find yourself chuckling out loud on more than one occasion. And while there will definitely be some times where you will have no trouble putting the controller down for a while, you'll never really have a hard time picking it back up again either. If you've finished the big-name games like Dragon Quest VIII and Kingdome Hearts II and you've got some time on your hands before Final Fantasy XII takes it's deathgrip upon your mind, you could do a lot worse than play Shadow Hearts: From the New World. For instance, you could drive your car into a tree that then collapses onto your house. Or you could get a colonoscopy by a distracted physician. That would totally be worse. [Save Lives! Play Shadow Hearts: From the New World! - message brought to you by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.]

       ... Mike Zeller