Shadow Hearts: Covenant maintains a balancing act of being decidedly traditional and untraditional at the same time. Leveling, magic usage, and battles are all rooted in typical conventions at their core. Leveling is just a matter of gaining experience, magic uses up secondary “pools” of points, and battles are turn-based. However, the acquisition of magic, special abilities and the execution of commands in battle are all extremely unique. Let me give you a few examples. The character Karin acquires new sword skills by finding pieces of an opera. There is even a character who, sit down for this, collects “stud cards” which is given to a “foppish” store clerk in exchange for new dresses for the character’s doll which he uses in battle. Now, the character in question is named Gepetto and is a puppeteer, so it’s not quite a bad as it first may appear. Still, you see what I’m getting at; this game truly straddles the bizarre at times.

As odd as the game may be at times, it’s consistently the most entertaining RPG I’ve played in a long time. The battle system is complex enough to be engaging, but not so cumbersome that I have to think so much that I feel like I’m in school. While the turn-based system is pretty traditional, the manner in which you execute commands is not. Shadow Hearts: Covenant uses a “Judgment Ring” system. When a character performs any action, attack, spell, special move, even using an item, a ring appears with a clock hand that moves clockwise at varying speeds depending on circumstances. As the hand moves around the ring, it will pass over colored areas at which time you must press the X button. There are several different kinds of areas, and when you have 6 tiny little slivers to nail on the ring for more potent maneuvers, things can get pretty hair-raising. Even normal attacks have a few interesting twists. You can perform them in four ways such as standard, hard hit, high angle, and knock down. Add to that the fact that you can combo character’s regular attacks together and you can come up with tons of different ways to go about a battle.

The storyline of Shadow Hearts: Covenant picks up where the original Shadow Hearts left off. It takes place in 1916, a year after the start of World War I. The main character from the original, Yuri, has secluded himself in a church in the French town of Domremy. The German officer Karin leads a failed assault, later returns with a Vatican cardinal named Nicolai, and then the story begins in earnest. Most of the game is spent traipsing around Europe as you try to uncover a hidden threat that exists beneath the ongoing war.

As I mentioned above, one of the more unique aspects of Shadow Hearts: Covenant are the ways you gain new special attacks and spells. Gepetto collects new dresses, the wolf Blanca challenges other wolves to duels and gains a new skill when he wins. Yuri acquires soul points to spend on new fusion forms and level up ones he already has. This is only about half your characters. Magic also works in an interesting way. You find and equip magic crests to characters, which gives them access to new spells. There is an interesting little diversion for upgrading crests wherein you must place them in their correct positions on a map. When you complete a region of the map, all the crests in that regions will gain new spells.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how good Shadow Hearts: Covenant turned out to be. While I knew fans of the original were eagerly awaiting this sequel, I had no idea I myself would it enjoy it so much. If you like console RPGs, chances are you’re going to like Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Console RPGs seem to be going through a little bit of a revolution at the moment, with established series’ like Breath of Fire and Final Fantasy going in vastly different directions. Shadow Hearts: Covenant succeeds in keeping a traditional flavor while remaining fresh and fun at every minute.

While frequently a game that borders on the bizarre, Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a game that blends wonderfully classic, yet dark, atmospheres and a souped up traditional turn-based combat system into a truly first-rate RPG title. Shadow Hearts: Covenant has a visual style that is unique to RPGs, except for maybe its precursor, Shadow Hearts. Set in Europe during World War I, every area of the game is filled with the depressing undertone of a continent ravaged by war. The war itself is only in the background however, darker things stand in the path the player must walk. Most of the time, when I was walking around a town, I felt like I was in, of all places, a Resident Evil game. A dark and foreboding undertone permeates through every environment of the game. While never scary or frightening, it is decidedly unsettling. Style aside, the graphics are also technically excellent, with characters and environments that stand up to just about anything else out there.

With an atmosphere as dreary as Shadow Hearts: Covenant’s, it should come as no surprise that the soundtrack is equally sad and melancholy. While appropriate for this game, it also causes the soundtrack to seem more subdued than many contemporary RPGs. You won’t find yourself humming many of these tunes while you walk down the street, but all in all it’s a solid B soundtrack. Sound effects are primarily found in battles and consist of your typical crashes, booms, tones, cries, and so forth. The game also has voice acting, and is decently, if not wonderfully, done.

2005 EA Games Release Need for Speed: Most Wanted The game was all about police pursuits. Need for Speed: Carbon picks up where Most wanted left off.

The game starts off you trying to escape from a bounty hunter named Cross. You total your car trying to escape, An old friend comes to your rescue and pays off Cross. He then employs you to take care of his “light work” taking over the turf of the other rival street crews. Everyone in town knows you and no ones like you. They believe the night you skipped town you took the bag of money with you. You will learn what everyone seen on that night and everyone’s perspective. Did you take it? Where you set up? You’ll have to play the game to find out.

FEATURES

Crews
The more respect you get for your driving skills the more people will want to join your racing crew. There are 3 types of drivers that will join your team. Blocker: Just as the name implies, he will block other crews trying to pass. The Blockers flaw is he must be behind you to be of any use. Scout: Scouts will find the short cuts on the track for you. The flaw is if you take a turn to fast your scout usually blocks you. Drafter: Drafters will let you draft them to gain speed with less wind resistance. The flaw is that it is difficult to follow so close and really not needed most of the time.

Dealerships
You can buy cars from dealerships or win the cars from bosses if you get caught by the cops driving the same car 3 times, The car will be impounded by the police and you will not get it back.

Customization
Your car is fully customizable. you have to make sure you have a wingman on your crew that can do the job that you want certain crew members can only do certain task. Customizations include decals to rims to metallic paint jobs to hood scopes.

REVIEWER SUMMARY
If you like like Fast and the Furious and running from the cops you would love this game the game has enough features to keep you busy for awhile and if you do finish the game and start to look for a new game I bet by the time you start looking you will discover that EA has come up with another game just like it that is sure to become a classic and a great addition to your racing game collection.

The follow-up to Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. This time around, developer Rockstar North and publisher Rockstar take players to the state of San Andreas.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas… a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers. Now, it’s the early 90s. Carl’s got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Features

The epic gameplay of a wide-open state, a combination of three gigantic cities and all outlying areas, all teeming with citizens and criminals

Features well-known actors voicing characters including Samuel L. Jackson, comedian David Cross, Andy Dick, and rapper Ice-T

Soundtrack includes Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur