"A re-hash of a decent title."

For the most part this game is a total grindfest. This is not a problem since the game really encourages it. With tons of upgrades and weapons, the fun never really ends with customizing your character, not only in attributes and levels, but with clothes and items as well.

The game is simple, you have to find a magic sword to save the world from evil. I didn't expect that I would be able to find the magic sword ten minutes into the game though, seems like it was almost too illogical to just pick it up off of the ground like the hero did.

There are two protagonists in this story, a warrior and a mage that let you build up all of the same collected skills and trees but with different equipment sets and different stats. The cool thing is that when you use one characters points up the points of the other character stays the same, meaning that you don't have to draw from the same pool of points to adjust your statistics.

The games graphics mirror the first game, Shining Force Neo. In fact, complete areas are exactly the same, monsters are the same and combat is nearly identical meaning that the programmers basically used the same textures and maps from the old game.

This kind of re-hash work leaves a person feeling like he has already done all of the quests and missions from the previous game and let you know that the overall polish is just as good (and faulty) as the first game was.

I truly love this game. I however can not ignore the fact that it is a complete clone of the first game, even some of the puzzles and traps are in the exact same places and have the same function. I find myself releasing an exhausting sigh every time I come across something that literally is the exact same as the first title.

If you are new to the series though, this is a whole lot of fun in a simple control and combat engine. You have a fortress that can be upgraded and manipulated to do almost anything. You could have defense robots to protect it and you could have a radar to shoot distant enemies with a super cannon and so on. This entire mode is fantastic, allowing for surprise battles in the middle of already large battles.

The control of both characters is well executed but it often fails in combat with thirty or more combatants in one area when the game claims that there could be tons of enemies at once. There can be, but the chug is so awful at times that it feels unbearable.

Aside from it's flaws the game is addicting to the point where you will find yourself having a blast pummeling enemies with swords and magic like any dungeon runner Diablo-esque game of this nature, then teleporting on the fly back to base and upgrading constantly. The game has an astounding 200 levels for each character to reach with all kinds of leveling options such as optional dungeons and side quests.

The game boasts things to do, and you have fun doing them so even with the problems that the game has the fun outweighs the flaw.

Graphics: Standard PS2 title graphics with chug in a few populated areas.
7/10
Sound: Typical re-hashed sounds from the first game.
6/10
Music: Makes you feel like you are relaxed even in the most heated of battles!
8/10
Game play: Run-and-gun type smashfest with powerful spells and weapons.
8/10
Replay: So much stuff to do!
8/10

Yes, I do recommend this title to PS2 owners who love action-adventure or RPG's with the typical hero (in this case pair of heroes) that save the world. Smash around with swords or magic, in any case you have to bash in the heads of thousands of monsters and sometimes thirty to fifty at a time!

Even though I know that it copies the first game, even in polish, mapping, and design, newcomers could care less.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/07