System: Playstation 2
Genre: RPG
The main thing I love about Shadow Hearts is how utterly crazy it is. It's a comedy horror rpg set in a monster-infested version of the real world during World War 2. Instead of starting in a pleasant forest village (which later burns down/exiles you), you start in a village full of cannibals. Party members include an American spy who can magically summon grenades using her mobile phone (in the 1940s), a vampire and a London street urchin. Yuri, the main character, spends half the game being pursued by his fox-masked dead father, occasionally visiting the graveyard in his soul to unlock further monster transformations. And this is all just a warm-up for the total insanity of the sequel, Shadow Hearts:Covenant.
Shadow Hearts also benefits from a decent story (and love story), a wicked sense of humour and a great battle system thanks to the timed button presses of the Judgement Ring.
