Shining Tears (PlayStation 2)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.4 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Bethany Massimilla
• Reviewed on: 03/28/2005
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 03/22/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: Shining Tears (PlayStation 2) Review

The Shining series finally returns to consoles with Shining Tears, though this game bears no resemblance to the strategy Shining Force titles that many consider synonymous with the name "Shining." Much like the Shining Soul games for the Game Boy Advance, Shining Tears is an action role-playing game whose experience hinges on copious amounts of monster-hacking and a wealth of character ability and equipment upgrades. Considering how rich your upgrade options actually are, it's disappointing that the combat itself falls a bit flat. This is a straightforward hack-and-slash that is saddled with an unnecessary partner system and masses of foes that can be easily killed.

Like other Shining games, Shining Tears takes place in a world of diverse races, rich with elves, wolf-men, winged-bird people, obstinate dwarves, strangely adorable and fluffy giants, and, of course, plenty of humans. One such human, a young man named Xion, appears in the lands of Shildia in a sorry state, wounded and bearing a pair of mysterious rings. Xion has contracted a common case of plot contrivance. He's lost all of his memories except for his name, and it's unknown how he came into possession of the rings, which have potent magical abilities. Known as the Twin Dragon rings, they trigger latent power within the two people who wear them, enabling greatly increased combat ability. This becomes important when peaceful Shildia is threatened by its neighbor, the formerly quiescent Rune Geist empire whose prince has snatched the throne and is now bending all its armed forces to war. Xion joins a small group of mercenaries who are tasked with defending the kingdom, hoping to unravel the reason for Rune Geist's sudden hostilities and to reveal the truth about the young man's past.

The Twin Dragon rings are a bit of a double-edged sword. They grant their wearers great powers, but they also can ultimately corrupt them. Each of Xion's companions has either a light or dark soul, and when he enters combat he assumes the opposite persona in a sort of yin and yang relationship. He becomes a bloodthirsty jerk when paired with a light soul, and a serene, capable warrior when paired with a dark soul. The combat in Shining Tears revolves around two characters. You'll enter battle with a pair and have direct control over one of them (usually Xion) with some limited control over the other, your partner, who by default runs around doing his or her own thing. Xion has his own suite of battle skills to bring to bear, and he can also link with his partner to perform a special attack. For a game that's built so much around fighting with a pair of characters, though, it's surprising how little you ever actually need your partner.

Your foes are arranged in large groups consisting of several minions and a "leader." Most missions involve taking out all the leaders on a given map so that you can proceed. By far the easiest and best way to do this is invariably to take Xion into the midst of the pack and have him let loose with his own abilities while your friend follows along slowly behind you and gradually attacks on his or her own terms. The linked abilities, while powerful, usually depend upon you positioning Xion and the other character in a certain alignment in relation to your foes, which are milling about the map, moving out of range, or busy biting you. For all the tedious set up, the attacks often aren't that much better than Xion's own abilities. Xion can be moved around easily so that he can whack his enemies, and you'll end up mostly ignoring your companion, unless he needs healing.

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