I don't know about you, but when I encounter a twelve-foot, shape-shifting demon, I start crying, my lower half goes warm and brown, and hiding becomes something of a priority. In short, there's nothing romantic, exciting or in the slightest bit manly about the situation - it's mostly just brown and smelly all round. Not so for Yuri and Karin, stars of Shadow Hearts: Covenant, as they seem to take this sort of thing very much in their stride. But then I guess it's all in a day's work for your average RPG character - and they've got a lot of those days ahead of them.

They say it's all about the journey with these monstrous RPGs and the journey that Shadow Hearts takes you on is nothing short of epic. By golly, if there's not an obscene amount of play in this - at least forty hours of solid RPG-ing and a whole heap of cut scenes, side quests and general Japanese weirdery involving romance, soul searching (quite literally), comedy and a light smattering of smut. Starting off in the sleepy village of Domremy during the First World War, the tale drags our two leads through Europe and Asia on the tail of, or at points running away from, an evil world dictator wannabe in an uncharacteristically sensible plot that (rather astoundingly) isn't too hard to follow. Shadow Hearts adheres to all the conventions of the genre to the letter, but along with this standard medley of random fights, regular boss battles, stat building and ubiquitous sexual tension, there are more than enough extras to separate this from the mediocrity of being just another second-rate Final Fantasy clone.

The fighting, for example, is based not simply around choosing the best attack for the situation, but also allows you to increase the power of your attacks with the judgement ring. Whilst it may sound rather simple and somewhat tedious, this reaction test mechanic appears before every strike, combo, spell and item, serving to hold your attention brilliantly. As well as the judgement ring, combos feature heavily, more specifically in the boss battles and if no one drops the ball, the flurry of attacks can get pretty darn devastating, giving your opponent less chance than a hamster in a trouser press.

In fact, if Shadow Hearts has a problem it's the ease with which you can chug through the game. Okay, it may be a long one but if you set out to complete it you're pretty much guaranteed to see the end credits. There are other drawbacks, some of which may see the RPG devotee turning away mumbling something about Final Fantasy VII. Although the characters are substantial and well acted (for an RPG), they rarely rouse much emotion and amble through the game without the dynamism needed to keep you up all night. The other main issue is the unimaginative nature of many of the environments. I suppose, being set in a true past, they can't be truly stunning or awe inspiring, but too many of the battles happen in generic settings like woods, mountains, deserts or tunnels - yawn.

These downsides are more than made up for with the obvious care and attention to detail that shines through in Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Most of the characters have some kind of special attack, like morphing into a demon, puppeteering, tarot reading or sword play and are pretty easy to identify as magic casters, brutes or all-rounders. The way in which you can set up your opponents also makes for a more involving battling experience as well, giving you the option to bash monsters closer together so that you can use your area effect attacks more effectively. Giving you the order of attack also helps with your tactics and failure to take into account all these factors can make your life far more difficult than it needs to be.

Shadow Hearts really doesn't throw much of its weight on the crutch of presentation and despite some sound voice acting, interesting effects and exciting battling, you're unlikely to be wowed by the audio-visual side of things. I think in a lot of ways, particularly on the presentation front, Shadow Hearts is torn between the outlandish stereotypes of the genre and its roots in real history. In many of the non-combat scenes, you're dealing with regular folk from 1930's Europe in realistic settings, then all of a sudden you're thrown down some pit and forced to fight spiky hell-beasts, giant mushrooms and jumbo demons - there's much about it that just doesn't fit. Regardless of this, overall it still works well enough to keep even the casual RPG fan entertained.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a solid title that takes the classic RPG formula and adds enough embellishments to evolve the genre, but not enough to be taking it away from its roots. Quite honestly, it doesn't have anything on the pioneering Dark Chronicle or the flawless Final Fantasy VII, but then you'd have to do something pretty special to outdo those two. I had a great time with Shadow Hearts though and as a title to get your teeth into, it succeeds brilliantly. It won't keep you up for three days straight but it may just fill the gap until your next must-have title comes along.

Reviewed by Tom LeClerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).