A confusing storyline, chunky graphics, hit and miss controls, and repetitive gameplay make this a game that will only appeal to fans of the anime series.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was a fantastic title with terrific animations, controls, and interesting storyline and finely tuned character progression. So when you hear that Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2 is based off of the same game engine that created the masterpiece that is Aria you assume that this game would be close to the same quality. Unfortunately that couldn't be farther from the truth. Konami has somehow found a way to take a solid foundation and make it as unstable as one legged tripod.



Gameplay in Shaman King: Master of Spirits is pretty basic. Collect useless spirits that only have one use like splashing white paint on an enemy for 3 damage and wasting magic points and hit a lot of enemies with a sword until they explode. Yes that's how deep Shaman King is. This is a no frills type of game that doesn't have a leveling system and only has a few items and weapons to collect. What weapons you do collect are pretty useless by the time you get them as you won't do much more damage on more difficult enemies.



By the time you reach the halfway point you will be bored of Shaman Kings repetitive nature and set this one aside to collect dust. What does make Shaman King interesting is the spirit combo system. This system allows certain spirits to combine to make a new combo or power when its activated.



So if you combine a spirit that guards your back with one that will guard your front you can activate an entire barrier that will absorb a small amount of damage. Also since the level design is fairly linear you won't find much replay value in Master of Spirits and since you must travel back through levels until you find a special spirit many younger players will get frustrated with the uneven difficulty level.



Controls are also fairly basic you walk side to side using the left and right buttons on the control pad, jump and swing your sword with A and B, and you will use the left, right, and select buttons to use your spirits. One of the few nice things about Shaman king is that the controls are tight enough to get you through the game but there are still issues when it comes to jumping and using a spirit.



When you try to execute such a move you will find yourself falling time and time again until everything clicks and you finally pass the obstacle. There really isn't much to get excited about here since you've already seen these type of controls in countless other GBA titles and many of them have done them much better.



Graphics are large, colorful, and effective but even they can be troublesome. Because the sprites are large it can be hard to see if the games many pits have a bottom or not. The developers solution to this isn't scaling the graphics down but giving the player a spirit that allows you to look up, down and side to side.



Not only is this a waste of a spirit slot but it slows down the pace of the game when you have to pause and select a fairly useless spirit. Other than that little gripe the graphics do their job well enough.



Sound is also in its basic form in Master of Spirits. You do get a few sound bites from the show that do sound fairly well on the GBA's tiny speakers but then you also have your standard assortments of clanging swords, explosions and music. What sound is there sound good but its nothing to write home about.



With a virtually non-existent storyline that will confuse everyone but fans on the series, decent sound design, chunky graphics, hit and miss controls, and repetitive gameplay Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2 is a game that only appeals to die hard fans of the anime series. If you're looking for a good action game for the GBA skip over Shaman King and pick up one of the past Castlevania titles, you'll be glad you did.


Review by Christopher Burkett.