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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
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Product summary
While Vandal Hearts II lacks the grand feel of Final Fantasy Tactics, it is a solid and rewarding strategy-RPG.
Specifications: ESRB: Mature; Genre: Strategy; Elements: General Strategy; See full specs
Gamespot editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/03/2000
- Updated on: 05/02/2000
- Released on: 11/30/1999
Although the RPG has gained popularity in the US, its tactical offshoot, the strategy-RPG, has had a harder time gaining similar popularity. However, among fans of the genre, no game has toppled Final Fantasy Tactics. As hard as Vandal Hearts II tries to emulate and even improve on FFT, VH2 falls short, but it still delivers an enjoyable strategy game.
The first Vandal Hearts' story was digestible enough, but Vandal Hearts II unfortunately opts to fashion its story after Final Fantasy Tactics' incomprehensible saga. Joshua was but a poor peasant boy until he was manipulated into killing a revered political figure. Sure to be executed for this heinous act, Joshua fled his village and later founded a notorious band of mercenary thieves. These seemingly simple events set off a confusing political whirlwind of intrigue and betrayal that most people won't care to follow.
For the most part, Vandal Hearts II's gameplay is standard strategy-RPG fare - you move your characters around a large world map and engage in turn-based battles on a variety of grid-based battlefields. However, unlike most games, this one doesn't follow a traditional turn-based model. As every game seems to feel the need to do these days, Vandal Hearts II employs an all-new system to differentiate itself from other games in the genre. The Dual Battle System lets the computer move characters and monsters during your turn, adding an interesting new strategic requirement. As interesting as the concept is, its execution is a little off - without any way of knowing in what order the enemy will attack, opponents will often move out of the way of your attacks. While you can work around this by wasting a move at the start of each turn to force the enemy to waste one of his turns, this really should be unnecessary.
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