When the first Shining Soul came out, I must say it piqued my interest. Everything I had read about it pegged it as a Diablo wannabe on the Game Boy Advance. As a fan of the Diablo games on PC, I of course wanted to give it a try. Sadly, for one reason or another, I missed out on it. Therefore I was very happy when I heard of a sequel coming that was supposed to be better than the first. I promised myself I would not let it pass by this time, and I picked it up just a week or two after release. I have been playing Shining Soul 2 on both single and multiplayer for the last few weeks, and this is how I feel about it.


Is that...Link?

Many people compared the first Shining Soul to Diablo, and if it is anything like Shining Soul 2, they had good reason to. When the game starts up you have a short intro story and then character selection. A good adventure game needs good characters, and Shining Soul 2 has them in spades. There are 8 selectable characters from the get go. You would think there would be some lame/boring ones mixed in there, but I like every one of them. From warriors to archers to mages, to hybrids of two or three of them, they are all there.

The character leveling up system is also very similar to Diablo’s. As you fight off the hordes of enemies, you gain experience until you hear a short trumpet fanfare which means you have leveled up. You then have four points to distribute among your attributes, and one point to add to the character specific skill of your choosing. When you are in your menus leveling up or switching items around you have to be careful because the action does not stop. Luckily you can see a picture of your character, and you can tell if you are being attacked or not.


The whole group is here

Alright then. Enough of the similarities between the two, lets peg down some of the differences. Diablo was set in a dark-no make that a very dark-world filled with evil of all kinds of twisted sorts. Demons, ghouls, zombies, spirits, and weird mutations of who knows what all designed to creep the bejeebies out of you. Shining soul 2 takes a much lighter approach. This world is full of bright, vibrant colors. It also takes a much more humorous approach to the story. I love the sections of the dungeons where you walk into a room and the enemies don’t know you are there yet. You can sit and listen in on their conversation for as long as you like, or you can bust in and put a stop to the party right away. If you want my advice, I say sit and listen to them for a while. It’s all good, clean fun. Taking this approach to the game makes it much more suitable for younger players. Parents can be assured that there is nothing inappropriate here. The monsters don’t spill their innards everywhere when you kill them, nor is there gore spread all over the walls and floors of the dungeons like Diablo.