Year: 2004
One of the first games I ever added into my collection was Shaman King: Power of Spirit. Not only that, but it introduced me to the Shaman King universe. I loved the characters, and meeting them in the game was by far the highlight of my first play through. I completed the whole game, and once I got into anime, I started watching Shaman King, which I’m I’ve recently finished. So I thought it would be a good review if I went back and played the game. And now I have, and it is a decent game, Shaman King fan or not. (I know from both experiences) The story is actually completely new, and has little to do with actual Shaman King storyline. It goes down a similar path, and starts around the first couple of episodes into the anime. If you’re new, a Shaman is a warrior who can link with the dead, and with the power of Furyoku, use a spirit to fight as a partner. Every five-hundred years there is a Shaman Tournament, and the winner links with the King of Spirits to shape the world how they want, for better or for worse. But the Shaman Tournament is no longer the key to the storyline. Now it resolves around a new character named Meril, and although you play as Yoh, Meril is kind of the star of the game. While on the original path, she gets captured by a new enemy group known as the Force Millennium, a band of humans who want world domination. It’s kind of play off of Zeke’s storyline, as he wanted a world of Shamans, and these guys want a world of humans. Although the new enemies I’ll say all kind of suck, none really stick out. They do fit the Shaman universe, but they are not at all great. Meril is at least likeable, and just seeing a new take on the storyline is refreshing and fun. If you’re wondering who makes an appearance, don’t worry, Zeke makes his appearance, although you can’t fight him in story mode, but he is playable in versus. Characters like Joco are nonexistent however, as well are the X Laws. But I don’t really mind all that much. As for the story, it’s all right. You go through twenty "episodes,” that are following from cutscene, game-play, cutscene, and rinse and repeat twenty times. The cutscenes are the familiar Japanese style with character images displayed on the left and right side, and you hear voices and read text for cutscenes. And the wacky animation of over-exaggerated faces and emotions are even more exposed than they are in the anime. All in all it’s going to keep your attention enough, and the new spin on the story and characters will leave at least something memorable. As for game-play, it’s actually really basic. You can’t even turn up the difficulty, which is a bummer. It is grid based, and your teammates are like chess pieces. You can use specials on the grid, use items, and obviously attack nearby players, and hopefully have teammates close by in order to get the upper hand. When you go into a fight, it goes to a similar fighting scheme, but it’s very underwhelming. Smash, smash, smash. It’s just hitting, and smashing, and it’s very dull. You can easily get the upper hand, I almost feel like I have to give the computer a couple hits to not feel like a dumb ass. Maybe when you’re getting started you’ll have trouble getting the strategy and fighting down, but once you know what you’re doing, you’ll realize how easy it is. I died once or twice the whole game, and it wasn’t because the enemy was being smart, it was me being dumb. Also you unlock a versus mode after you finish the game, but I didn’t really mess around with that. However, I do like the game. Everything that isn’t a three or under I look at in some way positively, and even three I can just say was wasted potential. It’s not fun, and I know it’s not great. But it’s a fun quick time, and if you’re a Shaman King fan, or want to be, it’s at least worth checking out. And it’s only a couple hours long, so don’t worry about wasting too much time on it. But I just wish Shaman King fans had a little bit more. While DBZ and Pokemon have great games going for them, I kind of wish Shaman King had a good video game, and maybe I’ll play one eventually. But the second a dumb kid from America saw that grid when they bought this, this game was dead to them. But it’s a nice little game, and I’m glad to have a nice Shaman King title in my collection.
Shaman King: Power of Spirit gets a 2/5
Badges
Shaman King: Power of Spirit gets THE CHARACTER BADGE
Shaman King: Power of Spirit Review