is an

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

. It is part of the '' Shining'' series. ''Shining Soul'' is a reboot of the '' Shining'' series. The game was followed by a sequel, ''

Shining Soul II is an action role-playing game for the Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture, as the sequel to ''Shining Soul'' and part of the '' Shining'' series. The game is a dungeon crawling hack and slash, playing simila ...

'', in 2003. Both games were re-released in Japan in early 2006 as part of the Game Boy Advance "Value Selection."

Plot

The game takes place in the land of Rune, where a creature named Dark Dragon has gathered an army of Darkness in an attempt to bring about the destruction of the world. Your character is a hero of the Shining Fleet, which has trapped Dark Dragon and its five generals in the region of Runefaust and is now preparing to make a final assault on the enemy forces.

Gameplay

The game contains four main classes (Warrior, Archer, Dragonute, or Wizard) and several dungeons that involve

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

style fighting. The player can cycle between magic and weapons based attacks. As you progress through the game and gain levels, you're able to allocate points for your main stats, like strength and dexterity, as well as distribute skill points. Skill points allow you to raise weapon and magic proficiency levels and to raise the levels of other abilities that are class-specific, such as defense for the warrior, critical hits for the archer, and so on.

Release

The game saw a European release in March 2003, with

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

handling distribution and Sega Europe handling publication. In December 2002,

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

, who held a deal with Sega at the time to publish their games on the Game Boy Advance in the market, announced they had no intentions on releasing the title in the region.

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 30 out of 40. Craig Harris of ''IGN'' lamented, "As it stands, Shining Soul just feels like a shell of a design, good ideas and intentions spattered throughout boring action sequences." Tom Bramwell of ''Eurogamer'' said: "It says "RPG" in the genre box, but it's really not. Role-playing games are renowned for their engaging (or at least expansive) plot lines, diverse characters and locations, progressive combat and intricacy. Shining Soul is notable because it singularly fails to live up to anything that's come before it."

Notes

References

External links

* {{Grasshopper Manufacture 2002 video games Action role-playing video games Atlus games Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Advance-only games Grasshopper Manufacture games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nex Entertainment games Role-playing video games Shining (series) Video games developed in Japan Video games with isometric graphics