For the 2014 Chinese film, see Shining Soul (film).
Shining Soul
Developer
PublisherJP: Sega; EU: Sega Europe[2]; NA: Atlus USA[3]
DirectorAkira Ueda
Designer
  • Akira Ueda
  • Masashi Niwano
Artist
  • Akira Ueda
  • Rika Kurokawa
WriterAkira Ueda
ComposerShingo Yasumoto
Programmer
  • Tetsuya Nakazawa
  • Tooru Yoshio
ProducerJunichiro Takahashi
SeriesShining
ReleasedJP: March 28, 2002[4]; EU: March 7, 2003; NA: September 16, 2003[3]
GenreAction role-playing
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer
PlatformsGame Boy Advance

Shining Soul (シャイニング・ソウル, Shainingu Sōru) is an action role-playing game for the Game Boy Advance. It is part of the Shining series. Shining Soul is a reboot of the Shining series.[5] The game was followed by a sequel, Shining Soul II, in 2003. Both games were re-released in Japan in early 2006 as part of the Game Boy Advance "Value Selection".[6]

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.[7]

Gameplay

The game contains four main classes (Warrior, Archer, Dragonute, or Wizard) and several dungeons that involve hack and slash 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.[7]

Release

The game saw a European release in March 2003, with Infogrames handling distribution and Sega Europe handling publication. In December 2002, THQ, 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.[2]

Reception

The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8] In Japan, however, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40.[9]

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."[10] 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."[11] Star Dingo of GamePro said of the game, "Many gamers saw screens of Shining Soul in Japanese form long, long ago and wondered why such a cool-looking game wasn't coming to America right away. That question has finally been answered."[12][a]

Notes

  1. ^ GamePro gave the game 4/5 for graphics, 3.5/5 for sound, and two 3/5 scores for control and fun factor.

References

  1. ^ "ja:株式会社ネクスエンタテインメント" (in Japanese). Nex Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 15, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  2. ^ IGN staff (December 16, 2002). "Shining Soul (Preview)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived March 5, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  3. ^ IGN staff (September 16, 2003). "Shining Soul Ships". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived January 18, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  4. ^ "[シャイニング・ソウル] 公式サイト" (in Japanese). Shining World. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  5. ^ Serrels, Mark (May 3, 2011). "New 'Shining' Game In The Works". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on May 6, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  6. ^ Maragos, Nich (January 4, 2006). "Round-Up: GBA Value, In The Groove Loss, Xbox 360 AV". Game Developer. Informa. Archived March 6, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  7. ^ Massimilla, Bethany (September 29, 2003). "Shining Soul Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived October 19, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  8. ^ "Shining Soul". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived January 18, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  9. ^ "ゲームボーイアドバンス - シャイニング・ソウル" (in Japanese). Famitsu. Vol. 915. Enterbrain. June 30, 2006. p. 122. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  10. ^ Harris, Craig (September 22, 2003). "Shining Soul". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived January 15, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  11. ^ Bramwell, Tom (April 24, 2003). "Shining Soul". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived March 2, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  12. ^ Star Dingo (October 2003). "Shining Soul". GamePro. No. 181. IDG. p. 64. Archived March 10, 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 10, 2024.