Imagine, if you will, the following scenario. You have just finished
reading William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Still feeling invigorated
by the scope of this timeless romance, but also melancholy from the ending, you
can’t wait to share your feelings with others. As luck would have it, you soon
run across four of your closest friends.

Your enthusiasm is boundless as
you relate the sad tale of the doomed lovers, but wait … Friend #1 interrupts
your soliloquy by insisting that neither Romeo nor Juliet perished in the version
he read. Friend #2 thinks you are both crazy and is adamant that Romeo lived whilst
Juliet died, and Friend #3 maintains that the opposite is true. Friend #4 is a
burned-out hippie from the sixties and claims that Romeo and Juliet were both
space aliens sent by a foreign government to spy on communes.

What would
be the point of all of these different endings? The joy of a shared experience
that can be discussed and debated has now been diminished. Perhaps if one had
the time, he or she could read all five versions and then choose the ending he/she
liked the best. But isn’t this just a cheap emotional cop-out, an attempt to appease
and be inoffensive to a generation who believes that personal satisfaction must
always come first?

In my opinion, this is the biggest problem with Shadow
of Destiny, Konami’s newest adventure release for the Playstation 2: a gripping,
vibrant adventure is cheapened by providing the gamer with the possibility of
five different endings. I personally found the ending of the game I played fascinating
and emotionally involving–an enormous step up from the usual shallow console
mentality–but I have no urge to replay the game and make different decisions
that will allow my character to follow a different path and encounter a different
climax. And what if I do? And what if the new ending leaves a sour taste in my
mouth and I then have reservations about recommending the game? Am I then to be
hesitant in my opinion, “Yes, you will like the game if you get this ending,
but hate the game if you get this other ending.” Bah. While progress is inevitable,
some things are not meant to be changed, and a good story will always stand or
sink of its own accord and not because of a gimmick.

Which, finally, brings
us to the focus of this review, Shadow of Destiny. Nestled among the dozens
of sports, arcade, and action games for the PS2 is this solitary adventure game.
If this is the only adventure game ever released for the PS2, then it still will
be worth the money I spent on the system. If one hundred more adventure games
are released for the PS2, then I have no doubt that Shadow of Destiny would
rest securely in anyone’s top ten list of games.

Shadow of Destiny immerses
the player into the chilling world of Eike (pronounced Ike) Kusch: a man who has
been granted the ability to travel back in time to prevent his own murder. Sounds
simple enough, but Eike’s success at foiling his murder only invites another attack
from an unknown assailant later in the same day. In fact, each of the eight chapters
begins the same way–with Eike’s death–but always in a different manner. Any
decisions that Eike makes in the past will, of course, have repercussions in his
future. Your ultimate goal is to survive the day while discovering who or what
is behind the repeated attempts on your life. The entire game takes place in a
quaint German villa that reflects the time period to which Eike has traveled.
Streets paved with cement may be paved with cobblestones one hundred years earlier
or are simple dirt paths as Eike travels even further back in time. This microcosm
of how a community grows and prospers generation through generation is actually
an invigorating plot element that lends itself to numerous possibilities for sequels.
Since much of the game’s enjoyment is derived from discovering the changes in
the town, physically and through the population’s collective mentality, going
into further detail would spoil a few of the plot twists.

Eike’s ability
to jump through time is facilitated by a digipad, a small beeper-like device that
is powered by energy units found scattered throughout the various time periods.
The concept of the energy units should have been eliminated, as their sole function
seems to be to extend gameplay as you run about town searching for a unit to power
your digipad. What makes even less sense is that the spare energy units are always
in the same locations, so it becomes a matter of simply running to that spot over
and over. This is video game mentality at its worst. The digipad itself is given
to Eike early in the game by the Homunculus, a demon-like creature who can transmogrify
its outward appearance to suit the current situation. An interesting character
worthy of further discussion to be sure, but I would rather you unearth the mysteries
of the Homunculus on your own.

Occasionally, this ability to travel through
time can seem daunting, so Eike has thoughtfully provided us with a diary that
we can use to keep track of his immediate thoughts. It would have been a nice
touch if Konami would have followed Cryo’s lead and also provided an encyclopedic
history of the town for added perspective and depth. Most of the inventory puzzles
are no-brainers, but this is a game that is concerned more with ethical choices
and their ramifications on the future and past. As much as I dislike the multiple
endings, it is interesting to find the trigger points that will alter the course
of the story (again, we won’t ruin your enjoyment of the game by pinpointing these
trigger points). An added point of interest is that the majority of chapters only
allow the player one hour to figure out a way to stop Eike’s imminent murder.
So if you spend thirty minutes in the past searching for a solution, then thirty
minutes have also passed in the future. This small feature adds a vital sense
of immediacy to the game.

Shadow of Destiny is a wonderfully conceived
game. It comes highly recommended to all adventure gamers and to anyone who enjoys
a solid whodunit. It is rare when the only faults you can find are minor quibbles:
a few of the “elderly” voices sound like a teenager’s imitation of what
an “old” person sounds like, and some of the in-game movies seem to
last forever (there are a few that I clocked at seven minutes and more). In a
game of lesser quality, this would be a major issue, but SOD uses the in-game
movies to further the plot instead of just brandishing a cornucopia of eye-candy.

After
you have completed Shadow of Destiny, there is an option to replay the
game; additional scenes have been added, and there is the attraction of viewing
the different endings. Again, while this is a noble effort, why not just open
up the entire game at once so that it is a richer, fuller experience? Why force
players to explore the game in jigsaw fashion, acquiring bits and pieces of knowledge
in a haphazard fashion? Not all of us have the time, nor would we wish to replay
the game even if we did have time.

Konami has a reputation for delivering
solid games and sequels that are even better (unlike Capcom, a company that churns
out assembly line sequels simply to sponge off the success of the original–is
there even one iota of difference between the numerous Resident Evil incarnations
other than the changed setting?). Shadow of Destiny offers a satisfying
conclusion (well, at least the one I saw) while leaving a small crack in the plot
for a follow-up. Even if there is no sequel, I still leave satisfied, but since
I only played through to one ending, I am not satiated with the concept of the
game.

Now for the most important part of any review–the final grade. So
in keeping with the spirit of Shadow of Destiny, if you are a gamer who
prefers action, then go to paragraph A; if you are an adventure gamer who prefers
an involving storyline that requires active participation, then go to paragraph
B; or if you are an adventure gamer who does not own a console system, then go
to paragraph C.

A. Forgive me, but I must “borrow” a line from
the now infamous Gamespot preview of Shadow of Destiny–“In the end,
Shadow of Destiny seems the antithesis of a twitch game. There is, in fact,
absolutely no combat in the game. If anyone out there still cares about narrative-driven,
laboriously cinematic games, then Konami apparently has you covered.” Well,
duh.

B. A thoughtful, intelligent game that allows the player to feel as
though he or she is an active participant. Hampered by some overly long cinematics
and a gimmick that allows for five different endings, Shadow of Destiny is
still a must-play for every adventure gamer.

C. What are you waiting for?
If you do not immediately begin to support adventure games on console systems,
then you will have only yourself to blame if the video game companies decide that
the genre is dead. Of course, when you consider that many adventure gamers still
consider their P166 systems to be cutting-edge …

Final Grade:
B+