By Jim Drewes - November 23, 2005

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Good game - Bad title.

As long as you aren't considering bad titles in metrics for determining if a game is good or not, Atlus' Magna Carta: Tears of Blood delivers a slightly innovative, and exceptionally entertaining RPG, even though the name implies it somehow relates to the historic 1215 English charter to limit the power of Monarchs - which this game has nothing to do with.  What this game is concerned with is providing attractive visuals, entertaining game play, and an interesting storyline.

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood starts out much the same way other RPGs do, with introductory cut-scenes and game play to develop the plot for the gamer.  In this particular title you lead a band of mercenaries called the "Tears of Blood," which consists of members who have undying hatred for the Yason.  Yason are a race that humans have been in a massive war with ever since humans landed in the land of Efferia, where the Yason reside.  Once the game begins, the plot progresses at a decent rate, with enough plot twists and interesting story elements to keep gamers interested.  The one downfall to the story and the plot comes more in the way of dialog.  At times the dialog has a very formal, traditional, and medieval tone, whereas other times they throw in a "hell yeah" or other sort of out of place expression.

One of the places Magna Carta truly shines is in the graphics department.  On top of decent spell effects, MC: ToB also has beautiful landscapes and environments.  Although the game does suffer from the typical RPG plight of not being able to control the camera, the levels are still very aesthetically pleasing.  Swamps look like swamps, towns look like towns, and plains look like plains.  All the while, each environment has its own sort of beauty.  The characters are wonderfully crafted as well.  Character artist Hyung-Tae Kim did a spectacular job of developing the characters.  However, Calintz (the main character) sports a butt-less garment of some sort, has a fair complexion, and has disproportionately defined pecs, which leaves many gamers thinking they are controlling a female character at first.  Other characters suffer similar gender identity problems, but it is a small price to pay for nice character models.

The sound of Magna Carta: Tears of Blood leaves you not quite knowing what to think.  On one hand, the music is decent and sometimes even sticks in your head a little.  Sound effects aren't overly repetitive, and suit the situations well.  But the voice acting is downright horrible.  Granted, this is a foreign game translated into English, and perhaps the budget wasn't set aside for decent voice talent, but still - the programmers might as well have been doing the voice acting.  At times, the....  unnecessary....   pauses..... between.... words......  makes..... you...... want.... to.... shoot.............     yourself.  Another problem with the audio of MC: ToB is the opening music.  A lot of time and effort obviously went into making the gorgeous opening sequence, but its all set to some crappy pop "Tears of Blood" song.  The song sounds like the up-beat "we can do it" musical sequence from some Disney movie, but the actual visuals you are watching depict war between humans and monsters, scorched landscapes, and other no-so-happy things.

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1: Good game - Bad title. 2: Bad dialog - Good game play.