Today Namco Bandai announced that Tales of Hearts R will finally be making its way to the west. About a year ago we contacted Namco Bandai asking them about their plans on bringing over both Tales of Innocence R and Hearts R to the west, and they responded stating that they would love to bring over both games, but only if the PlayStation Vita itself picked up on sales. Well, it looks like the company kept their word, and Tales of Hearts R is in fact coming to the west; however, it will be a GameStop exclusive (very much like Xenoblade Chronicles).
Tales of Hearts R, for anyone who doesn't know, is a 3D remake of the DS game Tales of Hearts. Originally the game had two versions, an anime styled version and a CGI cutscene version, but with Hearts R, the anime cutscenes are all that remains. Other than the removal of the CGI option, Hearts R is a fully remastered game. It uses a 3D style very much like Tales of Graces (which has a fixed camera angle but a 3D world), the combat system has been greatly improved, and it also makes use of features the DS didn't have such as trophy support.
If you are a Tales of fan, this is a game you will not want to miss out on. It was one of the games we missed out on the first time in the west, and since it is GameStop exclusive, you may want to preorder a copy as soon as possible. Once this game is gone, who knows how long before they restock; that is, if they ever do.
