No Manual - Shadow of Memories for the PlayStation 2 is a adventure game where you have to prevent your own death. You start the game by dying, an unusual and original twist to the standard gaming formula. You are given another chance to live by an evil entity called Homunulus. You must go back in time and change the course of history. In Shadow of Memories you assume the role of Eike. Eike is not a violent person, he does not carry any weapons. You must solve the puzzles in the game with your head and not with your hands. Set in a fictional European town, Eike wakes up after his death in a coffee shop. There is a fortune-teller that you must seek out who gives you vital clues that you must solve to prevent your death. Without giving too much away, here's a good example of the gameplay. You find out that you are going to be stabbed at 2:30pm, and that you are alone when it happens. If you use your Digipad to travel back in time, you can convince people in the past to gather in the courtyard. If you make sure that you are in the courtyard, and therefore not alone, when the stabbing should take place, the attempt to take your life will be thwarted. Shadow of Memories is similar to Shenmue on the Dreamcast, one of the best games around. But add an interesting time-travelling death plot and remove the combat and you're onto a winner. Shadow of Memories is also like the film Groundhog Day, which is no bad thing. The control method works well, it is easy to view and interact with your surroundings. The graphics are extremely nice and change appropriately depending on the time frame. The audio is suitably chilling and fits the tense nature of the game. So what's the catch? Unfortunately, Shadows of Memories is not the biggest game you will ever play. But to counter this there are several different endings to the game. It is more than likely that you will replay the game several times to see all the possible outcomes. If you start interfering with the timeline, many strange things can happen, or will happen, or have happened.