 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Atlus |
| Publisher: | Atlus | |
| Genre: | Action RPG | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Although the long-running Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) series has undergone a number of changes through the years, at its heart it’s always been about dark, supernaturally themed stories coupled with fairly standard gameplay (be it first-person PC-esque or standard Japanese style). Mostly set in a present day or post-apocalyptic world, SMT: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 on PS2 took the series into the future with a barren futuristic land mixed with religious undertones.
Naturally, the unusualness of previous games has meant that the series has never found the mainstream success of a Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, despite being generally received with rave reviews. That may all change however with SMT: Devil Summoner, a decidedly action-oriented (and more mass market friendly) take on the franchise.
Hardcore SMT fans shouldn’t worry however, as the dark storyline and supernatural stuff is still here in full force. Taking place in a Japan torn between the old ways and Western industrialism, the player takes on the role of the nearly adult Raidou Kurunoha the 14th. That isn’t his given name of course, but one he assumes after proving his worth to join the line of Kurunoha, a clan of Devil Summoners sworn to protect the capital city of Edo.
As the people neglect the old ways following the Meiji Restoration, a period in Japanese history marked by elite citizens seizing political power and rapid industrialization of the nation, the city of Edo flourishes. Citizens have become consumed with accumulating as much wealth and power as possible, and this Westernization of Japanese society leads to an abandonment of the old ways. It’s in this environment that demons return to the land from the Dark world, and it’s Raidou’s job to stop ‘em in their tracks. To gather information on the demons’ activities, Raidou goes to work for the Narumi Detective Agency. This allows him to take cases related to the demon activity, and monitor their activity.
My only problem with the storyline and flow of the game is that you find yourself backtracking far too often. On numerous occasions I was forced to spend several minutes backtracking to a previous area (or the Narumi Detective Agency, which acts as your home base), only to be told to go back to the original area and do what common sense had already told me I needed to do. At times it felt like the developers were intentionally trying to lengthen the game in this manner.
As a Devil Summoner, Raidou can capture (called “confinement” here) a number of different demons from seven different “orders”: Pyro, Frost, Volt, Wind, Fury, Skill, and Pagan. As in all good Japanese RPGs each order’s properties are better than others, as well as worse than others. Raidou can only capture demons that are at or below is current level, and the fact that certain types are often required to advance in situations means you’ll be doing some leveling.
Fortunately, combat is entirely in real-time, so that leveling is actually rather enjoyable. The battle system is fairly complex, although Raidou’s actual physical attacks are not. Enemy encounters are unfortunately random, but after a short transition to the battle screen things proceed entirely in real-time. Raidou has fairly limited sword attacks, but also carries a gun he can use to stun enemies. Bullets have different properties to them, and so they’re more effective against enemies with opposite properties (Pyro to Frost for example).
The real meat of the battle system lies in managing Raidou’s stable of demons. Raidou can only summon one demon at a time to fight with him; so building up a diverse lineup of demons is critical in allowing Raidou to summon the right demons for each situation. Demons function independently, although the player can tailor their actions by using commands such as pointing out specific targets, telling the demon to use physical or magic attacks, support Raidou with healing magic, only use attacks that don’t use MP, etc. As demons battle and hit enemies without taking damage, they’ll gain morale. Once their morale is at its maximum, Raidou and the demon can also pull off devastating combo attacks together.
Posted: 2006-10-09 21:00:50 PST