Review: Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (PS2)

This game has it all. Rasputin? Check. Terminators? Check. Demons? Check. Gundams? Check. Copious amounts of WTF? Check check check.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I'm so mad at myself for not playing it earlier. I remember very vividly buying it and Tales of the Abyss on the same day back in October 2006. I ended up beating Tales of the Abyss, but not touching this one until 2007 or so and only for about 20 minutes. Clearly, I made a mistake in not giving this a good solid play until this week.

Story
This game has everything I could ever want in a detective story. It starts with a dame (ho ho ho vintage talk!). Lots.

The titular character is a descendant of a long line of devil summoners (the 14th in fact), and is charged with protecting the Capital from evil demony bad guys -- basically a one-man Ghostbuster. As such you join up with the local fuzz, the Narumi Detective Agency, in order to run the beat and solve a mystery that begins to unfold the first day on the job: a young woman named Kaya Daidouji is abducted by robots dressed as soldiers. By the end of the game, you've fought Rasputin, walked straight into a bathhouse and punched a Yakuza leader, and square off against a battleship possessed by some ancient demon god.

Suck it, Holmes.

Gameplay

Unlike most games in the Shin Megami Tensei series (which are turn-based), Devil Summoner utilizes a system that is very much Resident Evil meets Pokemon: you have an action RPG way of fighting and you control various demons that you capture in tubes (read: elongated pokeballs). As your demons level up they get special attacks/moves that can help out a ton in battle. Some nullify particular elements, others do amazing attacks that can cause a significant amount of damage. Boss fights, like other SMT games, do require a lot of thought/strategy/skill; no button mashing here. I thoroughly enjoyed every boss fight, even the occasional one that made me throw my controller onto the floor several times. But I'll tell you what: never have I felt so satisfied in beating a boss as I do when it's one in an SMT game that I have had problems with. Most if not all of your problems come from a lack of planning vs. a lack of grinding.

Graphics/Sound

The character designs and the whole feel of the game are very unique and gorgeous. Kazuma Kaneko's back as the main designer and the whole game shows off his art style, which I personally don't mind. I was a little disappointed with Persona 3 and Persona 4 simply because the characters didn't have Kaneko's signature look. The whole period feel is very authentic - the game looks and feels very 1920s - and even the dialogue is spattered with little vintage phrases here and there. The soundtrack is a very good listen. It captures the vintage setting of the game well but still fits in very well with modern music. Honestly, if I still had an iPod, I'd probably buy the OST and transfer it to that just so I could listen to it every now and then.

Overall

This game was just the console game I needed to get my ass in gear on reviews. It had great detective elements (and everyone knows I love detectives....), a thrilling plot, lots of humor and was just fun to play. I've already started on the 2nd one in the series (which just came out last May!). I hope this ride with Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha is just as good as the last. If you don't own this game, buy it immediately (eBay~) and if you own it and haven't played it, go do it now! What are you waiting for!?

- A