So I'm back bitches lol. I got to play a few games while I was on vacation so I got reviews for y'all. I didn't get a chance to hear any new songs sadly, but hopefully I'll hear something good and toss it your way in the near future 'kay?


Badass box cover? Check,

Alright, so Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor... now, just by looking at the TITLE I knew that I HAD to get this game. I mean, c'mon: Shin Megami Tensei games are well known for their dark, morbid stories and difficulty (well, it's no Ninja Gaiden, but it will make you pull hairs), so when I heard that a DS game was coming along, I pre-ordered on the first day. Now, when I say dark morbid stories, that doesn't just apply to MegaTen's previous entries (Persona, Digital Devil Saga, etc.): Devil Survivor may be a T rated game, but the stories in it are definitely for grown ups.

Story and Presentation
Now, What did I mean exactly by the story being for "grown ups?" Well, let's start about what the story is about: You and your friends, Atsuro and Yuzu, were just hanging out one day when your kick ass cousin Naoya gives you the newest piece of technology: the COMP (COMmunication Player). Now, Atsuro, being Naoya's student, decides to crack that baby open to reap the benfits.... until he realizes that this isn't any ol' COMP. No, this COMP summons a demon that decides to KILL you... damn Naoya....


That's the bitch.

But that isn't game over though, oh no, due to some of the features of the altered COMP, you can not only soften the demon's damage, but you can also dish some out on your own. So within minutes, the demons are now under your command and you are now a demon tamer (more like a slave driver...). Pretty cool right? Well.... there's a catch: The government decides to lock down Tokyo for unknown reasons (trust me, quarantine is only HALF the reason) and using the new features of the COMP (the Death Clock, which as it sounds, shows you how many days a person has to live, unless they live past 10 days, in which case the Death Clock is not visible), you find out that everyone will die in just 7 days.... while you only have a few. Plus, a mysterious email you get foretells what will happen to the future, one disturbing email that even foretold your death. What's going on? Why is this happening? You have 7 days. What will you do?

Interesting story eh? Well, while I'm not going to go into details, the story gets only more interesting from there. However though, don't consider this just your average "monsters in Tokyo" affair: this game's story is huge, going from government conspiracy to even religious allusions (things like the Tower of Babel) and even challenges God (people will believe that God is unjust and actually plans to defy Him... needless to say this game is not for hardcore Christians). I'm actually impressed and surprised: I thought that the T rating would dumb down the story significatnly, but after seeing much of what the story is, I have to say that this is truly something you need to experience...


It doesn't hafta be...

Speaking of experiences, this game follow the familiar MegaTen format (Persona's specifically): You're the hero who you name (first name, last name, and nickname) that hangs out with a male and female friend in the modern day city of Tokyo. While you don't talk per se, you can say a few lines of dialogue here and there (although only in certain situations they actually have weight in them, more on that later), and can customize your team, stats, and skills, so no experience will be quite the same.

But in my experience, there is neither any cut-scenes or any animation aside from the Pokemon-styled battle animations. I mean, I know that this is the DS, but even I would settle with a slide show of art work to tell the story. Interesting games like Lux Pain and Time Hollow (which even had voiced anime cut-scenes) get pushed aside for being too wordy, and sadly, Devil Survivor may suffer the same fate. However, this isn't like Lux Pain and Time Hollow: this actually has combat. And damn good combat at that.

Gameplay

Grid meets RPGs. And no, that isn't like 5000 damage, that's a 50 and a 60.

Enough about the story, you wanna fight right? Well, from all the screenshots that you've seen, you can deduce that it's either a tactics game like Final Fantasy Tactics or Orge Tactics, a first person dungeon crawler like Lost Spire, or a Pokemon clone, right? Well, this is actually a mix of all 3: you move on a grid like a tactics game, but you fight in combat like Lost Spire (from a first person view) with the monsters you bought (kinda like Pokemon where you collect pokemon.... except that you can only have 24 monsters in your COMP), and it all flows pretty well. The combat is simple enough to learn while the grid gameplay is exactly as the other games, again, easy to learn. However though, this game is hard, and level grinding isn't gonna get you far.

While the simple "kill" missions can be easy or difficult depending on your level and monsters, it's the "save, escort, or protect" missions that'll have you sitting in your thinking chair, as well as seemingly impossible boss fights. While the former is the matter of getting to the units first and then killing all the monsters, the boss fights isn't a cakewalk either. The boss battles usually gives you monsters as well as the boss, who is usually 5 - 10 levels above you, and that they have no defined HP or MP meter. Meaning? You just gotta keep whacking them until they die, without any numeric indication that they are dying (although the bar can still be seen). Now, you think that if you can't beat a boss, you'll just level grind, right? Well... that's not gonna help much...

You see, like in Pokemon, when you kill things weaker than you, you get less EXP points right? Well, eventually, you gotta move up to bigger and badder things then right? Well in this game, the monsters don't get stronger unless you progress through the story, so if you're level 30 and the boss is level 45, and the "free battle" monsters are like level 25, you're screwed. I mean, you're too strong to level up with the monsters they gave you (the monsters would give you like 50 EXP points when you're too strong, and you need like what, 10000 EXP points to level up at that level?), but you're too weak to progress through the story. However, realize that it IS possible to beat the boss fight because the developers KNOW that you're gonna have trouble, and that they rather have you win by thinking, and not by brute strength. When one boss could heal himself, summon and endless supply of demons, and could only be damaged by my main character could hit him (story restrictions), I was sad that I couldn't keep playing. but when I made a plan, and it followed through, and the words "Mission Complete" filled my screen, I was overwhelmed wth joy. Gamers who like to be challenged will enjoy this (I'm not one of them by the way, I actually thought about just giving up) but regular people will cry foul and curse the developers forever.

[img]http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/971/971605/shin-megami-tensei-devil-survivor-20090409015930962_640w.jpg[img]
You see the level difference? BS...

But if I'm not one of the people who enjoy challenges, why didn't I give up like the others? Well, that's because, again, the story in this game is just plain awesome. What's even better is that they give you choices in certain situations. While I won't give names, in one mission I did, I had a chance to convince an old teammate to rejoin me, at the cost of the new one (because let's just say that they don't see eye to eye), and that failure to recruit him would actually result in his death (and you were there to witness it). It's those moments in the game that inspires you to keep going: to see the new email, to make new choices, and suffer the consequences of missing an important event that could result in someone's death (why did I save? Damn... I liked him too....): it's [the story] just that powerful. Plus, with 6 endings, you can't deny the replay value in this game, although with the exception of Yuzu's ending, share too many similiarities.


6 ending... (unless this review)... Who will die? Who will live? Who will God love? Who will God forsake?

Ending notes
So in conclusion, this game isn't like your average DS game: with it's rich story, and brain-racking gameplay, I can't help but to praise this game, but it's not something that'll win any Game of the Year awards, especially with games like Golden Sun and Spirit Tracks coming out. I mean, this game has no voice acting whatsoever (unless you count the gibberish in the opening), the music likes to repeat a lot (you're gonna hear the same guitar screech more than a 1000 times), and as good as the character and location backdrops look, they don't vary much, and seem so static. But if you're looking for any under the radar hits, as well as games well worth your money (6 endings plus different choices means that you aren't gonna be doing the same exact thing twice.... unless you choose to), then this is a must buy, especially for any MegaTen fans out there. I mean, c'mon: Jack Frost and Black Frost are in it. What else do you need?

Note:
Scores will be based on a different scale than console game reviews. Don't expect a 9 in graphics here to be compared to a console's, like RE5.

Score:
Graphics ---- 8.5
Sound ------- 8.0
Controls ----- 8.0
Fun Factor --- 9.0
Final Verdict - 9.0