Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner

Rating ESRB: Mature Genre role-playing Publisher Atlus Software External Links Official Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Website

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, the latest in the series of demon-based entertainment, is simply a treat. Set in westernized Japan during the roaring 1920s, you take on the task of solving capers, saving dames, and showing demons what for. Partnered with a talking cat and a local gumshoe, you soon find yourself following one strange lead after another as you track down missing girls, possessed citizens, and rouge devil summoners looking to make your life miserable.

As a devil summoner yourself, you can dispatch demons using a katana and pistol, or you can capture demons by exploiting their weakness and sticking them into magical tubes. Each kind of demon you catch has its own personality and makes comical comments when it fights alongside you. Atlus did extensive research into many kinds of demons and spirits from lore across the world. You will able to capture and use the standard Japanese Oni as well as Judeo-Christian familiars, Irish seducers, Greek beasts, and even crazy demon taxi cabs.

Devil Summoner makes use of some wonderful new ideas. At any time, you can return to your detective agency to save and talk to a few people about your current case. The in-game music is jazzy and fits well into battle scenes and city exploration. Instead of crawling through dungeons or trekking through wilderness, you spend your time walking through parts of The Capital as you battle with demons in search for the latest lead. Demons, of course, can't be seen by the normal person in the city; it makes you wonder what the locals see when you are flailing around your sword and firing off shots into seemingly empty space while yelling commands to your invisible friends. Strangely, this phenomenon isn't explained in training or by comical exclamation by passers-by.

As you play the game, you quickly find yourself cycling through demons, either because you constantly run across much more powerful and useful allies, or to use their varying abilities in and out of combat. While this allows for a quick change in combat tactics, it makes it hard for any sort of demon to become a favorite. While searching for clues, you have to use different demon abilities to do things like read minds, cool down and inflame, which open up new text options with the citizens of the city. This constant changing of demon allies can slow the games forward movement drastically, especially when you don't have the right demon to do a certain task.

Combat in Devil Summoner can get a bit repetitive, as there is a limit to what you can do. You can either swing your sword, shoot your gun (three shots at a time) or block, while your demon can do a standard physical attack or one of its two magic attacks. Thankfully, combat rarely takes long, so you can quickly go back to following a well-developed and enjoyable mystery plot.

In its entirety, Devil Summoner is a unique game with a refreshing plot, an impressive plethora of demons, and a slightly misplaced "gotta catch'em all" attitude. Check this one out if you're looking for a refreshing game experience.