Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

At E3 2005, a few Atlus reps told me the company planned to put the Shin Megami Tensei series forward as their flagship RPG series, drawing comparisons to Final Fantasy for Square-Enix. If they continue to make games this good, I’d say they’re well on their way to living up to that goal. Devil Survivor is an unusual Tactical RPG set in modern Tokyo, where a group of teens find the city attacked by summoned monsters. While they learn to fight by summoning their own demons, that’s only part of the problem. The government has locked the area down, simultaneously enabling the demons to hurt more people while also being about as useful as most Firefly fans would expect.

What that summary doesn’t tell you is that Devil Survivor is a very deep game. You have a small number of humans on your roster, but each one is allowed to summon a few demons to accompany them into battle. This is where the game’s depth lies, as you get quite a variety of monsters to pick from and they each have their own perks. Some offer unusual movement such as teleportation, others are good with healing and damage-dealing spells or melee combat, or are useful but not stellar in all fields. And if you don’t like a demon’s default abilities, no problem; they can learn more over time, or be merged with another monster to gain a different one that blends some of their abilities. Combined with just enough cash-flow to incrementally upgrade to newer monsters, those who enjoy fine-tuning their roster will find much to enjoy here.

Once you’re in battle, the action is divided between maneuvering on a Tactical RPG grid like most others (think Fire Emblem, Front Mission, Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, etc.), and conventional turn-based RPG fights. The tactical grid is somewhat simple, rarely offering inherent terrain bonuses or penalties. Instead, it focuses primarily on maneuvering, using your teams to bottleneck enemies, support one another, and accomplish your goals. But when one of your teams encounters an enemy, you go into turn-based fighting and may pick your targets, sling spells, and so on. This hybrid between the two styles works very well, and along with the variety of monsters to play with you’ll be entertained for quite a while.