PS2

With Demon's Souls nearing release, it's all things Atlus! We welcome Atlus USA's Manager of PR Aram Jabbari to the show. Localization strategies, digital distribution, aggregate sites, and much more are covered, and we take our best shot at getting you some Persona scoop! The back half of the show brings some of the most in-depth Demon's Souls discussion around. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim "Tim Spaeth" Spaeth.

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Topic and Game References:

• Atlus
• Shin Megami Tensei series
• Trauma Center series
• King's Field series
• Cubivore
• Demon's Souls Review

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Finished The Longest Journey last night, and it was fantastic, if not a bit awkward at times. The "battles" are strange in that since I can't fail, I can stand completely still and do nothing while the monster just looks at me and waves its arms. I'm aware that Dreamfall has a combat mechanic but my friends tell me that it isn't very well done. I'm curious if something akin to Shadow of the Colossus (which I haven't played) or the new Prince of Persia would work here.

This review is irrelevant... like this game!

HIGH The moment early in the game where the main character must turn on his allies is almost perfect.

LOW The rest of the game is just downhill from there.

WTF Super Saiyans? In MY Drakengard?!

Bustin' makes me feel really, really good

HIGH It feels exactly like playing a never-released Ghostbusters movie.

LOW Bill Murray has a few good lines, but mostly phones in his performance.

WTF The last level is the weakest, most trite in the entire game.

It looked like the big screen adaptation of Castlevania was basically dead in the water not too long ago. Director Sylvain White was gone and all signs pointed to the film spending a lot of time languishing in development Hell. Turns out that's not the case at all, actually, as Bloody-Disgusting has got the exclusive scoop that director James Wan (one of the co-creators of the Saw franchise) has come on board the project as a director and co-writer.

More than a mouthful

HIGH Retains all the classic SMT elements dripping with style and polish.

LOW No voice acting for the dialogue.

WTF Why is the encounter rate set so high?

Been sort of scattered with the gameplay lately… at the moment, I'm still working my way through the excellent CaveIn: Miner Rescue Team on Community, in addition to the also-excellent Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2—Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon on PlayStation 2. How's that for a title?

As for the rest of the game tidbits I've got under my belt, I'm saving them up for tomorrow night's podcast recording. We've been on hiatus for a few weeks since both Tim (the show's host) and I each had newborn sons enter our lives, but now that things have settled down a bit, we're getting right back to it. If everything goes according to plan, it should be posted before too long, and I’ll have a link to it here when it's ready.

Those of us that were looking for some real closure to Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit)—the ending didn't live up to expectations—will have to put our hope to rest. While publishers have approached David Cage, co-founder of Quantic Dream, about publishing a sequel—something I find really hard to believe—Cage himself has no interest in going back to that well.

Maybe it's for the best. That leaves him all the time in the world to focus on Heavy Rain. All accounts point to Heavy Rain as a worthy, spiritual successor.