Shin Megami Tensei

A Year in the Life of Horny, Magical Teenagers

HIGH The Mystery Gang mocking their own corny "Persona!" cries while plastered.

LOW Cut-and-paste dungeons.

WTF Marie's "poetry."

Old Friends Return in a Most Unexpected Fashion

HIGH Labrys' elegant, touching story.

LOW The white story text can sometimes be hard to read.

WTF I forgot how much I missed these characters until Arena reminded me.

First, a disclaimer—this is NOT a review. Just saying. So, Persona 4: Arena... like, WOW. As someone who wasn't really a fan of the BlazBlue fighting games, I wasn't overly excited about the thought of those devs taking one of the best Japanese role-playing games from the last decade (if not the last... ever) and making a fighting game out of it, but I just received a review copy and I've been playing it for the last few days.

Given the present dearth of strategy and role-playing games on the young Vita, exposure to some classic Atlus games couldn't come at a better time. I recently had a chance to play nine of these games for the first time on Vita and I came away from the experience realizing that, even if most of these games are ports of earlier releases, no one picks up on and supports unique properties the way Atlus does. This is the company that published oddball titles like Hammerin' Hero and Eggs of Steel, after all.

The Devil (Survivor) is in the Details

HIGH Fusing a kick-ass demon after 30 minutes of planning and multiple steps.

LOW The voice actress for Midori has as much appeal as listening to chalkboard scratching.

WTF So God imposed different languages on humanity as punishment for not living virtuously? Mind blown.

The Holy Grail of JRPGs Finally Comes to America

HIGH The game's story and characters are engaging and sure to hold players' interest.

LOW Battles can be very slow.

WTF How did they ever get away with calling the villain Joker? I guess no one told DC Comics...

Shameful Voyage

HIGH A new Shin Megami Tensei title!

LOW Too bad it's terrible.

WTF A poop demon came out of the ship's toilet. I guess that's not all that WTF for Shin Megami Tensei.

Game Description: A fresh sci-fi twist on the critically acclaimed Shin Megami Tensei series! A startlingly original entry in the award-winning Shin Megami Tensei universe, Strange Journey takes the heralded RPG franchise to exciting new sci-fi frontiers while bringing to mind the all-time classic Nocturne. With over 300 demons to bribe, coerce, and negotiate with to gain assistance in battle, Strange Journey is every bit the deep, rewarding RPG experience fans have come to expect from the SMT franchise.

Visit Tartarus for a Third Time

HIGH The addition of a female protagonist and new social links.

LOW Climbing the tower can still be a bit of a grind.

WTF Yet another RPG with a dog as a playable character. WTF Japan?