Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

The only other SMT games I've played so far have been Persona 3 and 4, both of which I was a huge fan of. So when I picked up Devil Survivor I was both excited and hesitant. Well luckily my excitement was rewarded, and my doubts were pushed aside. Devil Suvivor has a powerful story and colorful cast of characters to match its SMT brothers, but is also unique enough that it is its own game experience.

Let's begin with what in my opinion is the best thing about SMT games, the story. You play the part of a nameless hero who finds him and his friends suddenly trapped in Tokyo when the power goes out and the government sets up a lockdown around the entire city. From there you are given a device that looks a lot like your DS that allows you to summon demons, but it also allows you to see how many days people have left to live. With this knowledge you must find a way to keep yourself alive for the next seven days as you try to escape the lockdown and fight off demons, all while being thrown into an ancient battle for the throne of the demon king.

Luckily you have a wide ranging cast of characters to help you out. Each character is unique while at the same time feeling realistic enough that it doesn't take you out of the mindset that this demon invasion is happening in the real world. Each character has a distinct personality and look to them that makes each of them stand out and stick in your mind. Everyone who plays this game is going to have a favorite character, and a character they can't stand, and the great thing is that those two characters will be different for everybody.

Now as for the gameplay itself, the battles are exciting, but can get a little redundant and tiresome at certain points. However, it's outside the battles where this game really shines. I hate it when an RPG gives you choices, but no matter what you pick the outcome will always be the same. I mean come on, it's a Role Playing Game, let me have some control over my decisions and let them have consequences. Well that's exactly what Devil Survivor does for you, because you're going to be given a ton of questions to answer, and you really will get the fealing that each answer will change the course of the game. In fact you'll even have multiple paths that you can take throughout the game. Sometimes there will be two events happening at once, and you have to decide do you save a bunch of civilians or chat with a new character.

And all these choices will eventually lead to something, because on the final day you get to decide what course of action you will take from a list of six choices. And how many of those choices become available to you is determined by what choices you have made earlier in the game. And with six different paths to take on the final day this creates massive amounts of replay value. Although I have to admit that sometimes the choices your given for a response are basically the same, or they're on opposite ends of the "Jerk-NiceGuy Spectrum" and you wish there was more variety.

All in all Devil Survivor creates a story that pulls you in, with likeable and memorable characters, and gives you an all around unique gameplay experience. The only real downsides are that sometimes the gameplay can get a little tedious and the choices you're given aren't always as diverse as you'd want them to be. But that's a small price to play for a game you'll want to play at least six times over.