For those of you who do not know - the Shin Megami Tensei series is a set of RPGs focusing on demons and the occult. The "Persona" franchise is a spinoff of the main series, which usually focuses on a gang of high-schoolers having the ability to use Personas who have taken it upon themselves to save the entire world.
This PSP instalment is a remake of the PS1 original. Although it still uses the same fundamental storyline and combat mechanics, a new soundtrack and anime style cutscenes are just a few of the things that have been added. After having a brief experience with the original game, I can say that fans will certainly not be disappointed and newcomers will not think the game is going stale.
Before I get into more depth on the game, I warn anyone that is considering picking this up that this game is an extremely hardcore RPG. It is not something you can just pick up on the tube to work without ending up at the wrong end of the District Line. The game is quite simply extremely long.
Combat takes an almost "isometric" stand-point - where your party are positioned will depend on which enemies you can attack, which also carries across when using spells. As with many J/RPGs, the game is turn based, however the added ability to switch your character’s Persona mid battle is a pretty neat addition. It has of course been seen before with Persona 3 and 4, but this time you can switch all your character’s Personas. Like I said, this game is a hard core RPG, so expect a high enemy encounter rate especially if when doing the Snow-Queen side quest. It’s also worth noting that you can however interact with demons instead of fight them, in order to gain items allowing you to make awesome new Personas!
Exploring the world and exploring dungeons are completely different. Where as you when you’re traversing the city environments you’re nothing more than an arrow, the game switches to a full on 3D first person view when exploring dungeons. However within these are times when you have your typical top down RPG view. This is where the game starts to trip up. The controls for moving can be extremely annoying especially in the "top-down" view. Pressing one direction sometimes takes you in a completely different one than intended.
The graphics are nice. Not comparable to other games on the system such as Crisis Core or Dissidia, but after all, this is a remake of an old game. The anime cutscenes however are beautifully done, staying true to the original. Visually the game begins to fall down with its stiff original battle animations. Although overall the game is polished, there are still a couple of graphical areas that could have used some work .
Even though Persona is a highly polished PSP gem that you can spend hours engaged with, this remake is certainly starting to show its age. Despite Atlus’ attempts at improving the classic, there are still a couple of minor things such as an irritating set of movement controls and poor battle animations which could use some extra work. That said, almost everything that was wrong with the original has been looked at, which still makes it worth picking up.
The overall combination of an improved soundtrack, beautiful cutscenes and 40+ hours of fun will make the hardcore RPG gamers drool. However those who are new to the series, or those who just use their PSP for playing more casual titles, may need to look away. Good, but not perfect.
