Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

A strange egg-shaped object, writhing roots emerging from the bottom and two rival gangs on either side of it. But this is more than a turf war. Failure to capture the object is seen by both sides as an act of war. So they move toward it, and the battle begins. But something else is at play here, and the cacophony of gunfire, the explosion from crossbow-launched missiles is interrupted by threads of light that fire from the object. The light worms shoot through the members of the Vanguard tribe and the Embryon tribe.

There is a nightmarish scene, in which demonic creatures rise up, in which Vanguard warriors are eaten at the urging of another, unseen force.

For Serph and the other four members of the Embryon tribe, there are only strange memories, and tattoos on various parts of their bodies. They know they must go to the Vanguard compound, to see out the Vanguard leader – Harley – in the hopes that he can tell them what happened and what the tattoos mean.

With Serph in the lead, a trio of Embryons head to Svadhisthana, home of the Vanguard. But they are surprised to find the gates unguarded. Heat, the more “self-assured” member of the trio remarks it makes their job easier. The Vanguard base is strangely deserted until they find one room and huddled behind some boxes are Harley and two members of his tribe. Harley is terrified, but his eyes glow with a strange color. He screams that he saw Serph and the others eat members of his team, and then, just as the terror is about to consume him, the other two members of his team begin to glow, and change.

But the same happens to Serph, Heat and Argilla. And instead of androgynous warriors are three demonic forms.

Welcome to Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, an exploration-adventure/turn-based combat game from Atlus USA. Each step you take may put you in contact with an array of demonically mutated creatures, as well as closer to the truth about what has happened to you.

Digital Devil Saga follows some stock gameplay ideas of other titles in the genre. Your trio is represented by one character that dashes about, solving the puzzles to allow access around the labyrinth of a base. But at any given moment, you may encounter enemies, at which point the game switches to a stock setting, lines up the opposing groups and you enter a turn-based combat mode. If you go first, you select the attack skill (or can pass), then select the target. The next member of your party gets a similar move, and so on until all members of your party have moved, and then the other side gets to move – unless you have paralyzed them or incapacitated them and they are unable to launch a counter assault.

You level, which gives you points to spend in a number of statistical areas, like hit points or magic points (which enables players to cast spells). When you defeat enemies, you devour them, which gives the avatars ATMA points and that in turn leads to more special abilities that come into play during the combat.

Argilla, however, does not devour defeated enemies. She is vehemently opposed to it and fights her demonic other half in that regard. But Argilla does have an ability that makes her limited attack abilities invaluable. She can analyze the enemies, which yields insight into weaknesses that other can use to defeat the monsters. She also can throw in a minor heal to keep allies alive.

Players can realign the group lineup, placing the different avatars into strategic positions for the ensuing battles. For example, you can move Argilla into the first position so that she can analyze the monsters faced prior to starting the combat.

Like any game, you can pick up different power-ups for the group – food to heal the group, or items that regenerate magic power, or even resurrecting potions. The game also features stations for saving the game, restoring health and magic, and teleporting back to previous stations.

The control scheme is simple to understand and use. The learning curve, in that regard, is small. The game’s sound is decent, but really does not suit the darker tone of the game. We are dealing with demonology; characters that morph for combat and eat their fallen enemies. The musical score is a little too light, and the sound effects go from acceptable to laughable. When Heat gets in the killing blows to end an encounter, the two-headed demon pounds its chest and the sound is like pounding on a closed screen door. Graphically the game is solid. There are repetitive animations, and the movement options are limited. The games sports a nice three-dimensional look and the level design is good.

But Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga falters in that it takes a dark premise, but gives it a cursory treatment. There is the mystery of the dark-haired girl found in the crater left by the egg-shaped object, which unleashed the light worms that marked the principle characters, and there is the whole aspect of these warriors that morph into demons with strange powers, but while the developers could have crafted a taut and edgy game from that, they opted out for the standard tactical combat game.

Gameplay: 7.8
There is a small learning curve, but as this game follows the turn-based combat format closely. Those who have played those games before will find familiarity here.

Graphics: 7.5
The game uses repetitious graphical elements in the combat and combat environments. There are some fog-of-war elements on the levels to help guide to new territory. But while the game looks fine, and sports some of the Japanese anime elements, for the most part it is the same graphical elements stamped into new locations. 

Sound: 6.8
The music, while not bad, is repetitious and does not adequately fit the game’s theme.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The game mechanics are not that hard and the game is simple as you begin, and ramps up just a little as you progress deeper into it. 

Concept: 8.0
The game took a very good concept in the mystery and demon morphing of the main characters but then gives them a very lite touch.

Overall: 7.5
These could have been a dark and edgy game, but rather than unleashing this beast, the developers pulled back to make it a standard tactical turn-based combat game.