Review by: Brian Rowe

Death is a temporary nuisance in most RPGs, easily rectified by revival spells and Phoenix Downs. In Devil Survivor, the duration of mortality literally hangs above a person’s head, counting down to death. You begin with one day left. To make matters worse, you’re stranded in Tokyo and cut off from the outside world via government quarantine while demons intrude upon the city. Your only hope is to become a demon tamer and fight against fate.

The clock keeps ticking as you travel through the hotspots of Tokyo in search of answers. Time is broken into days and half-hour increments, and sometimes, you’ll be forced to choose between simultaneous events branching out to new conclusions. More importantly, you need to find a way to increase the number on your Death Clock. It’s an intriguing premise that resonates with echoes from The World Ends With You and the Persona series, but you won’t find the same depth of narrative that those games cherished. With influences from the tactics sub-genre, Devil Survivor is much more battle-hardened than its Shin Megami Tensei (MegaTen) brethren.

Combat is a blend of turn-based strategy and Rock, Paper, Scissors. Each of your human characters commands a team of demons, and instead of swords and shields, you have to account for elemental strengths and weaknesses for each human, demon, and opponent. If one team specializes in fire attacks, you want to maneuver it on the map so that it will face off against a susceptible opponent, and vice versa for defending. Since you never know what opponents you’ll face next, every battle is a test of foresight and improvisational strategy.

I was afraid that the DS would tame the level of difficulty that MegaTen games have become notorious for but if anything, Devil Survivor may be too difficult due to uneven scaling. By the time you reach your first, serious battle, you will probably be 10 levels below the boss and ill-equipped to deal with his numerous underlings. Obviously, you will be expected to spend a lot of time building your teams with the Free Battle option. Grinding for experience is an occasional necessity in most RPGs. Devil Survivor turns it into a constant burden that seems to be nothing more than an artificial means of extending the game’s lifespan. Free Battles are a great way to bring lagging characters up to speed and practice with new demons, and that is all they should have been.

Much like the Persona series, which shares many of the same otherworldly creatures, collecting demons and fusing them into new ones is an integral facet of gameplay. Devil Survivor makes a few improvements to the tried and true system. Instead of scouring your collection for the perfect combination of demons, you can set criteria for stats and abilities in one move to see if you can make the type of demon that you want. If not, or if you need a new recruit, you can log into the online auction house to purchase more. Like an addictive, mature-flavored slice of Pokemon, fusing demons and birthing the dreams of Dr. Frankenstein is almost a game in itself. Unfortunately, viewing your creations in action is completely disenchanting.

The handfuls of character portraits used to convey emotions are crisp and vibrant, as well as the most visual stimulation you will get from Devil Survivor. Battles are bland displays of two-dimensional foes lined up in static poses. Except for an unimposing flash of color when magic is used, most of the action is conveyed purely through numbers. I’m not a fan of movie-length spell-effects, but it wouldn’t hurt to see myself throwing a punch or conjuring some sparkling lights every now and then. Outside of arranging your teams on the battlefield, the most movement to be seen is in the dialogue boxes.

With such basic visuals and a story that is heavy on dialogue and light on exploration, Devil Survivor doesn’t strain to appeal to a new audience. The massive wall that passes for a difficulty-curve will make sure of that. It seems more like a handheld trainer for the MegaTen-devout looking for a fix of demonic fusing and formidable combat on the go.

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