In turn, each student discovers his or her own Persona power. Each Persona has unique abilities that either damage enemies or provide healing or buffs for your allies. This is where we get to the real meat of Persona.

In battle, you are first given the options to fight, run, analyze or address your enemy, or re-configure your formation. Fighting is similar to most other Persona games: you may choose to attack with a gun or melee weapon (each character can use both) or summon a Persona and utilize one of its skills. After you defeat an enemy, you will be able to analyze enemies of the same type in order to strategize around their strengths and weaknesses. A battle feature new to this title is the ability to contact enemies. A graph of sorts displays each monster’s temperament, and you can choose an approach accordingly. For example, a sad demon may be cheered up with a joke, or you may appeal to a haughty demon by cowering and pleading. If you can win over a demon, you may receive a valuable Tarot card, which can be used to create more Personas when taken to the mysterious Velvet Room, which can be found in various locations throughout the game.

As with the other Persona games, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona provides a fascinating and constantly-turning plot, as well as a cast of likable characters – all things that keep you interested enough to press on when fighting enemies gets monotonous or difficult. And it will. Be prepared to encounter a few tough dungeons that will take several run-throughs to complete. As save points can be few and far between, the PSP’s ability to go into “sleep mode” becomes an added bonus. There’s nothing worse than progressing most of the way through a really difficult level and then realizing that you’re running late for one of your pesky real-life commitments with no save point in sight.

The game features some nice graphical facelifts, like slick anime-style cut scenes unique to the North American version, and a very stylish intro set to catchy Japanese rock (fans of the series may recognize the voice of Yumi Kawamura, who sang the tracks in Persona 3). The in-game controls, however, feel clunky and outdated, although old school RPG fans may get a kick out of dungeon crawling Bard’s Tale-style with an aerial map, first-person navigation, labyrinthine 3D corridors and surprise enemy encounters. In most areas, you steer the protagonist in third person, which suffers greatly from rigid controls where the character moves only in straight lines and only pivots in 4 directions. Such minor gripes are forgotten, though, thanks to the intense pace and constant cliffhangers the game provides.

All in all, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona succeeds at transitioning a cult classic RPG into the handheld market, and proves that games this original and well-written are truly timeless.

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