It is hard to describe a game like Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (from now on referred to as DS:RK for surely obvious reasons) without resorting to easy comparisons, none of it's individual elements are particularly unique instead what makes it interesting and worthy of a second look is how it combines them all to create an experience that differs from almost everything else around at the moment. The latest game in the Devil Summoner series (which itself is an off shoot of the popular, in at least, Shin Megami Tensei series) which had previously graced the PS1, DS:RK is a blend of detective adventure game and that seems to be treading that fine line between offering a little something for everyone and satisfying no-one.

Set in a slightly skewed version of 1920's Japan, demons have escaped from the Dark Realm and have settled in our own. These demonic neighbours remain invisible to all but the few humans with the power to see them, one such lucky chap is Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th who comes from a long line of warriors able to harness the powers of captured demons and use them for good. The start of the game see's Raidou working as a detective in the Narumi Detective Agency where the kidnapping of a young client (during a meeting with Raidou, talk about careless!) sets the game's story in motion from where it gradually unfolds revealing a tale that's often slightly bonkers but always remains wonderfully entertaining in a way only Japanese games seem able.

If you've played a traditional Japanese RPG (JRPG) like, for example, the PS1 games you'll be familiar with the initial look and feel of things, the exploratory portions of the game are portrayed in a resolutely old fashioned way with a world map to guide the player between an ever growing number of locations where characters move around pre-rendered static backgrounds that give the game an unavoidable retro air not helped by the slightly disorientating fixed camera angles. It's in these locations that Raidou must try and piece together the evidence to find the missing girl by exploring every nook and cranny for clues and questioning the people he meets along the way. For all the experience points and character levelling that goes on just to remind you you're playing an RPG, such detective work gives the whole thing an adventure game quality that feel refreshingly different from all the quest based RPG's on display at the moment.

Anyone who's spent any time playing JRPG's in the past will have come up against the concept of random battles, a gaming device born from the days when memory limitations meant the locations of enemies was decided randomly and the player's only warning was the sudden switch to the battle screen. Love it or hate it it's a system that often restricts exploration for explorations sake by overshadowing every detour with the worry that you'll end up having to fight large numbers of pointless random battles on your way there and back again with no guarantee of finding anything worth while when you get there. It's a system I have a forgiving dislike for, while the underlying principle of getting drawn into frequent unavoidable battles by things you can't see till they attack when you're merely walking from one side of the screen to another seems to be a game design element that deserves to be consigned to history, its also one that any number of fantastic games (the seminal Final Fantasy VII for one) have employed without ruining the experience so its hard to feel too aggrieved to see it trotted out again in DS:RK. Indeed, it works no better or worse here than it has in every other game that's used it. This is my slightly cowardly way of saying it is very much down to personal taste but if you like it you can probably add a few marks to the final score.

However you feel about how you end up in combat, once there it isn't the turn-based affair you may have expected from past experience; instead it takes the form of a combo based system more akin to your button bashing action games than your stat heavy RPG's. Unfortunately, despite a promising gun and sword weapon combination and the promise of some special moves to be learnt DS:RK's combat feel hugely limited with the small enclosed battle arenas and the stilted animation making things feel clumsy and outdated next to true action titles like the 2's of this world and leaves you wishing for a return to well implemented turn-based systems. Of course, Raidou wouldn't be much of a Devil Summoner if he went through this whole adventure alone and things get a tad more interesting when he uses his powers to summon one of the demons he has under his control. Although once summoned the demons remain AI controlled during battles you're able to give them instructions and it's this strategic use of your menagerie of demons that's the key to defeating the various enemies you'll come up against. Each demon has their own strengths and weakness based around the four elements, for example, one may offer very powerful fire attacks but be hugely susceptible to water ones. Once you've worked out the weakness of an opposing demon the trick is to summon a demon of your own whose strengths will exploit their flaws. When exploited in this manor a demon will appear stunned giving Raidou a couple of seconds to either finish them off or more importantly capture it to add to his collection for use in a future battle. It's a decent enough idea but the limitations of the rest of the combat means that simply picking the right demon and waiting till its done it's job before stepping in to either capture or kill becomes more than a little repetitive fairly quickly, a factor not helped by the annoying frequency of the random battles.

The collected demons are more than just a combat gimmick however; they can also be summoned at any point during the rest of the game to help in the investigation. Their ability to move around unseen by most human's means they can get into places Raidou himself is unable to access, not to mention the usefulness of their more paranormal abilities like mind reading during interrogations. The only problem is that having reached a point where you need a specific ability but you've not yet captured a suitable demon all that's left is to wandering around waiting for random battles to spawn till you find and successfully capture one possessing the required ability. With such an emphasis on their collection it's a relief to find that the demons themselves are by far the game's most interesting visual component with the designs by series regular Kazuma Kaneko constantly inventive resulting in a real sense of discovery upon finding a new breed. You're also able to practice a little demon alchemy later on in proceedings by combining any two demons together to try and create a kind of super demon, it's a nice way to add some more depth to things and it works in principle as there is certainly fun to be had mixing and matching demons to see what the result is, it is just unfortunate that the combat you ultimately want to use them in remains so uninspired.

Graphically and aurally DS:RK isn't particularly impressive even for the PS2, its depiction of 1920's Japan is well conceived but the use of pre-rendered backgrounds makes it feel dated and the 3D combat environments are small and featureless. A lack of voice acting in the majority of the game is a disappointment too but then it is fair to say your imagination can probably do a better job of giving character to the obviously translated in-game text than the actors brought in for the cut scenes could ever have done.

All in all DS:RK is an admirable attempt to take a series that's had little exposure in the west and make it noticeably more accessible to newcomers but unfortunately such concessions have resulted in a game that fails to truly engage on any level, producing an underwhelming mix of the RPG, action and adventure genres all wrapped up in adequate if slightly retro visuals. For anyone who enjoys random battles and monster collection and fancies an RPG with a detective twist there's fun to be had in despite the problems, the sceptic or the novice however may be less impressed.

68%

By Paul Newcombe