Shin Megami Tensei for SFC
Review #2310
Shin Megami Tensei
Demon-filled Pokemon
Gameplay
One of the better dungeon crawlers I've come across thus far. The controls are simple and intuitive, and I didn't feel lost in the small dungeons. The "Talk" mechanic is interesting, although I was never able to convince a monster to be my friend, or whatever they call it. It's a demon-filled Pokemon where you can't catch any of 'em.
Level Design
Super confusing. I played for a couple of hours but couldn't advance the story beyond the first 30 minutes or so. There was no help to know what to do next.
Theme
Modern setting with ou as a hacker being attacked by mythical monsters and demons. Cool premise. Very dark, sinister vibe.
Art Style
The overworld looks like the first area in TMNT for the NES. Maybe it's the barrier checkpoints that the police have to keep you in a small area which look like those X barrier in SNES. In any case, the overworld looks very unimpressive, especially with you being represented as a green map pin. Navigating the world looks like a visit to Google Maps.
The graphics in the dungeons is better, at least on a technical level. There's great animation as you move and turn, but like with all of these dungeon crawlers, every step looks like the last one. So boring! The only other visual element are the enemies. They offer some welcome variety to the screen, and feature some ghoulish character designs. Good stuff, for the most part.
Audio
Most of the tracks are a simple beat and a few measures that repeat after a few seconds. Harpsicord and flute-like sounds are heavily used. They go for a creepy vibe with many of the songs, but it sounds like that CD your neighbor plays while running their "haunted house" in their garage on Halloween.
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