Nintendo DS Games Review #1 - Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, published by Atlus, is a niche title which was released in the United States on March 3, 2010 for the Nintendo DS game system. The game is a first-person dungeon crawler, a la Etrian Oddyssey, but with a Shin Megami Tensei flavor.

In SMT: Strange Journey, the player will control a silent protagonist as he explores the depths of a vast area known as the Schwarzwelt: a mysterious expanding space located at the South Pole that threatens to consume the entire Earth. During a mission to investigate the threat possible threat posed by the Schwarzwelt, the player's character will find himself crash-landing somewhere within it, and the story begins as the player is introduced to the idea of fighting demons.


Essentially, the game is composed of a navigation system and a battle system, with a central hub area to which you will report between and during missions. You navigate the maze-like Schwarzwelt while occasionally being interrupted by a random battle. These battles are standard, turn-based RPG fare in which you control a team of characters and fight monsters. What sets these battles apart from other games is that they are initially challenging in each area, so you will have to think about how you manage your resources as you explore the Schwarzwelt, so that you always have enough to survive the return trip to your central hub.

Graphically, the game is impressive. The character and demon artwork is detailed, and though the the demon artwork is taken from previous games, that is excusable considering the sheer number of demons you can recruit for your fighting team. The 3D graphics aren't anything special when compared to what is seen in other Nintendo DS games, but they aren't bad, either. They do the job they're meant to do and provide little distraction from the meat of the game, but they don't impress either.

The sound effects range from passable to good. Battles will feature typical sounds of bullets firing and claws slashing and monsters grunting. Doors will make clicking or beeping noises as appropriate, and nothing stands out where it shouldn't. The music is interesting, to say the least. During battles and story scenes, the music will be sometimes catchy, and always set the appropriate mood. During exploration, however, it tends to be little more repetitive drum beats mixed with hollow the occasional hollow chanting or grunting, which gets annoying quickly and ruins the atmosphere of the game.

In the end, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is a solid game. It's certainly not bad, but there's nothing that makes it great. Alongside all other Nintendo DS games, it's near the top only because of the great quantity mediocre and bad games. Among a line-up of other good games, it should rank near the middle. Of course, if you have already played a lot of the other good Nintendo DS games, or you just want a good dungeon-crawler, then this should be a priority buy, but if you haven't had much time to sample all the games out there, take your time and see what else is out there before making your next purchase.