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Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call
A heretic called upon an earthly light, and devastation ensued...
The stream of average
Japanese RPGs has
its benefits, you know:
inevitably, within the ranges of
¥2,245 budget titles, there often
lingers a franchise with a more
focused use of its creativity. No,
we’re not referring to either of
Square Enix’s 40 or 60 millionselling
behemoths, which have
always had financial room to
breathe, but rather a semisuccessful
series from a smaller
Japanese company.
Prior to Shin Megami Tensei:
Lucifer’s Call, the MegaTen series
was unheard of in Europe. No doubt
buoyed by the fact that it featured
Dante, from the Devil May Cry
games, Lucifer’s Call was the first
in the long-running series to justify
its leap to European shores. The
RPG plays as a twisted version of
the Pokémon series, but the ball
throwing and quirky creatures are
exchanged for negotiation, and
demonic killers respectively. An
unsettling presence hangs over
the game’s world; the graphics are
in soft focus, but it isn’t the kind
you’re used to. It’s more of a dark
blur, and every environment is more
immersive as a result.
The combat is standard RPG
fare, but developed in a remarkably
engaging way. The main character
(though nameless, we refer to him
as ‘Samuel’) is customisable, but
the monsters can be crossbred, and
evolved. Unlike other Shin Megami
Tensei games, which lacked the
atmosphere and subverted tone of
this inspiring release, the storyline
was a little braver – touching on
some religion-twisting ideas, the
plot was all the better for its lack of
American voice actors.
Even the setting, something that
could’ve been lazily outputted in
the face of the intriguing concept,
is sensibly multi-layered. The
game starts in a train station,
but eventually moves to a creepy
hospital, a park, and huge,
labyrinthine tunnels of interdimensional
space. Throw the
Apocalypse over all of that, and
Lucifer’s Call unveils itself to be a
surprising, thought-provoking RPG.
Avoiding the trappings of its
regular Japanese brethren, Shin
Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call shows
that a great RPG doesn’t need a
high profile to hit the mark. This is
a well-rounded, challenging game,
and it makes for a great break
from the clichéd RPGs that have
poisoned the genre of late. "The
fact remains that our world came to
an end..."
Take five minutes to look on
Amazon, and you’ll see that Shin
Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call is
available for about £11 secondhand,
but one of us got it brand
new for £9.99. Have a browse,
before you buy. |
