Action speaks at just about the same level of volume as words You can let the game make many of your combat choices for you, but it's rarely an effective solution, the AI often making repeated attacks on enemies that will never make a dent in their armour.Īs the title falls back on random encounters to force you into combat, clashing with enemies (and subsequently exploring areas) can become a chore over long stretches of play. Selecting options during fights feels stilted, menus taking fractions of seconds longer than is needed, slowing down battles for a device that's meant to be played in quick bursts. Even the bigger Fusion Spells that require two or more Personas to pull off are totally underwhelming. There are some middling effects on display, too. Played from a zoomed-out, isometric perspective incorporating 3D and low resolution 2D elements, the combat never engages you because it's too remote. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with its adherence to levelling up characters and their Personas, nothing unlikeable about its town and dungeon formula, but there's very little to get excited about at the same time. Which is absolutely where Persona 2 disappoints. The focus on the importance of having goals to succeed (here: to survive), inter-school rivalries, the formation of hierarchies, the questioning of pre-existing cultural morays: all is tackled within the framework of a fairly typical role-playing game.
Like Persona 3 Portable, released earlier in the year, P2:IS is ripe with subtext and commentary on its native country's school system and society within a Lovecraftian storyline. Tatsuya and his party set out to take the fight back to this masked menace, battling demons and a number of Joker's human allies with their Personas - personality features that have become manifest. Should they lack any dreams or fail to tell him what they are, Joker will sap their energy, hollowing them out and confining them to a different plane of existence. This summons the appropriately clownish figure of Joker, who asks them what their aspirations are. In Sumaru City, youngsters play a game in which they make a phone call to themselves. The narrative follows the extraordinary life of Tatsuya Suou, his classmates at Seven Sisters High School, and a mysterious affliction befalling the populace instigated by the central foil: Joker. Until now.įor fans of Persona it will have been worth the wait, as this is a solid early chapter in the JRPG franchise.
#PERSONA 2 SUMARU CITY PSP#
A Japanese PSP port followed earlier this year, but so far the game has been a tantalising rumour in the west. PlayStation RPG Persona 2: Innocent Sin first came to Japan in 1999.
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