Revelations: The Demon Slayer

"Megami Tensei (Last Bible) finally his the US and does admirably well"

Opener:

After a lot of people asking, begging, pleading, and I imagine worse finally a company took a hint from the fans and released a real turn based RPG for the Gameboy Color. Thank you Atlus for listening to the call, and on your first try out, over all you made an excellent Gameboy RPG that should be included in anybody's library of games. With the obvious copyright dating on the title screen above you must be questioning my comment on this game giving roots to Pokemon so I shall explain. This game is actually many years old. The real title of the game in Japan was "Last Bible", an excellent series of RPGs that showed up on a few of Nintendo's systems. Coincidentally, this title also was originally a black and white title that got an update, but since it is not a color only title those without color units can play it as well.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are a crazy cross between the typical tile based, not to complex in the overworld to beauty in the battles. The map has many different tiles pieced together for all the places you visit. These pieces do have a nice look to them, but overall they are quite generic, repetitive, and look much like graphics in other 8bit RPGs. In the battles though the look of the graphics are a mix of beauty and a slight desire for more. While the monsters are drawn and colored in extremely well with high definition, that's all that is on screen besides the battle menus. There is no background at all except for a black backdrop which I feel should have had a design of the area you were currently fighting in. Another neat effect in the game to be seen is when you take two demons and combine them into a new demon. The effect of the final melding on a design is interesting, the flying of the still across the screen is quite unimaginative.

Rating: 3.5

Sound
The sound in this RPG, as I feel that all RPGs should have to help captivate the player is quite good. There is a nice variety of music between all the areas you visit in the game that suit them all quite well. The music draws the player more into whichever environment or type of battle they are fighting within. The sound effects to them game are quite nice as well, though I do feel that there could have been a few more. Though there are magic attack sound effects there are no sounds during the rest of the fight or events in the game.

Rating: 3.5

Theme & Fun
The idea of this game obviously like many RPGs is to save the land, like in so many others. The real fun in it though comes from the battles and the demons that you come in contact with. In a battle you could take the typical path and destroy it, but you have another option, trying to befriend it. In battle you or the enemy can intiate a chat with you(or one of your other demons if you choose.) If you try for it you need to hope your levels are high enough, and that you answer four questions right to get them(with a demon, it either works or fails.) Once you have gained at least two demons, you can use a new friend that your main character "El" will find that can combine the demons usually into a more powerful creature. About half the way through the game you will come across a third and final companion in your travels. These demons you capture can fight for you in battle to fill up the 6 spots in your combat party. After catching some demons you can then find a friend with a game and then put them against each other via the link cable too. Since this game came before Pokemon, I'm giving credit where it is due for this titles creativity which sadly no other site could do. *fools*

Rating: 4.5

Play Control
The play control of this game sadly is not as great as it could be in the sense of walking around the maps. As I mentioned RPG maps of type are in a tiled format. If you are holding a direction and then want to change, if your character has just slightly went over into the next tile he will go all the way before changing direction. This can create the image that the game has poor control which it really doesn't, but it was a poor oversight. Other than this the play control is quite good in navigating through the menus of the game. Each menu only will go in one or two screens at the most making the navigation quick and painless. Also given to you is the choice to speed up or slow down how the text appears in the game which is a nice addition as well.

Rating: 3.5

Challenge
The challenge of this game I believe depends on how good you are at RPGs. If you are a big fanboy of RPG type games and can knock them off without much of a problem then this game won't be all that difficult. The game still will be a challenge though with the boss characters and I feel that it could take you around 20 hours to finish this game. Even after you are done you can continue to play the game and upgrade your demons and earn more such as the bosses you have already played against. Another challenge comes from the fact you can VS. battle a friends demons with the link cable to add to the title. If you are not that great at RPGs, but want something that sort of feels like Pokemon this game will keep you busy for a while.

Rating: 3.5

Replay Value and Closing Notes:
The replay value of this game depends on the player you are. If you love to replay a good RPG over and over again this is a keeper. If you are a Pokemon fan who wants another "catch 'em all" title that you can battle against a good friend with this is for you too. If you are not big into RPGs and not much up on the monster gathering to assist you in battle type games you might want to look passed this one as it won't be a big replay game for you.

This game is not a game I feel for all tastes. You really have to care about turn based RPGs and Pokemon like games to probably give this game the care it really deserves. Personally, I found this game to be an excellent title that was updated from a time years ago. I enjoy the title and I have played through it once and surely will again sooner or later.

Overall Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/04