Not being an import gamer, it has taken recent games like Nocturne and the Digital Devil Saga duo to fully turn me on to the Shin Megami Tensei RPG phenomenon (although I also loved the Persona spin-off games from the PSOne) and now that I have finally been able to experience more of what the popular series is all about, I simply can't get enough of it. Up next for the series here in the US is the impending debut of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (Devil Summoner for short!), a game that retains the series' unique occultist style and flair while refreshing things a bit with a new action-oriented combat system. Devil Summoner's October 10th release is rapidly closing in, but having already gotten started on the final build I'm here with a quick hands-on account to share my early feelings of how things are coming along.

Set in the 1910s/1920s Taishou Period in Japan, Devil Summoner opens with the main character, who you name yourself, kneeling before some sort of statue, getting ready to go through a trial to earn the title Raidou Kuzunoha and become the next Devil Summoner. This trial serves as a tutorial, teaching the basics of the game's combat system, which happens to function quite differently from the recent SMT titles. As opposed to Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga's strategic, turn-based battles, Devil Summoner features a real-time combat system that is more accessible and heavier on action. While roaming around the game world, random encounters occur as usual, but once combat begins you are free to move around in full 3D and attack the enemies stacked against you. During a fight, Raidou slashes with his katana at the press of the Square button, fires rounds from his gun with Triangle and guards with X. It's very simple to pick up in that hack-n-slash action-RPG sort of way, and there are combo attacks and the like to spice things up.

Also keeping the combat fresh and lively is a demon summoning mechanic that allows you to capture demons in the heat of battle and then summon them to fight by your side. By exploiting the elemental weaknesses of a demon they are momentarily stunned. While stunned you can press the Circle button to begin the confinement process, which brings up a Confine Gauge and has you rapidly tapping Circle in order to deplete the gauge and capture the target. Once captured, you can tap the RI button to bring up a menu and summon a demon from your current selection, and even though you can only have one demon fighting beside you at a time, you can change between allied demons as much as you want. And from the same menu you can also issue commands to your demon, such has having them focus on physical or magical attacks, heal/support you, conserve MP or just let the AI handle everything (which isn't recommended). You can also summon demons while outside of combat to help solve puzzles and investigate the environments, even taking over manual control of a demon to sneak into off-limit areas (demons can't be seen by humans).

After completing the tutorial trial you achieve the title of Raidou the 14th and, accompanied by a black cat named Gouto, you are tasked with looking after the capital city and protecting the citizens from demons by taking a position as a detective at the Narumi Detective Agency. Raidou's first mission comes along when a young girl calls into the office and asks to meet with the detectives about something (Narumi works as Raidou's assistant). Upon meeting with the girl, in an odd series of events she asks for the detectives to kill her, before a group of red-cloaked and masked guards intervene and take the girl away - and thusly the story kicks into gear as you investigate this strange occurrence.

So far the one main commonality Devil Summoner carries over from its recent predecessors is its gothic anime-stylized art and sound direction. Kazuma Kaneko's character designs are as brilliant as ever, and overall I'd say that Devil Summoner is a slight graphical step up from Nocturne and DDS, with more interesting and active environments and sharper looking characters. The music and sound effects are near identical to past SMT games, but still of high quality nonetheless. Right now my only disappointment has been the lack of voice acting, which saddens me coming after the stellar work that was recorded for the DDS games.

Lack of voice acting aside, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner has so far proven to be yet another gleaming RPG jewel for Atlus to stick in its crown. It has all of the elements that SMT fans have grown to love and appreciate from the series, while introducing a new real-time combat system to breathe some fresh air into the genre. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army is due out in less than two weeks, so if you're craving a new RPG then this should appease your demon-summoning appetite. Check back soon for our full review.

Previewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).