Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Release Date: Dec. 9, 2008
System: PS2
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Now with less shooting yourself in the head (at least so far).

0:00 Despite saying that I would play Persona 3 FES for more than an hour in my GFL column, I never actually went back to it. Other games got in the way, but the disturbing anime imagery definitely got in my head and left me looking vaguely forward to this sequel.

0:01 Piano music. A bunch of TVs, one with the game's logo. A guy puts on glasses. A lonely loveseat. The guy lands and runs. The lonely loveseat gets the guy sitting in it. A girl with a fan. A guy with large headphones. Another with a skull and crossbones shirt. A bulbous blue egg-shaped man in a clown suit?!?! A card spinning on its corner. Detectives. Shaky-cam anime of a fight. A girl with a parasol. A Britney Spears-alike on a stage. The lonely loveseat again, on the TV, which switches of and cuts to ... the title screen! Wuzzah huh?

0:05 "Before you begin the story, choose a difficulty level in battle." The choices are Normal, Beginner and Expert. Seeing as I doubt I'll get to more than one battle in my first hour, it doesn't matter much, but I choose Normal. "You will be able to enjoy the normal challenge of battle, which requires a certain degree of strategy." You don't scare me! "Now, please sit back and enjoy the game." How thoughtful!

0:06 Black fog rolls by. A fancy car rolls into view in super close up. A woman in a pseudo-military outfit opens her eyes. A man with a ridiculous nose opens his eyes. "Welcome to the Velvet room!" Well that sounds familiar. Cut to 3-D models of the twosome inside the car. "Ah ... it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny..." says the "Bizarre-looking Man." Really, that's what the game calls him!

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer