Publisher Atlus has been all money lately.  While the team is known for making mostly “niche” games, they’ve established quite a fanbase especially with eastern gamers.  From the Persona games at the end of the PS2′s dominance to other Shin Megami Tensei games on the handhelds, Atlus has simply been putting out quality titles.  Catherine is the publisher’s first internally-developed title for a high-definition console, and those patient enough to handle the game should find that this is ..read more

To many fans of the epic genre, Japanese role-playing games have all but gone stale.  With the exception of Demon’s Souls, there really hasn’t been a single title that has unanimously pushed the genre forward.  Even Square’s behemoth Final Fantasy XIII couldn’t live up to its hype.  However, there is some hope, and master developer and publisher Atlus provides that glimmer of hope by moving forward through the past with its latest epic for the Nintendo DS–Radiant Historia.

Radiant ..read more

Atlus is back on the PSP with another RPG from the developers behind Knights in the Nightmare and Riviera: The Promised Land. Hexyz Force offers an interesting way to experience the stories of its two main characters, which is to play two separate campaigns to get both sides of the story. While the game may not do much else that’s unique, Hexyz Force may be worth a look for the two 20+ hour stories you get in this package.

Rather than ..read more

AtlusAtlus has made the interesting move of opening the latest entry in the Trauma Center series to having multiple protagonists to provide more variety to the game. Trauma Team features a cast of six doctors, each in a different field of medicine that offers a different type of experience that sets them apart from each other. The end result is a refreshing sequel that is more grounded in reality so you can more easily care about the story ..read more

After two Trauma Center games on the Wii that focused just on surgery, it was time for the series to open up to multiple fields of medicine to broaden the scope of the game. Trauma Team features the stories of six new doctors that offer quite a lot of variety and content compared to the campaigns in previous Trauma Center games. We got our hands on the game to see if this is a Wii game to keep an ..read more

It’s surprising that it has taken this long for somebody besides Nintendo to make a Legend of Zelda-style game, much less two  that are taking inspiration from the two eras of the legendary Nintendo franchise. From Software’s 3D Dot Game Heroes provides an entertaining parody of the original NES Legend of Zelda that offers a fresh experience that we haven’t seen on a console for a long time.

3D Dot Game Heroes begins with the story of the Legendary ..read more



After hitting it big with Demon’s Souls, From Software has returned with their latest game for the PS3 that should feel very familiar for those of you that owned an NES back in the day. 3D Dot Game Heroes is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the original Legend of Zelda for that embraces that old-school style of gameplay and visuals. We’ve gotten our hands on the game to see if From Software has another potential hit for the PS3.

3D Dot Game ..read more

With Metal Slug’s arcade days behind it, SNK Playmore has the tough task of trying to figure out where the series should be headed to best serve its style of gameplay. For now, they’ve brought the series to the handhelds with Metal Slug 7 on the DS two years ago and now the PSP with a semi-enhanced port, called Metal Slug XX. While Metal Slug XX has its moments, it doesn’t really match up to any of the earliest games ..read more

While we’ve only seen one previous mainline game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, the latest game has quite a few familiar aspects for those of you that have played some of the spin-off series that Atlus has published over the past decade. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey takes a lot of cues from the previous Shin Megami Tensei games and spin-offs to make for a great RPG for the DS.

Strange Journey’s story is something of a tale about the ..read more

The Shiren the Wanderer series has been around for 15 years with quite a few ports of the original Super Famicom version to the Nintendo 64, Game Boy, and DS. The latter release from Sega and Chunsoft gave the series new life so that the developers could work on this latest installment in the roguelike series for the Wii. Atlus has certainly done a better job in bringing over Shiren the Wanderer to our shores in better shape ..read more

The Shin Megami Tensei series has been around for quite a long time, though most of the games we’ve seen from Atlus have been in the Persona, Digital Devil Saga, and Devil Summoner spin-off series. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is part of the mainline series with more of a roguelike style to how it plays out than the more prolific and traditional SMT role-playing games like Persona. After a good ten hours, we’re enjoying what we’ve played of the ..read more