‘Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4’

January 16, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

(Atlus) FOR PlayStation 2

Genre: Role-playing; Rating: M

Grade: B

Fair warning: “Persona 4” is a bit heady. It’s not a knock on the game, mind you, but it’s worth mentioning because to explain it is not going to be easy. If you allow yourself to get wrapped up in the fog and stare down this rabbit hole, you can find plenty of gaming satisfaction.

So you are a new kid at a school, and before long a mysterious fog appears and starts killing people. Turns out you have the power to stop this, and it involves staring into a TV screen and becoming part of a TV show, where you unlock the mysteries and personae of tarot-deck characters. These personae have the powers and skills necessary to defeat the creepy fog and free the minds and personae of other children.

Got all that? Yeah, I’m not kidding when I said “Persona 4” was heady. This is not a game for young ’uns. And I haven’t even gotten into all the dungeon-crawling you’ll do, and how the weather affects gameplay. There is plenty to absorb, and any initial confusion hopefully won’t keep you from seeing the game through.

The visuals and gameplay are strong, allowing the gamer to learn everything at a steady pace and not always feel totally overwhelmed (though new gamers may scratch their heads more than a few times). The fighting system and character development are constantly evolving, so the game maintains a fresh appeal.

It would have been better to see a game of this caliber jump directly into the PlayStation 3 market. Enhanced graphics and online capability and other additions could have made this a top-five PS3 title. But we’ll have to wait.

In the meantime, Atlus has produced a top-notch PS2 game — for those who still care about their PS2.

‘Neopets Puzzle Adventure’

(Capcom) for Wii

Genre: Puzzle; Rating: E

Grade: D-

“Neopets Puzzle Adventure” stinks.

Several twists appear, but the main point is that after creating a neopet, you will take him/her onto a flying ship and sail off to places unknown and battles to be fought.

Unfortunately, the graphics are out of focus almost throughout, and the action is boring and unappealing. Upgrading your neopet does have an effect on the gameplay, but not in any way to make you want to try new abilities. There are some minigames and plenty of characters to interact with during the story mode, but I’d be shocked if anyone saw this through to the end.

Hopefully, fans of “Neopoets” will not be lulled into shelling out for this title, because even die-hards would have a hard time enjoying it.

—Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard