"Peaceful days died. Let's survive." Looking at these words which greeted me the moment I started up Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked – a re-release of the 2009 SMT: Devil Survivor for DS – I got the feeling that I was in for a less-than-cheery experience. Having played it, I can say that my guess was a good one.

You start by choosing a name for your otherwise nameless hero. After which, the story begins in Tokyo as he and his two friends receive strange devices from his cousin. The weirdness kicks in when these devices (called "COMPs", which, I might add, bear a humorous resemblance to the 3DS) receive an email telling our heroes about strange events that will take place later that day. Unsettled, they try to ignore it until they accidently unlock a program in the COMPs which causes demons to appear before them. The demons try to kill them, but our heroes find that the COMPs somehow keep the demons from inflicting serious harm, allowing them to fight back. 

- Get ready to read a lot of text if you're interested in following the story -

They defeat the demons, but the victory is short-lived when a blackout casts Tokyo into darkness. The teens awake the next morning to find the city under military lockdown.  With the electricity still out, and demons starting to pop up all over the place, our heroes begin their search for a way to escape. Complicating things are the military, people with tricked-out COMPs like theirs, and the appearance of numbers over people's heads showing how many days they have left to live. Like I said before, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is not a cheery game.

In terms of gameplay, SMT: Devil Survivor Overclocked is more like a digital novel with RPG battles than a normal RPG. You spend most of your time reading text and dialogue as our heroes delve into the mystery of the demons and the lockdown.  Between the texts and cutscenes (which are basically text-driven conversations between 2D images of characters in front of an illustrated background) are the battles against demons, which make up gameplay.

Battles in Devil Survivor Overclocked don't bring anything new to the RPG genre. The fighting areas are divided into grid segments (think games like Final Fantasy Tactics). Each member of your squad of "Demon Tamers", which can have up to four members (each with a pair of demons at their disposal) has free reign to move anywhere they wish. Upon getting close to a demon, you get the option to engage in combat. Here the game switches to a Pokémon-esque, turn-based battle, where your character and his or her pair of demons take turns with the opposing trio of demons. Like in many RPGs, you can use special attacks and skills to exploit a demon's particular weaknesses, the flipside to this being that your demons also have weaknesses of which the enemies can take advantage. Choosing the right demons for the right enemies can mean the difference between winning triumphantly and dying early. Your fellow teams can also back you up between battles, as some abilities can be used between battles, usually of the healing or stat-enhancing kind. 

The potential repetitiveness of the battles in Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked gets broken up every now and then with a little variation. Frequently, you find yourself in a battle where you must keep civilians from getting killed by demons. In some cases, you are assisted by one or more computer-controlled Demon Tamers. Other times, you are tasked with keeping the demons from reaching the edge of the game area. Things like that. All in all, it keeps the game from getting too tiresome.

Aside from experience points, which are used for leveling up your teams and getting stronger abilities, victory in battle yields Macca (game currency) which can be used to buy more demons at the game's "Devil Auction", where you can either engage in an intense five-second bidding battle, or, if you have enough Macca, pay full price and buy the demon without any risk. As you progress through the game, more powerful demons become available for auction. Aside from buying demons, you can also fuse demons together into entirely new demons. Depending on the compatibility of your demons, the result can end up stronger or weaker than the sum of its parts.

- Combat consists of familiar, strategic RPG mechanics -

As a re-release, Devil Survivor Overclocked does a good job of adding to what was established by the original Devil Survivor. While the visuals remain practically untouched, the 3DS allows for a sharper picture. New additions include full voice-acting for the dialogue scenes (which can be turned off, if you'd rather blaze through those scenes), more demons, and an extended storyline (while Devil Survivor took place over seven days, this version extends the time to eight)

And that's the game in a nutshell. While some people might be put off by the lack of things to do, gameplay-wise, in addition to fighting demons, what Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked does do it does well. The lengthy story keeps you engrossed and curious to see how everything turns out, while the gameplay holds enough allure to entice you to keep at it until the end.

GameDynamo's Score for Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS)

	Score	Description
Graphics	77	The visuals, though the same as before, come out clear and crisp. A definite improvement over the DS original.
Sound	72	The various themes work well with their respective scenarios, though the background music that played during long dialogue scenes bordered on repetitive.
Gameplay	80	Between the engaging story developments, I found the gameplay to be very fun. Owning demons after they tried so hard to kill me gave an enjoyable thrill.
Play Value	81	This game can last you up about 20-30 hours, maybe more. You certainly cannot complain about finishing it too quickly.
Final Score	79	If a game made up of RPG battles and wrapped in many layers of plot and text doesn’t sound too exciting, then this might not be for you. Nevertheless, I would advise you to give it a try. Who knows? You might be surprised.

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