I started playing it yesterday. In what was perhaps a sign of my growing disconnect with my wallet, I spent 54 bucks (actually 59 if you count my Fallout 3 pre-order, WhyTF I pre-ordered a game with no solid release date, coming out late NEXT year I have no idea, call it my desire to pay for commitment or something, anyways back to the non-paranthetical) on the game simply because my friend sent me this email a month ago:
Ever hear of Persona 3? It's a PS2 game in which you activate your hidden powers by shooting yourself in the head...
And he wasn't kidding as is indicated in this artist's rendering of a typical Persona 3 battel:
So I bought a game simply based off the knowledge that you shoot yourself in the head to activate your mystical powers. And I felt pretty good about it, even before I played it. Then when I finally slapped it on yesterday (after finishing Bioshock, which I'm not terribly eager to replay), I understood that the logic behind my choice was totally sound -- I had stumbled upon a gem.
This game is pure style. It's so much fun just to look at. Combine that with addictive gameplay which ranges from joining the swim team to annihilating shadow monsters in a twisted skyscraper named Tartarus, and you've got a surefire winner. The back of the box also promises 70 hours of gameplay, which if 60 of those hours include the story, I will not be complaining.
The story's actually unhinged enough to be worthwhile on its own. There's this David Lynch flavor that's unmistakeable (a strange elevator house called "The Velvet Room" with a midget butler named Igor and a sexy maid named Jessica is where you upgrade the creature's that emerge from your head after you shoot yourself).
You see, there's this thing called the dark hour. It's an hour between midnight and midnight, a secret hour during which nearly ever human being on earth turns into an individual floating coffin.
Into an individual floating coffin.
Individual floating coffin.
Coffins. Yes, they float.
But you do not, for you as well as your plucky group of friends at school have "the potential." So forget coffins, instead you just shoot yourself in the head over 20 times during that hour, as you fight the shadow creatures threatening to overrun humanity with their "Apathy Disease."
If, after reading that basic description of the game's story, you haven't gone to a computer or picked up the phone to find this game, you either don't have a PS2 or you don't want to be my friend (be honest, now).
All that stuff aside, I'm not here to review it. I just wanted to note that sometimes you can justify spending 54 bucks on a game, when all you know about it is that you have to shoot yourself in the head to make your special powers appear.
Ever hear of Persona 3? It's a PS2 game in which you activate your hidden powers by shooting yourself in the head...
And he wasn't kidding as is indicated in this artist's rendering of a typical Persona 3 battel:
So I bought a game simply based off the knowledge that you shoot yourself in the head to activate your mystical powers. And I felt pretty good about it, even before I played it. Then when I finally slapped it on yesterday (after finishing Bioshock, which I'm not terribly eager to replay), I understood that the logic behind my choice was totally sound -- I had stumbled upon a gem.
This game is pure style. It's so much fun just to look at. Combine that with addictive gameplay which ranges from joining the swim team to annihilating shadow monsters in a twisted skyscraper named Tartarus, and you've got a surefire winner. The back of the box also promises 70 hours of gameplay, which if 60 of those hours include the story, I will not be complaining.
The story's actually unhinged enough to be worthwhile on its own. There's this David Lynch flavor that's unmistakeable (a strange elevator house called "The Velvet Room" with a midget butler named Igor and a sexy maid named Jessica is where you upgrade the creature's that emerge from your head after you shoot yourself).
You see, there's this thing called the dark hour. It's an hour between midnight and midnight, a secret hour during which nearly ever human being on earth turns into an individual floating coffin.
Into an individual floating coffin.
Individual floating coffin.
Coffins. Yes, they float.
But you do not, for you as well as your plucky group of friends at school have "the potential." So forget coffins, instead you just shoot yourself in the head over 20 times during that hour, as you fight the shadow creatures threatening to overrun humanity with their "Apathy Disease."
If, after reading that basic description of the game's story, you haven't gone to a computer or picked up the phone to find this game, you either don't have a PS2 or you don't want to be my friend (be honest, now).
All that stuff aside, I'm not here to review it. I just wanted to note that sometimes you can justify spending 54 bucks on a game, when all you know about it is that you have to shoot yourself in the head to make your special powers appear.
