This stylish, superb and unique JRPG is the sunset of the PS2 era.
Persona 4 is an immense experience, combining the addictiveness of a social sim with realistic, grounded characters, a sharp story, and a number of gameplay ideas that will leave you putting other games aside. It is simply breathtaking.
Gameplay: This is completely unique among other rpgs (save its predecessor, Persona 3) in that gets you to tackle two completely different facets of your silent protagonist's life. On the one-hand you will have to balance your high-school life, while at the same time using the power of your persona to combat the shadows and work through the dungeons in the game. The former is achieved through the forming and advancement of social links, a social sim conducted between various people you meet through school and part-time jobs. These increase the power of your persona, and give your party members new abilities, giving you a reason to want to advance these further. You have to balance this with school work, part-time jobs, and the other activities that will make up your silent protagonist's normal life.
The other part is made up of a dungeon-crawler. The dungeons are interestingly designed, though this features the worst part of the gameplay. The camera can occasionally come foul at doors, making it difficult to discern the enemies you need to attack. These areas can also be a little repetitive, dragging on or being a bit of a grind. Once past these, however, it is smooth sailing. Combat is similar to that of other rpgs. You control 3 other party members, switching between persona (through which you control the spells and abilities of the game) to exploit the weaknesses of your enemies. This works in a standard turn-based affair, and though polished and excellent, is nothing you haven't seen before.
Though the introduction and tutorial are long, setting up the story and how things pan out, you are slowly introduced to a large degree of freedom. You need to plan out your days depending on the weather system in play, which restricts certain things that you can do, and clues you in to the important climactic points, where time is running out. Events such as school trips that are thrown in later add a change in pace that is welcome, giving a nice variety to the gameplay.
9.5/10
Story & Presentation: Not wanting to give away much of the story, it is truly excellent. The murder-mystery aspect is a nice twist, and keeps you involved throughout. Grounded and realistic characters will have realistic torments and problems, and the story offers a number of interesting twists and alternate endings to play with. The dialogue is really good, and the sections of voice acting help keep the story moving apace. There are also many parts of the game that are actually funny, and though much of the content can be very sobering (and even melancholic), parts of it could have you laughing all the same (though this may depend on your sense of humour).
Be warned that, as my introduction implied, this is a long game. The story will unfold at a decent pace, though the initial section of the game can be slow going. This vastly long game will quickly suck you in however, keeping you playing for hours on end....though parents/girlfriend/boyfriend/teachers may object to your retreat from society.
The presentation of this game is slick. The detail of the menus and the hud is stylish and cool. Everything is put together with an amazing level of polish, with the much of the art style adding to this by extension. The way it presents both its themes and Japanese society is particularly interesting, giving Western gamers a glimpse into the everyday world of Japan that certainly interested me.
9.5/10
Graphics: The art style of this game features a stylish and funky art design, with anime-style cutscenes. Of particular note are the characters faces, which are done in that similar art style during dialogue. Though many of the enemies are very cool, and the game is generally very stylish, and includes nice details, the fact that the engine is re-purposed from Persona 3 seems a little lazy, though perfectly understandable. I look forward to how the next in the series will be when it comes to the hd era.
9/10
Sound: The music in this game is excellent. Despite my usual aversion to J-pop, I found myself enjoying the mix of that and J-Rock. It can become a little repetitive as the game wears on, and is not to everyone's tastes, but I was a very big fan of it. I can't really get it out of my head even now. The voice acting is generally very good, though there are a number of duff lines, and certain characters are better then others. This will probably be a point of contention between fans of the various characters. A disappointment for me was that there were characters that said a small amount, but then lapsed into large amounts of silent, text-driven dialogue. Though I didn't mind this, I wish that these social link characters had been voiced much more comprehensively.
9/10
Replay Value: Social links, jobs, persona fusion to fill your compendium, multiple difficulty levels, and a New Game+ will mean you can wring tons more hours then the already lengthy game can offer you.
10/10
Though flawed in a number of respects, it is this and not God of War II that saw the end of the PS2 era. An amazing and unique game, the experience you derive from its hours of involving story and addictive gameplay will keep you enthralled until the end. Few games have held me bound quite like this one. Despite the time my summer job consumed, despite the obligations of family and the beckoning of my friends to join them in play, I was seduced by Persona 4 and played at every opportunity I could get. This is truly a masterpiece that rivals many of the greatest rpgs you can play. Looking into the complex minds of the characters you meet, and wading through a mystery in a rural town, there is something for both fans and first-timers alike.
Overall: 9.5/10