Part old-school, part MegaTen, Strange Journey walks a lot of fine lines but comes out a great experience.
The protagonist is part of a four-ship convoy that is sent to investigate a curious development in Antarctica. A growing anomoly called the Schwartzwelt is enveloping the Earth. Aerial photos of the area show red light districts and shopping malls. Hmm.
Once your ship hits the ground, you discover that demons are everywhere. Your ship needs repairs, crewmen are missing and the AI is down. Yikes. As a member of the Strike Team - the military arm of the investigating team - it's your job to head into the unknown and save everyone's backsides.
Soldiers are given high-tech suits of armor called Demonicas to brave the elements of the Schwartzwelt. In addition to providing biological survivability, the Demonica is your lifeline to the demons. As the game progresses, the Demonica grows more and more useful, allowing you to venture into places previously blocked off.
Unlike Etrian Odyssey, only the protagonist carries weapons and armor in the party and is the only permanent fixture. Demons recruited through negotiation form the other three slots. SMT fans will recognize the stable of beautiful and weird demons that populate the game.
Eventually you'll either run out of room for more demons or the game will become difficult enough that you need stronger demons. Just as in other SMT games, you can fuse demons together. Take a demon, a second one, and an optional source(essentially the core elements of a demon), and you've got a new party member. There are also special fusions that can only be achieved with specific demons of various levels. The fusion process is slick and as addictive as ever. Considering how lengthy the dungeon crawls get later in the game having a huge stable of powerful demons is not just fun but a necessity.
Just as in Etrian Odyssey, elements called Forma are found on demons and in the landscape. These are used to create stronger weapons and new items. Just bring them back to your ship and your engineer will whip up new things for you to buy. Your crew can also heal you, give you advice and occasionally hand out side missions.
Gone is the manual mapping of Etrian Odyssey. While the cartographers in us might miss that element of the experience, being able to focus on the demonic onslaught speeds up the game and creates a better experience for it. Combat is turn-based and relies on exposing weaknesses and teaming up with party members for coordinated attacks.
The difficulty starts somewhere in the middle and pushes the needle considerably as the game progresses. A side note here, if the protagonist ever gets knocked out, it's game over and back to the start-up screen. This can be extremely frustrating if you haven't saved in twenty minutes and have to try again. The game tries to alleviate some of this stress by offering save points within the dungeons, but there are still times where you can get blindsided or insta-killed.
Graphically, Strange Journey hits and misses. The 2D backgrounds range from acceptable to putrid. On the other hand, the demons look fantastic. You can tell that a lot of work was done in this area. The interface is clean - although a little small - and does a nice job of telling you everything you need to know and hiding everything you don't.
The games sound effects are the usual JRPG flare, never enough to amaze or annoy. Most copies of the game include a CD of the game's musical tracks. Some of these are outstanding themes that add an eerie or vibrant tone to the experience. Since you spend so much time in certain zones you might hear the same tunes again and again but I never found that to be a bad thing.
Spending hour after hour navigating the Schwartzwelt is awesome, but not without a few issues. Demon negotiation can be a little clunky at times, relying on a system of multiple choice questions. If you guess wrong, you may find yourself facing an unexpected attack. Guess right and then you need to let the demon beat up on you and steal your lunch money before they sign on. Also, negotiation nets no experience, so sometimes you need to go through a ton of added encounters just to level up. There's also an element of repetition to the game, as you essentially bounce from zone to zone that at times can all feel the same with different backgrounds and music.
Ultimately, what makes Strange Journey such a great RPG is that sense of "just one more and I'll stop". The storyline and the characters always leave you with one more thing to do, one more upgrade to get, one more new room to check out, one more demon to grab. Before you know it, five hours have gone by and you realize you haven't eaten all day.
First-person RPG's aren't for everyone certainly, but SMT fans and RPG fans in general looking for an addictive hand-held experience to sink about 40 hours or so into should look no further. Strange Journey will bait and hook you and leave you begging for more.