BATTLE SYSTEM INTERACTION ORIGINALITY STORY MUSIC & SOUND VISUALS CHALLENGE Easy COMPLETION TIME 15-30 Hours OVERALL 3.5/5 Rating definitions

   In the wake of the incredibly popular Pokemon series many RPGs attempted to mimic it in order to borrow some popularity. Revelations: Demon Slayer (Last Bible) is an example of one of these games, but it is one of the better games that fit into that category. Revelations uses elements from previous games in its series and combines them with some of the elements of the Pokemon series to create a pretty good game where you travel the world in order to save it meeting many foes along the way. You can negotiate with enemies in order to convince them to join you. The phrase "join us or die" comes to mind when negotiating.

   Revelations has a fairly simple battle system: each character can attack, use magic, use an item, or guard. The only part of the battle system that really needs explanation is chanting magic. Chanting magic is cast by using the spell each turn until the full chant has been said and the spell is unleashed. Monsters that join your party can't use items. Instead they have the ability to return for future swapping. The most interesting part about Revelations's battle system is the ability to negotiate with enemies. The type of negotiations depend of the character you have speak with the enemy. The main character will have a conversation with the monster in which you will have to choose the correct responses to gain the monster's trust. If you have an allied monster talk to the enemy monster then success rate will depend on your monster's level and type in relation to the enemy's. Of course, you can't get bosses to join you. ^_^

...and the hero can recruit almost all of them.

   It's easy to combine monsters in order to create incredibly powerful monsters and quickly gather massive amounts of money for purchasing even the most ridiculously expensive (but very powerful) weapons and armor. There are even a large number of monsters that will join you for completing certain sidequests that are massive overpowered and usually greatly exceed the exp level you're on. Due to these factors, most of the game is quite easy. Even most of the last boss's spells can barely cause more than a scratch.

   While the choice of buttons is a bit odd and some of the menus are a bit annoying, I can't help but give the interaction a decent score. There is a surprisingly massive amount of dialog for a Gameboy game and all of it is very well done. Though there are a few corny phrases such as "Your Gaia is weak!" it's still fairly well-done for the most part.

   Since Revelations borrows from the Pokemon series and combines it with a lot of the components of the Persona (or Megami) series, (the series Revelations is from) the game is rather unoriginal. I mean, c'mon, you even learn to use the Force. Even most of the spells aside from chanting magic have been seen since early NES RPGs. Probably the only original part of the game is the way you level-up/combine monsters. Monsters don't gain exp from battle for some reason. The only way to improve them is to get another monster and have the two combine. Their levels add up a little and they become a new monster which is often of a type unrelated to the original monsters.

He looks familiar...

   Revelations features a surprising amount of story for a Gameboy RPG. You travel through the world gaining companions and setting right many wrongs. There are a number of villains and allies that help you from a distance. Certain special monsters even have personalities and their own special sidequests. While it may not be the greatest story ever, it's a lot better than most of the other games that mimic Pokemon.

   Despite the large amount of slow moving dialog and the number of menus you have to wade through, Revelations doesn't take very long to finish. They even give to a large number of tips to help you through some of the time consuming parts of the game (though it would've been nice if I'd noticed that before playing through the entire game first). It takes about 15 hours to finish the game if you avoid most of the sidequests, and about 30 hours if you do them all and/or don't read the hints in the manual.

   The music is by far the best part of the game. I can't believe they could include so many catchy tunes that play on the Gameboy's weak speakers. Everything from the opening theme to the battle theme is simply amazing. There's a lot of variety in the music too so it doesn't get very repetitive either. It's almost hard to believe that this simple Gameboy game has better music than some of the Playstation RPGs that have developed speakers and stereo sound. The sound effects aren't quite as impressive, but they don't get in the way of the music so they're fine.

   There are a large number of detailed enemy sprites in Revelations's battles. Despite their detail, they aren't animated at all and the battle system doesn't even show your party members. Out of battle, the visuals are rather average with the addition of Gameboy Color's larger palette. Overall, visuals are only slightly impressive.

   Though Revelations isn't a very original game, it manages to do a good job of taking and combining some of the best elements of Pokemon and the Persona (or Megami) series to create a decent game. If you enjoyed Pokemon or other games in the Persona/Megami series, then you'll probably enjoy this one. It even comes with a vs. mode so you can challenge your friends if you want.