Prepare to be confused - very confused. Actually, not that confused, just mildly baffled, because Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 is distinctly Japanese, and if you are coming into the series late, you are bound to find the plot and storyline just a touch puzzling. Don't get me wrong; this is an excellent game in many respects, but don't expect to fully understand what on earth the characters are talking about!

The story began in Digital Devil Saga, where a strange white light caused the main characters from the Embryon tribe to transform into demons, then defeat and devour a rival tribe, who had also become demons. They also discovered the girl Sera, who in the second game appears to have something to do with the demon-creating white light. Sera has unique powers that can quell the demons and allow them to return to their original human form.

During the first game, a battle erupted in the junkyard where our main characters resided amongst other tribes. It was a battle to the death and the last tribe standing would be able to reach nirvana. It is in this nirvana that we rejoin the main characters in Digital Devil Saga 2. Initially there are only three; Serph, who is leader of the Embryon tribe, Argilla and Gale. The first cut scene shows Serph walking through a deserted street, a blazing black sun high above him and all around statue-like figures that were once real people who have been transformed by the dangerous rays of the sun. Shortly after this he is attacked by karma city guards and it becomes clear this is not the nirvana he was expecting.

At first, Serph and his followers are confused by their new surroundings, but they have one goal in mind - to find Sera, who they lost in the first game, as well as their fellow tribe members. They join forces with humans to do this, though these humans are terrified of the demons, who are known to devour people. The karma city guards are also demons and they regularly hunt people to feed their hunger. Relatively straightforward so far, it's here that things get confusing. The humans have figured out a way to transform people into demons like Serph and his crew, using data (I admit, I am still not entirely clear exactly what data is). The leader of this band of humans is Roland and he explains to Serph that the Embryon are, in fact, AIs inside human bodies. This puzzles Serph, but later references to AIs and data seem to confirm that the Embryons are more like computers than people, yet no one can explain how a computer program can have a body. There are also a lot of references to the first game that can leave you in the dark if you have not played it; couple to that some very obtuse dialogue that probably made more sense before it was translated into English and very often you will find yourself scratching your head as to what is going on. Fortunately you can usually work out enough of the plot to make a sort of sense of what is happening and avoiding getting bogged down in the philosophy that the characters are expelling also helps; suffice it to say they talk about God a lot, who apparently resides in the sun - or possibly is the sun!

Aside from the story, Digital Devil Saga 2 is really good. Initially it can seem odd when before a battle your characters transform into bizarre looking demons - Gale in particular looks quite worrying as he stands on one leg in his demon guise, his head splitting open vertically to expose razor like teeth, and possibly it is best to gloss over Argilla and the sharp-toothed mouths that grow from her breasts. Okay, so perhaps odd is putting it lightly, but you are not long into the game before the demon transformations seem unremarkable and natural; you look forward to Argilla using her whip like arms to savage the enemy, or Serph using his three-foot arm blades to stab the unwary.

The combat system will be familiar to the regular RPG player and is easy to master. There are various menus containing physical attacks, magic attacks or items for either healing or causing damage. Causing a critical attack on an enemy gives your side an extra turn, though of course the same applies to the enemy if they hit you with a critical attack. Every enemy has a defence and a weakness either to a form of magic or to an ailment. Keeping lists of enemy weaknesses is invaluable and will result in impressive and swift victories. The quicker you win a battle the more money you earn, giving an extra incentive for hastily finding an opponent's weakness.

Your attacks and healing skills are upgradeable via the mantra grid, which is reminiscent of the sphere grid in Final Fantasy X. Mantras have to be bought and then the skills they provide are gradually learnt during battle. Once they are mastered, you can equip them. There are many mantras, from physical attacks to improved magic and ailment inducing skills; there are also special purple mantras, which can only be accessed once all the normal mantras surrounding them have been mastered. Fortunately, these surrounding mantras don't need to be learnt all by the same person, but can be shared among the party.

Mantras, however, cost money, as do many things in nirvana. Health especially costs a considerable chunk of the money you have accrued and this can prove frustrating. Unlike other RPGs, where health is restored at a save point automatically, the only way to replenish HP or MP in Digital Devil Saga 2, other than using a healing spell, (which of course will cost you MP) is to either buy rations or go to a save or healing terminal and pay for your health to be restored. This can be incredibly expensive and if you are also saving up for a good mantra, it can be very annoying. Only the large save terminals have the function to heal - and health replenishing terminals are in short supply, so you often find yourself running through your rations then desperately hoping that a terminal appears soon. The best way to overcome these problems is to ensure that every other character in your party knows a healing spell, so that during battle you can be restored. There are also other useful skills such as Ingest Mana, which allows you to regain mana points after each battle.

Digital Devil Saga 2 is not all about running around empty corridors and random battles though; the designers have worked in puzzle elements as well. For instance, fairly early on you reach a prison - you want to release the prisoners who are destined to be turned into human goulash, but the jailor is a nasty looking skeleton with a horse's head and conical hat. To defeat the jailor you must weaken him first and to do this you have to run around the prison, avoiding him and talking to prisoners who will give you information and items that will enable you to give the jailor food poisoning. The whole segment is like an action adventure, rather than an RPG, and certainly makes a change from mindlessly running down abandoned streets. Other RPGs could probably benefit from similar puzzle elements.

Another thing to note is the glowing sun at the top left of the screen. Throughout the game, numbers appear around it, counting up and then down again. This is the sun's rays indicator. While the sun cannot turn Serph and his companions into stone because of their demon nature, it does produce one side effect. At times, the whole party will be overcome by the rays and will transform into half demons, half humans. In this form their physical attacks are incredibly powerful but they are unable to use any magic attacks. If you have levelled up your character's skills accordingly their demon/human attacks can be devastating and you get lots of karma points to boot. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict when these episodes are going to happen, so you cannot use them strategically.

Concerning the character's stats, a slight niggle is that you can only control and upgrade Serph's stats yourself; everyone else automatically upgrades, resulting in characters sometimes being very lopsided in their powers. If you like to be hands-on with your party and want to control every detail of their stats, this will prove irritating.

Graphically the game is distinctive; it is difficult to describe the style, although it is reminiscent of cel-shading. The characters glow, but sometimes it is hard to tell what facial expression they are making. Oh, and you do have to laugh when they climb ladders - not only do their feet fail to touch any of the rungs, but so do their hands! Because of their stylised nature, the graphics may not feel as smooth as in other games, but they add their own touch to the overall feel.

Shin Megami Tensai: Digital Devil Saga 2 ticks all the right boxes overall. It's intriguing and fun, the combat and mantra systems are not so overly complicated that beginners feel out of their depth, yet they have enough flexibility to keep the attention of the experienced RPGer. The story may be a little confusing, but the basic gist of trying to find a lost friend is easy enough to understand and working out what the rest of it means only adds to the puzzle elements. The interaction of RPG and action adventure elements improves the gameplay, as does the thrown in wild card of the sun's rays and their effects on your party. Besides, at the end of the day, you get to change into demons and eat the enemy while standing on one leg or projecting spikes from your arms. Seriously, what more could any RPG gamer want?

Reviewed by Sophie Jackson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).