Persona 3 for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

This game is possibly the best I've ever played. It's vastly different from the preceding Persona games and the Shin Megami series it's derived from, but in a good way. A very good way.

First off, this game is fairly dark. The atmosphere is gloomy, with poor lighting in many places, and strange blotches of black stuff that crawl about the edges of the screen in certain scenes. The monsters toe the line between creepy and funny. The music is a mix of strange rapping, operatic music, and other stuff, mostly in minor key. Oddly enough, even the strange rapping fits the atmosphere perfectly.

The game has you take the role of the main character, dropped into a strange place where 'Shadows' roam during the hidden 'Dark Hour' between midnight. You use a special gun called an 'Evoker' to shoot yourself in the head to call upon the powers of your Persona, a mysterious entity with powerful abilities. You alternate between managing your social life (making friends, getting good grades, eating out, etc) and roaming the Tartarus, a tower that exceeds 200+ ever changing floors. As you do so, you slowly uncover the mysteries of the 'Shadows' and how you tie into it.

This game is just pure awesome. Perfection in its purest form. While the PS2 is a 'last gen' system, it's by no means out of the game. With games like this coming out, it'll be in the running for a long time yet.

I absolutely love this game! It is an EMO game, what do you expect with the characters having to shoot themselves in the head to summon their persona? But that's perfect for me.

The qualities of this game are fantastic. I think one of the best things is how playable this game is by just about everyone. As long as you have half a brain in your head, you can play this game. The easy mode is relatively easy (I like to play easy mode because I prefer to focus on story lines, not difficult fights and training 24/7) and I think any inexperienced gamer would be able to play this game.

Another quality that absolutely sells this game to me is the anime cutscenes. The game starts with a confusing song and video. It's own little theme, just like you see in good animes. There are also anime scenes (complete with voices!) throughout the game that keep it fresh.

Also, there are tons of choices for the player to make in this game! You'll find yourself needing to play it again and again to see what happens if you make this choice or do things a different way. This makes for a completely customized experience.
You make relationships and you fight in this game; not too much of either. You can split your party up in the fighting area so they can take enemies out without you having to personally beat down every last one.

But here comes the section for the bad points- The graphics aren't my favorite. They are good, but I think everyone looks a little anorexic. The main character's head is about three times or more the size of his legs. Sometimes the voice acting seems a little stiff, like the actors are just reading lines, not actually in the situation. It's hard to make money (but that does make you appreciate it more when you get it). And sometimes the quest deadlines are a little too soon. Also in the beginning, I found myself saying "Okay! Just let me control myself already! Stop skipping lunchtime and the entire school day! Geez."

This was, all in all, a great game.
I love it.