Special thanks to boyward for help in editing this review. The Dark Hour. Many people think that there are only 24 hours in a day, but they are wrong. At the stroke of midnight the Dark Hour appears. The lucky ones spend this time transformed into coffins. Any caught outside their coffins during the Dark Hour encounter the shadows-- dark faceless creatures that suck the life from them and turn them into "The Lost", an apathetic, almost zombie-like state. This is the premise of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 developed by Atlus.

The Shin Megami Tensei games are fairly new to American Audiences. Due to the game’s mature subject matter, most of them had trouble making their way overseas. The first game we were treated to was Nocturne, the third game in the main series. Reviews were mostly positive, yet Nocturne was criticized for its unrelenting difficulty. Atlus thus decided to ease new players until the series with a *somewhat* easier spin-off: Digital Devil Saga. They released the game in two separate volumes. Since both games are essentially part of the same story, they will be regarded as one in this review.

Graphic adventure fans rejoiced when Touch Detective was announced for 2006, but that charming collection of bizarre mysteries was soured by illogical puzzles and frustrating pacing issues. Basically, the puzzles made little to no sense, and until you were lucky enough to figure out the solution you were stuck. This sequel, Touch Detective 2 1/2 somewhat improves on the formula by more handily pointing us in the right direction, but it's still not enough to make the game accessible to anybody but the most patient and determined gamers.