Shin Megami Tensei IV

This mature role-playing game is clearly for older audiences. Its addictive gameplay mechanics will keep players hooked as they build their supernatural team of fighters. Believe it or not, Nintendo's Pokémon was not the first video game franchise in which players captured and trained strange creatures to battle alongside them. In fact, the first Shin Megami Tensei game beat those pocket monsters to the punch by four years in Japan. But make no mistake about it: With its postapocalyptic settings, demonic creatures, and horror-esque genre, this has never been a series for young kids. Now, after numerous spin-offs and side stories, Atlus has returned to the main franchise with Shin Megami Tensei IV for the 3DS.

You can't talk about an SMT game without talking about the demons you encounter, and Shin Megami Tensei IV has a variety of twisted creatures that range from cute and cuddly to disturbingly sensual to downright bizarre and frightening. You'll have to find just the right words or give just the right gift to convince them to join your army. This also means that there's a lot of grinding involved in the game. If you try to just move from one part of the story to the next, it won't take long before you and your minions are seriously outmatched. That can make the game start to feel a bit repetitive, but that fades a bit once you start experimenting with things such as fusion in the Cathedral of Shadows app. As far as the story goes, the game has a deep plot with plenty of twists and turns, and your choices play out in some intriguing ways. Unfortunately, some of the other characters' development seems to get lost along the way, which is understandable given the scope of the plot but is still a shame since there always seems to something more lying just under the surface. Even so, Shin Megami Tensei IV is a strangely engrossing experience that's hard to put down.