Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army Review (Jack-of-Knights)
Raidou Remastered is a massive improvement over the original in every way except for the stripping down of its hilariously long title. I love the original game, but the combat was *not good*. Aside from overhauling the visuals and cleaned up audio, this remaster also imports a ton of demons from the second game as well as from newer SMT entries (such as Idun, who I am happily married to) and revamps the combat.
While true that Raidou lacks the complex combos of Devil May Cry, combat has so much going on that it would be too much to ask you think about your combo strings on top of deciding whether to prioritize regaining MAG or doing damage, what demons should be doing what tasks, the status of both your demons and the enemies, and the numerous attacks that will be flying around the field. Something would have to give. Actually, the best display of what makes this combat good is in the Training Hall, of all things, where you can take on the Trial of 100 Demons, a gauntlet that pits you against wave after wave of foes and expects you to come out on top. The simplicity of the moveset clicks here. I do think I preferred how the gun worked in King Abaddon, but maybe they thought the reloading would leave you *too* vulnerable on harder difficulties.
The new content is implemented pretty seamlessly. The selected Doi demons (of which I must say are among his best designs) blend in with the Kaneko art style pretty convincingly and their integration into gameplay was tastefully done, not destroying the balance of the game while giving you more interesting options as you progress through it. So long as you don't abuse the DLC to summon Zeus for free at the beginning of the game, anyways.
It's a massive step up over previous Atlus remasters, such as the unfortunately disappointing Nocturne HD. If Atlus can keep this up, I'll be very happy, indeed.
I should probably add that the new voice acting is pretty good, both English and Japanese. There mighta been a better place to insert this comment, but I don't feel like editing this any further when I could get back to playing the game.