There are plenty of games out there that let you slay demons, but how many of them let you be a demon?  And not only just a demon, but a sassy and intelligent young woman who can transform into not one, but four different demon forms?  As of now the answer is one, and that game is Primal.  Sony sent us a preview of the game, and we were able to get a glimpse at this intriguing game for ourselves.

In Primal you play as Jen Tate, a modern-day goth girl who has the bad luck of losing her boyfriend to a malevolent supernatural force from the underworld.  Bummer.  Jen takes this turn of events in stride and sets off to rescue poor Lewis.  She soon finds that she is no ordinary goth, she is in fact part demon herself.  In her quest to save her boyfriend, she will learn to transform into four demon forms - Ferrai, Wraith, Djinn, and Undine - and pick up a loyal guide in the form of a gargoyle named Scree.

Meet Jen (that's Scree behind her).

Primal is a third person action game that will challenge you to explore four expansive other-worldly realms that make up Oblivion, the planes of order and chaos.  First is Solum, the level included in the demo we played, which is a dark realm of order filled with mysterious ruins, stone cities, and gothic cathedrals.  The other world of order is Aquis, a realm completely filled with water.  Good thing that one of your forms is an aquatic, water-breathing demon.  Rounding out the four realms are the realms of chaos, Volca, a volcanic realm of fire, and Aetha, a realm above the clouds.  Yep, for those of you paying attention you've got Earth (stone), water, fire, and air.

These realms are filled with nasty demons and other creatures of darkness bent on barring you from rescuing Lewis.  The game uses a real-time combat system that let's you lock onto an enemy and then unleash several different types of attacks while giving you the ability to block your enemy's strikes.  The attacks vary depending on which form you are in, and each form has a special finishing move that will let you put an exclamation point on your victory.  The combat is not as deep or as complicated as it is in some fighting games, but it's not a simple button mashing affair either.  You'll need to fight smart to survive, because there are plenty of unpleasant things that want nothing more than to eat your lunch ... or to eat you for lunch.

Although you are surrounded by enemies, you do have at least one ally on your side.  Remember Scree?  He's more than a stone pet.  Scree is a source of valuable information on Oblivion - it's his home realm after all - but his usefulness goes beyond the role of a tour guide.  With a press of the Select button, you can switch between control of Jen and Scree.  As a local, Scree can often move around without generating the same reaction from Oblivion's denizens as Jen does.  Scree can also speak with some of the monsters and demons, enlisting their help in one way or another.  Scree also has some special talents which prove invaluable when faced with the numerous puzzles that you'll encounter in Primal.

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