Reviews:
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If you don’t mind the repetitive grind of bringing up your giant beastie, it can be quite endearing
Having never played a Monster Rancher game before, but not minding a decent critter-raising game, and having a deep love for funky huge creatures, I walked into this one feeling optimistic. Thankfully, for the most part I didn’t walk away disappointed, more that there were just a few areas that felt like they could have allowed for more user engagement. Your job is to take these huge beasts under your wing, care for them, try your best to feed them well (they do tend to be picky), and cultivate their core skills through various types of training in order to prepare them for large-scale combat. It’s really the surprising and funky variety of monsters and then the combat that are front and center here. Though I found the combat controls a bit odd at first, once you’re used to them and aren’t trying to fight against their simplicity they work well enough. What you’ll find is that success really ends up being tied to the attributes you’ve focused on, and you’re going to want to keep them at least somewhat in balance since trickier opponents will feel like they’re hammering on your weaknesses hard when you have them in key areas like evasion in particular. About my only observation, I’m not sure if it’s a complaint (more of a missed opportunity), is that I feel like the canned training sequences are a missed opportunity and by being made into mini games would be far more engaging. I understand the system in place is tied to fatigue and you taking chances with how much you push your monsters before resting them, but some giant monster mini games could really have taken the experience to the next level in my eyes. A funky but rewarding experience for the right crowd.
Justin Nation, Score:Nindie Choice! [8.1]