Reviewed: April 16, 2004
Reviewed by: Mike Gonzales
Publisher
Tecmo
Developer
Tecmo
Released: November 17, 2003
Genre: RPG / Fighting
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
6
9
8.5
Supported Features:
Roughly seven years ago, the developers at Tecmo released a very interesting game for the Sony Playstation known as Monster Rancher. This RPG/Fighting game allowed players to assume the role of an eager young monster trainer who creates and raises his pocket monsters to become the best of the best in a Pokemon-like world where monster fighting reigns supreme. While this seemed like a strange concept at the time, the Monster Rancher series has managed to spawn three great sequels spanning over 2 consoles and continues to be among the best of its genre, wacky or not.
Tecmo’s latest in the MR saga, Monster Rancher 4, proves to be no exception as it returns with the same great gameplay that has made this series so fun. Its innovative monster creation mode has returned, allowing you once again to create new creatures using your own CD/DVD library at home, making it one of the most player specific games around. While not without its flaws, this title manages to improve on almost every aspect of the franchise, making it the best Rancher to date, I’d bet my Suezo on it.
As the story begins, you assume the role of our young hero Phayne, who arrives in the land of Togle and immediately acquires his own ranch complete with his first monster. It is now his responsibility to set a schedule for his pet that will turn it into a lean mean, fighting machine. To do this, the player must utilize Tecmo’s in-depth training system to increase his monsters’ stats, which are organized in an easy to grasp RPG-style format. The player must use each week to build on his monster’s strength, intelligence, accuracy, speed, defense, and life (health). In order to make training easier and more organized, players are now able to schedule training for up to two months ahead of time, unlike previous games in the series, which helps keep creature parameters well rounded, leaving them more effective in the ring.
While keeping your monster fierce and finely tuned, it’s also important to ensure its well-being. Ever evening after training, a player must utilize his “free time” to keep his monsters healthy. If monsters aren’t fed on a regular basis, they can become sick. Monsters can also become depressed if you don’t bond with them consistently. To increase bonding, players must either praise or scold their pet, based on their performance. Monsters can also be given presents such as toys to keep their spirits up. It doesn’t take long to realize an unhappy monster is also an ineffective one.
While training ensues during the week, the weekends are left open for competitions, adventuring, and trips into town, all of which benefit you and your ranch in their own way. Competition speaks for itself. Your monster is put to the test, fighting creatures from all over the world depending on their ranking. At the beginning of the match players are given the option to choose commands or simply be a spectator. Both can actually be rewarding, as I found myself cheering on the little guy when I let him fend for himself.
As far as the commands go, this latest installment allows up to 9 moves per monster, unlike its prequels. Moves are divided into short, mid, and long-range attacks and will vary on effectiveness, depending on your opponent. It’s very important to get a feel for your adversary from the beginning. With such a large variety of monsters, you never know what to expect in the ring and no one wants to see the look on their pet’s face after a severe scolding.
The adventure mode is a great new mode that allows you to venture out into the wild and explore caves and other spooky environments in search of new items as well as new abilities for your monsters. Since adventuring is the only way to get new moves for you creature, it’s something you don’t want to neglect. You may also choose which monsters to take with you on your journeys, allowing you to better monsters in need of improvement, while leaving others safe at home. During the exploration you will encounter all sorts of wild species that can attack at any given moment. While these monsters are generally weaker than the species found in the ring, they can still deliver a beating, so don’t underestimate them.
Lastly, Phayne can venture into the town of Togle and visit local shops that can aid his ranch in different ways. Stopping by the local market gives him the opportunity to purchase food or toys with the money won from competition. Items can also be sold back in case you’re in a financial bind, though money usually isn’t a concern since the competitions are pretty generous with the winnings. Ranchers can also attend the Shrine to create new monsters for their ranch either by the presets within the game or their own CDs and DVDs.
This aspect of the game isn’t new, but is certainly one of the reasons this game has become so popular and probably the reason it made it over to the US in the first place. By reading codes on any CD-based media, Monster Rancher can use the information to create new monsters. So, depending on the size of one’s music, movie or game collection, the amount of monsters can be endless. While you’ll probably get some repeats, it’s certainly worth the time spent and some PS2 games will even offer some surprises. For example, if you use another Tecmo game, you might just unlock a special monster from that game. Pretty slick.
While the gameplay may sound like a lot to remember, Tecmo does a great job of not bombarding you with too much too fast. The gameplay unfolds relatively slow so the gamer can get used to the world of monster ranching rather easily and different characters pop up at convenient times to show you new portions of the game as they become available. It’s obvious Tecmo spent a great deal of time thinking this game through, making it possible for both experienced ranchers and newbies to enjoy it almost immediately.
Graphically Monster Rancher 4 isn’t much different from its previous titles. The environments and characters are all very bright and beautiful, similar to Super Mario Sunshine, and the monster animations are very fun to watch, whether you’re overseeing training or watching your monsters engage in battle. Clearly, Tecmo knows what the game needs and doesn’t need in order to be successful and doesn’t try to do too much when it’s unnecessary. My only complaint here is the complete lack of lighting effects. While Monster Rancher relies on it’s core gameplay and not it’s graphics engine, it would have still been nice to see more of this next generation effect. That being said, I should acknowledge their improvements with the story mode artwork. Their latest effort has a much more sophisticated look any of its previous games and should be praised.
One feature of the Monster Rancher series that does need to be improved is the overall sound. Monster Rancher still doesn’t have an ounce of voice acting, which in my opinion, is unacceptable. I think it would add a great element to the game and maybe even make it feel more complete. During 90% of the game all you hear is the typical “wondering through the town” music like in the older Final Fantasy games. While it fits the genre very well, I think it’s time to start implementing voices to get the gamer more into the mood. On top of that, sub par monster noises show even more room for improvement. While Tecmo doesn’t have far to go, I think fixing these issues will provide a much more solid gaming experience for future ranchers.
The amount of time spent on this title will be entirely up to the gamer. Like a game within the game, Tecmo’s monster creation interface can have you spending hours at a time just seeing what monsters will pop up based on your CD collection. Add that to the already large RPG style gameplay and you have a game that can last over 20 hours with ease that first time through. Plus, if you have any friends in the monster raising business, you can hook up with your memory cards and have a showdown between ranches. That’ll surely add another 5-10 hours to an already large game.
Tecmo has done a great job with this series and there are no signs of it slowing down. While improving on many aspects of its previous games, Monster Rancher 4 returns with the same great gameplay that blends fighting and RPG elements into a very unique, long lasting experience for both children and adults alike. The innovative monster-creating facet alone will surely entertain for hours and leave a lasting impression on any newcomers to the series. And while the game’s unique style won’t be for everyone, it is definitely a title worth renting. Besides, I know there are plenty of you waiting to see your Disturbed CD beat the crap out of your kid sister’s Avril Lavigne CD, right?