Digimon World Data Squad

"DigiSoul Charge! Data Squad Digivolved To...a better Digimon World Game?"

Bandai's Digimon World series has been a continuous series of hits and misses. Digimon World was probably one of the better games in the series because it was simply a monster raising game, very similar to the original Digital Monster pet, but that game also turned off some people who didn't really like the idea of their Digimon dying every so often, and those who got screwed over when their Digimon had to use the bathroom in the middle of a secluded area. Digimon World 2 had a large selection of Digimon, but unfortunately, the repetitive dungeon crawling really hurt the flow of the game. Digimon World 3 looked absolutely great when you were in the overworld, but slow loading times, a lack of partner Digimon, confusing quests, and absolutely hideous in-battle graphics brought the game's enjoyment level down. Digimon World 4 was an interesting, visually pleasing game that provided a change from turn-based battle to a more hack-and-slash system, that I really enjoyed, but the lack of playable Digimon and the repetitive, relatively hard levels left me wanting more. So now, we have the newest edition of the PS series, Digimon World: Data Squad. This game is based off of the newest Digimon television series, Digimon: Data Squad (Digimon Savers), and is a spin-off story from the anime. Overall, though, this game, while continuing the “hit-and-miss” trend of the past Digimon games, managed to be a pleasant experience.


Graphics: 7/10
This game is probably the best looking Digimon game currently out there. While it doesn't really hold a candle to the big, bad, “we've gotta look perfect!” RPGs of today (yes, I'm talking about every Square game here), it looks pretty nice. The overworld is colorful, albeit a little repetitive, and unlike DW3, the battles look great. The actual characters in the game sport a very nice cel-shaded look, and the Digimon look amazing. Honestly, the first time that I saw the game's final boss, along with ShineGreymon, I was pretty happy. The attacks from the Digimon aren't that amazing, since they're mainly variations of balls of light, and the battle backgrounds are a little lacking in substance, but they're alright. Overall, the graphics are what you'd expect from a normal PS2 game at this point, but compared to the past Digimon World games, they're a really nice breath of fresh air.


Sound: 7/10
The music in this game is pretty average. Looking back, there aren't really any noteworthy tracks used throughout the game, except for maybe the first few random battle themes, which were really upbeat and technoish. The music manages to fit the areas in the game, but you won't really be humming the music throughout the rest of your day or anything like that. It's nice, but not memorable. In regards to the voice acting, most of the voices fit the characters pretty well, but all-in-all, it's the typical anime-based video game type of voice acting: not really horrible, but far from great, too. One thing that bothered me was the fact that only the “true” evolution lines of the main Digimon got voices…so while GeoGreymon, MachGaogamon, and Lilamon got voices, my personal favorites in the game, Guilmon and WarGreymon, were left speechless.


Gameplay: 7/10
This game is your typical turn-based RPG. Most of the game, you'll run into a LARGE amount of random battles while you're travelling through the various areas (the random encounter rate is EXTREMELY high) where you'll be fighting 3vs3 battles to gain EXP. You have four main commands, Attack, Support, Guard, and Escape. One interesting concept in this game is the “Emotion Engine” which shows you, the player, the types of commands your Digimon actually wants you to perform. Your screen gets filled up with numerous commands, and the one that shows up the most is the one your Digimon wants to use. For example, if your Digimon has little to no strong-will, the only command that might show up is “Flee” and if GeoGreymon has a high strong-will stat, Mega Flame or Mega Burst might be the only commands on-screen. Luckily, your Support menu allows you to use commands that allow you to raise or lower the various emotional stats, so even if your Digimon wants to flee, you can use “Cheer Up” to increase their strong-will so you can attack next turn.

You end up with six main playable Digimon (Agumon, Gaomon, Lalamon, Falcomon, plus two others), which, altogether, can all Digivolve into a large amount (pretty sure it's over 100) of Digimon. The actual process of Digivolution in this game is actually pretty fun, because it utilizes the “Galactic Evolution” system which is just a fancy way of saying that in order to get your Digivolution of your choice, you have to complete different requirements in-game. Some of these are really easy, like your Digimon has to be level 10 or so, and others are harder to achieve, such as beating 25 types of a certain Digimon or spending 50,000 BITS (the game's currency). When you Digivolve, there's a nice evolution sequence where the human characters use their Data Link Digivices (Digivice iC) to DigiSoul Charge. However, the fun part about this is that you may only Digivolve into a new Digivolution in battle, so it's pretty exciting when the option for DigiSoul Charge shows up on-screen.

Unfortunately, the battles in this game are EXTREMELY repetitive and very common. Unless you use the “Low Encounter” item, you're going to run into battles every few steps. The loading times aren't that bad, although the menu system is still pretty slow. On the upside, though, the varieties of Digimon that you encounter through the game (and the obtainable ones) are very nice and include many favorites from all five Digimon series.


Story: 3/10 (for non-fans of the Digimon series) or 7/10 (for fans of Digimon)
This section is where the game really varies. Like I said earlier, DW:Data Squad is based off of the new Digimon anime. If you're a fan of this series, you'll probably be at least a little bit interested in the story of the game, because it follows the characters from the TV series and it fleshes out the characters a little bit. Some new characters are introduced and some older characters (Beelzebumon and Lucemon) are found in the game. It's a nice, yet shallow, companion to the TV series.

However, if you're not a fan of the Digimon anime, you'll probably be left wanting a LOT more. The story follows a relatively simple plot where the main characters must fight and defeat the Seven Demon Lords before the leader of the Demon Lords is awoken and takes over both the Digital World and the Real World. There's not much depth in the story, and lots of the plot twists are pretty obvious and predictable. If you're a fan of the series, you'll get a lot more out of the story, if you're not…well, you might not have much to motivate you to finish the game. However, it only takes about ten hours of gameplay to beat the game, and there's more side-quests (such as re-fighting the Demon Lords and getting all of the Digivolutions) that can take up more time, and do add some replay value to the game.


Overall: 7/10
In the end, I'm pretty happy that I ended up buying this game. This game isn't anything revolutionary or groundbreaking, but it is an enjoyable RPG. If you can take the common, repetitive battles, you'll be fine. Like I said earlier, you're probably better off buying this game if you are a Digimon fan, but I think it'll still be enjoyable even if you aren't. This game doesn't revolutionize the Digimon World series, but it is a step in the right direction. The story is mediocre at best, but the gameplay and graphics really encourage you to at least FINISH the game.
I give Digimon World: Data Squad a 7 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/07

Game Release: Digimon World Data Squad (US, 09/18/07)