"Colourful Dropkicking T-rexes and Roaming Teams of Raptors in a Lighthearted RPG!"

This week I'll talk about a game on the Nintendo DS called Fossil Fighters.

This game is similar to Pokemon in some respects, and has been compared to Spectrobes and other monster battling/training games. In this game, you travel across a varied landscape and dig up fossils. These fossils can then be excavated by the player and can revive the dinosaurs in this game called 'vivisaurs'. The monsters are composed of "Head", "Body", "Arm" and "Leg" portions, when you have the head, you can revive the monster but only with all four fossils types will the dinosaur have all of it's basic strength. While some dinosaurs are realistic, they are attempting to attract a diverse audience and so have been creative with the design of the creatures.

Graphically, the dinosaurs move in a realistic way even if some of the moves are a little more open to the imagination (ie. a T-rex doing a dropkick with it's feet, or a raptor doing kung fu and breathing fire or a typhoon). My favourite vivisaur in particular is the Utahraptor which is wearing an indian feather headdress. The 3v3 battles play out in quite an interesting way. You have the option of benching one of your dinosaurs and swapping it with another in the middle of a battle. The graphics of the characters do their job, although outside of battles, the game has a bit of a 'barebones' feel.

Tactically there are different elemental powers which cancel out each other and act in an interesting way. This helps the player in forming a balanced team. Other vivisaurs have special abilities and moves such as "FP Plus" which increases the FP points you use in order to perform special moves with the creatures.

In terms of sound you have the 'vivisaur' noises such as roaring and chirping. You have a couple of sound effects from other characters but nothing in terms of voice or complex sound effects. The teleporter noise is probably the most interesting thing, together with the radar pings. The music is serviceable and is generally above average. In particular the boss battle themes are rather good.

In terms of game hours, it is lite compared to other RPGs but will still require 10-20 hours to complete the main storyline. There are plenty of dinosaurs to discover and rare fossils, as well as a few little surprises here and there.

Overall Fossil Fighters is a game I have enjoyed as an interesting diversion to Pokemon and a great way of having fun with digital dinosaurs in a rewarding way.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/04/11

Game Release: Fossil Fighters (US, 08/10/09)