Spectrobes

"Mixed feelings..."

When, a few months ago, I first heard of this game, it looked like an awesome product. Some episodes were made available, online, which introduced people to the story and universe of the game, and it all seemed good. However, when the game was finally released, the truth was more painful than people had expected, and players were awarded a not-so-interesting gameplay experience.

While some would claim that this game is simply a Pokemon rip-off, that's not exactly true. In fact, besides the point of featuring monsters, which you can collect and fight with, the two series have nothing in common.

Here, you start the game by playing with Rallen who, partnered with Jeena, is told to investigate a planet. There, he finds a mysterious man and is granted the power of the Spectrobes, some ancient beasts, which he can use to battle the evil Krawl species and save the universe. Same old story... Predictably, as soon as you get your Prizmod (the device where your monsters will be stored), you enter your first battle, and that's where the problems start to rise.

Battles, while held in real time, are quite boring, with the main character being nothing more than a simple puppet. Sure he can attack the enemies, but no matter what equipment you get him, it really doesn't seem to make a difference, as he always seems to cause an insignificant amount of damage. Fortunately, you can also take up to two Spectrobes to a battle, which can either perform a combined attack (which you'll probably never use, due to its charging time) or strike by themselves, but only if you press L or R, to activate the left or right one. Yes, that's right, your Spectrobes are actually brainless creatures who won't attack anyone, either if the opponent is 20 miles away or right in front of them, and therefore, they need all the help you can give them. They just stick to the left and right sides of your character, and unless they are made to leave it, they usually stick to those positions.

Even if such battle scheme wasn't bad enough, the game was made worse by adding a cooling time to all attacks. While such feature is understandable in most RPGs, here it just slows the pace of battles, making them even more annoying. After a while, you'll be aligning one of your monsters to the enemy (which always comes in groups of three, for some unexplained reason), striking with them and running away for a bit, before repeating it all over again, until you win the battle.

A final, yet interesting, tune up was given to the monsters. Unlike what happens in most games, here "levels" hardly mean anything, and the stats of each creature levels up on its own, with different growth levels, or so it seems.

Next, and as in most games of this type, the main feature is collecting the monsters. Since you can't capture the Krawl, you'll been hunting for fossils which, after being restored, will turn into baby Spectrobes. In such a form, they aren't very important and can't be put into your main party, but you may use them to search the field, which may grant you more fossils, minerals or cubes.

Such action is completed by accessing a simple mini-game, where you have to use some tools (you start with a few ones, but can later purchase new ones) to dig the wanted item. Depending on your procedure, you'll rarely get a better item, which you can later use. If that's a fossil, you'll be able to play a small mini-game, where you have to speak to the mic with a specific tone for 3 seconds, in order to recover it. Minerals should be used to feed the baby Spectrobes, in order for them to improve their stats and, eventually, evolve. As for the cubes, they simply provide you with tips about the game, apart from enabling special functions, such as wireless modes or the Wifi functions.

Oddly, the Wifi functions are nothing that people expect. Sure, you can think of online battles, but you don't seem to find such function in here. Instead, it just allows you to download extra content or upload statistics to the official site, nothing more. This also affects the replay value; despite featuring more than 100 different monsters, their baby forms are less than a couple dozens, which makes it slightly less interesting. Getting them all isn't as hard as getting all Pokemon, but the game may last you quite a while, provided you can actually surpass the title's boredom.

However, an awesome, unique, function of the game is the usage of cards. After unlocking such in-game option, you can put special cards on top of the lower screen, and activate certain patterns with your stylus, which give you interesting bonus, mostly new, rare or even unique, monsters. The game comes with a few cards, but rumors state that others will be offered as part of special promotions, which will later be revealed.

The graphics start as being nice, with the scenarios well drawn, the 3D graphics generally good and detailed. Despite such beauty, the 2D graphics (usually seen in the middle of conversations) are awful, and strangely remind me of GBA games. They are undetailed, full of pixels out of their proper place and don't even look like the characters, as shown in their 3D videos' installment.

Sound is slightly better, but gets old after a while. You may feel the urge to listen to it, but after a while, I'm sure that you'll turn it off.

Rating this game is quite hard. The concept is actually good, and it is a pity that it was badly designed, turning into a predictable and repetitive game, which may only appeal to a certain type of players, and that's the main reason behind its final score. You can purchase the game, but do it at your own risk.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/07, Updated 03/14/07