Spectrobes

"A step up from Pokemon, but a few down as well"

In an age of gaming where "me too" games are everywhere (read: Grand Theft Auto clones) and innovation is limited due to the ever-so-important money making phase, it's hard to really come down on a game that emulates the ideas of an existing concept. Especially when several of those ideas are really not all that bad.

Quick recap: Spectrobes, also known as the "Disney Pokemon game," sees the main hero on an interstellar quest to collect the fossils of ancient species that are the only way to defeat a galactic menace (forgot the name) that is hell-bent on destroying the universe. While it's main scope is on a scale that dwarfs Pokemon's (gotta catch 'em all to stop [insert evil group]), there are enough plot issues to drag down the credibility. But more on that later.

Like Pokemon, you have to catch critters to fill the ranks of your private army (or team or whatever you wish) and go fight random tornados and search for more things. Where Pokemon has you catching the critters you fight to use against other people's critters, Spectrobes sees you digging up fossils, reactivating them (don't even ask HOW that is possible...), leveling them up by feeding them gems you dig up (or via combat), and then taking them against insipid...blobs and tenticled things.

To get said fossils, you must search the grounds with a Spectrobe that follows you, dig it out (carefully) with the touch screen "tools," take it to your ship, wake it up by hitting a set volume relative to each fossil, then throwing them into an incubator and feeding them gems you dig up. This gets very old very fast, but also does add a sense of realism to the game: you ARE supposed to dig these things up, and should you dig too hard, you should not be rewarded with a perfect fossil. That said, there are plenty of people out there that would dislike this.

Combat is typically initiated by you running into a purple vortex (or it running into you), whereupon you have to fight a few things (which range from blobs to tenticle things to things that are best left to being seen). Fighting is action based, but in a manner that is quite "old skool" to most gamers: you move your character with the D-pad, have him attack with the X button while B rotates your array of items. The A button supposedly lets you charge up a special bar, yet as of this moment I have not had a real reason to fiddle with it. The L button tells your Spectrobe on your left to attack in the direction your character faces, and R repeats the same action with the Spectrobe to your right. Do be aware that this combat takes place in a round arena, with only the Select button to allow you to escape.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

The plot, as stated above, is a bit more involved than in Pokemon, but there are notable issues that arise. First of all, how is it that there are all these fossils lying around, and almost no one knows about them? This "Mr. X" (hey, that's what they call him at first) alone raises a few issues, like how these Spectorobes were not only centered in YOUR star system, but that they were (in limited ammonts) present in his system (which was destroyed by the evil purple tornado guys). AND he somehow gets stuck on a planet in a dinky little pod that reminded me of Mega Man Legends 2. AND he knows a great deal on these Spectrobes. AND he, with the help of your assistant (who, despite her criticism of YOUR character, tends to be a basket case herself) convince your boss that your solar system is about to be destroyed only because your insane story matches with the sudden appearance of purple tornados?

[END POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

Ahem.

There is a multiplayer option that allows up to sixteen others with their own Spectrobes cart to engage in tournaments. However, you DO have to unlock the multiplayer aspect of the game by finding special cubes while digging. Whoever decided THAT needs to get more training. Also, despite the WFC lable on the box, the only Wi-Fi options this game supports are the downloading of special Spectrobes and items, as well as special Webisodes that tell some stories. Were it not for the fact that the latter is available uncompressed on the net, this would be kinda cool.

Graphically, Spectrobes is not bad, but a little bland at times. The animatnions of all non-combat, non-character portraits is kinda wierd, and the in-battle main character model is hideous, to be nice. The art direction is very well done, and I do like the more anime-themed character portraits than those we usually would associate with a Disney project (did I mention that Disney is behind this?)

Music is decent, and while sometimes nice, nothing is really good enough to warrant going on the web and finding the mp3s. Also, for good or evil, you don't have to listen to Spectrobes chirping, roaring, or "Pikaing" when they attack.

Finally, kudos to Disney for the great marketing idea of having a special set of trading cards for the game. These cards have special holes that, when you find the cube that unlocks it, allows you to input the cards through numbered holes. These cards allow you to gain more Spectrobes without digging, minerals, or parts for your monsters.

In closing, not a bad project, but more work is needed before this can be considered a serious threat to Pokemon.

Score: 7 of 10

+ Best Features: Digging for items, Art style, Cards, Webisodes, Somewhat addicting

- Worst Features: Digging over and over and over, having to unlock WFC and Multiplayer modes, dated combat

* If You Liked: Pokemon Pearl and Diamond

* Guilty Pleasure: Babbling things to get the right pitch to awaken a fossil while in the break room at work. Just to see the faces.

* (Ugly) Reality: The fact that this might have done well if released back in November, but will sell so bad due to April's Pokemon marketing blitz...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/07, Updated 11/20/07

Game Release: Spectrobes (US, 03/06/07)