Digimon World DS

"Dreams in Digital"

Digimon is one of those unfortunate franchises that's always overshadowed by a similar series (in this case, Pokemon). No matter what, people always go for the more popular competitor, and just leave it behind. It's never really had much of a chance to shine, partly due to a history of less-than-mediocre games. That's why Digimon World DS stands out so much: it's not just a good game, it's a good Digimon game.

It's not going to win any awards for originality, though - truth be told, there's not really anything here you haven't seen before. What saves the game is the fact that everything is just held together so well. You're a new Tamer, tasked by your superiors to travel to unfortunately cliche locales (marvel at the beauty of the jungle level! Lose yourself in the white bliss of the snow level!), usually to eliminate whatever ill-meaning creature is inhabiting it. There's a few variations in the mission goals, but it all boils down to the same thing. You're also warned now: the dialogue is childish, sometimes painfully so. Not that it distracts from the rest of the game, of course, but it definitely got on my nerves.

Like most RPGs, you'll fight your way through random encounters, level up, gain some cash, and so on. And what would a creature-collection game be without the ability to recruit new critters? The capture system is one of the charming little touches that manages to set the game apart, if only a little. Every time you fight a Digimon, you'll get a bit of its data. Upon collecting enough, you can summon it to your own party. Once you have more Digimon than you can carry, you can send them off to farms, which you can customize with different stat-boosting items, so your Digimon can manage to level up even without your guidance. You can also talk to your farm-bound friends to be assigned to short side-quests, but with the exception of the big post-game quest, none are really worth it.

Battles are vaguely strategic, using a positioning system that seems like it wants to add depth, but doesn't quite get the job done. Nonetheless, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the fights; they're perfectly adequate in their own right as a straight-up old-school system. Branching evolution trees are a new addition to the series, but like the fights, it tries to be more than it actually is. When it comes down to it, there's only a few paths each Digi can take, and if you're an obsessive collector, you'll have to round up the same Digimon more than once just to take it through every path and reach the final forms.

Given the reputation of the series, this is a surprisingly good game. If you're a Digimon fan, you can't possibly go wrong with this game. For everyone else, it's a solid (if a bit underwhelming) monster-collection game that fails in very few areas, but doesn't quite excel in any.

Final score: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/25/07