"Just not the same..."

You know maybe I was spoiled by the previous Dragon Warrior Monster games but this game just didn't cut it. I think it had a big name to live up to and it fell short of that. It just did not meet my standards for a Dragon Warrior Monster game. Maybe it is the Quest in the title instead of Warrior. I remember when ever I was a kid, I sat and played for hours and hours with my friends. We bred our monsters together and game each other tips while we fought. This game just wasn't that kind of quality. I felt that everything suffered from the story to the game play and even the graphics. I hope they can fix it next time around because it would be a shame to see such a great series go down in flames.

The older stories were great. You got to explore different settings through the Warp Gates. You got to battle in great tournaments and save the town from sinking. It had lovable characters and also some characters you hate. This story really didn't have that. You are sent by your father who is the leader of some organization. You enter a tourney to find some items and then duke it out in the ring. There are only a few twists and most you can see if you look carefully for them. The characters are plain and don't really have very funny personalities. This is one of the most important parts for an RPG and it wasn't that good here. I felt there should have been so much more but there wasn't. Some of the thoughts were okay but I felt they were not expanded on enough thus making this plot seem shallow.

Game play is huge in any game. I felt it was sort of like the older games but could have been a lot better. Some changes I think were unnecessary were the monsters actually walking around so you could avoid them and the erasing of some of the monsters. I used to get a great team on my old game but now those monsters are just gone. Where did my Phoenix and Rainhawk go? It was also part of the thrill not knowing when the next battle came. You would sit there and pray to find a warp hole or town (In the second one for the GBAs case). You would run into that random battle and hope you could some how make it out alive and not run into another. I am very glad they kept the breeding. That was the most important part. You would breed two of your favorites and get a powerful combination. I think the family tree they added in the monster's status screen was awesome. They changed a few things they should not have but also added a few small good things. One awful thing is the Wi fi. It could have been a lot better. You could have battled others and bred with others. Instead you fight top ranked teams for prizes. The bad thing about this is that about fifty percent of the top one hundred are hacked teams and Nintendo is doing nothing about it. You might be proud one day to see your team in the top one hundred just to come on tomorrow and have some cheater knock you out. I think this is where they really failed the worse. The Wi fi had so much potential and they did not do a good job. I hope they can fix this if they make another for the DS.

The graphics were overall the best thing. The monsters looked pretty good in the 3D. Some of the islands looked awesome too. You could look out and see a beach leading up to a mansion or a gigantic jungle maze. One thing they did not do well was the characters. First off is this supposed to be Dragon ball Z. The main character looks like a freak and most other characters too. The designers could have done better there but overall this is there best area. Not many people will buy a game for graphics alone especially if they aren't even the best. The music is your every RPG wack junk. It is the about the same in almost every game. Can I get a little originality please?

Overall this game was a bummer for me. Some of you may think I am an idiot but others will see I am right. This game is just not like the older versions. They need to go back and look what made them successful and improve on that. I really hope they make another game for the DS and redeem themselves in my eyes. I used to love this series and I have always loved this genre of games.

Story: 4/10
Game play: 4/10
Graphics: 7/10
Music: 3/10
Overall: 4.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/08

Game Release: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (US, 11/06/07)