Digimon World Championship

"I want to be the very best..."

The best there ever wa-- I suppose that's wrong. Welcome to Digimon. A world full of cute little monsters who eventually grow to monstrous proportions. If you've ever heard of the first few DS games as well as the several last console games, you'll know that Bandai has been following an RPG formula - leveling up and fighting random enemies. Throw that mindset out the window and behold the updated beginnings of Digimon - _Virtual Pets_ raised only to fight.

Graphics: 6/10
The graphics of the game aren't at all outstanding nor are they going to make your eyes bleed. What you are given is various training areas, battle arenas, and hunting grounds. They won't exactly stick to your mind, it turns out, they're easily forgettable if they weren't called "Volcano" or "Beach" and the like. Digimon on the other hand will keep you entertained, each one is easily recognizable despite you having several of them on the screen at the same time. If anything, the Digimon movements are minimal and simple so as not to spoil the game's simplistic feel.

Music: 3/10
The music is ignorable at best. The tunes aren't annoying but they don't stand out. It's bland to a point. Something is better than nothing I suppose but sometimes it's better to just turn down the volume and listen to your own music. Seriously.

Story: 3/10
There is no story in a sense. There's a goal of winning the World Championship. That's it. As it's designed more or less after virtual pets, it's rather open-ended in why you play. Whether for pure fun, as a competitive man, or for companionship, desperate as it may seem, it makes no difference why you play as long as you enjoy playing it. You'll occasionally be treated to little bits of virtual people saying the same things over and over but it's nothing to pay mind to or to even consider part of any story that may or may not be there.

Gameplay: 10/10
This is the most important part and it's perfectly executed. If you're familiar to virtual pets or the first Digimon World game, you'll be right at home. You start off with an egg. From this egg comes a Digimon. Now for nurturing and nourishing your new-born monster, you'll be feeding, petting, and occasionally healing up your Digimon. Cleaning his environment is important as well. Feels as if you had a pet that doesn't bother you as much. Time to train your Digimon in various aspects until it digivolves into an even stronger Digimon. Simply done by dragging and dropping your Digimon in "cages" that help improve different stats. Then it'll be time to fight in a battle and gain some money and see your Digimon's training in action.

Eventually, you'll be wanting even more Digimon to train. You'll be off on a hunt in various areas where different sorts of Digimon live. To actually get you new Digimon, you'll have to pull on it, silly as it may sound. The method of capture is to draw a circle around your target wild Digimon and then pulling on it until its HP is depleted. You'll then be allowed to capture it. Just make sure you have enough room in your training area. Various traps and guns(!) are presented to you so you can attempt to lure your target into a sense of peace before pouncing on it.

The fighting in the game is minimalistic. You won't direct your Digimon's actions on your own as in previous other games. Instead you'll choose and select their general actions - Normal Attack, Support Attack, and Support. They do what they sound like they do thankfully. Your Digimon will just go and do as they see fit in the battlefield to gain victory. Most of the time. Makes you think they have a mind of their own. After fighting, you'll attain various "Titles" which in turn allow you to buy new equipment, raise the amount of Digimon you can have at once, and even allow you to Digivolve even further.

Replayability: 10/10
As with most games that are open-ended, this could go on as long as you want it. Raising new Digimon, and training them to the best of their ability until they die or turn into eggs again so you can start from scratch is what the game is about. With an assumed amount of hundreds of Digimon to train and attain by various styles of training, you'll have a handful of things to look forward to, not to mention the title matches in the game which present themselves with various set rules. This could go on as long as you want and with out having to worry about it 24/7 as with the original Digivices, you can enjoy it at your own pace.

Buy or Rent: Buy it. I can't comment on the multiplayer experience but either way, a fan of virtual life will love to have this game in their clutches.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/08

Game Release: Digimon World Championship (US, 08/26/08)