Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

"Fairly good game; much better than its predecessor."

Introduction
Unlike the first Spectrobes game, this one has quite a bit more to do, and a more detailed storyline. However, it has some minor issues, and could have been expanded more. As you may have expected, I will be giving my opinion on this game.

Gameplay (8/10)
Let's start with the battling system. Compared to the previous Spectrobes game, the battling system is much better, however, once again, it is difficult to control your Spectrobes (which are, as you may already know, monsters which Rallen can control). Fortunately, they have a 'locking' system which makes things a lot easier to control. Overall, the battling system is okay (and pretty unique), though its nothing to be amazed at.

One of the primary features of game -- excavation, was pretty well done. It was pretty unique compared to what you might normally expect. You get to excavate minerals, fossils, and cubes (which primarily store useful information). In the previous game, you were only able to excavate rocky terrains, however, now, you may excavate within places with sand, lava, water, mud, etc. Unfortunately, they made it a little too difficult to excavate in these terrains, so you'll most likely not bother in those kinds of places.

A new feature is the 'Rallen' battling system, which is more or less an action battle system. Basically, you get to fight smaller creatures called 'Krawl Dust' which surround the Krawl when you are outside of battle. You do get a type of EXP, but you reach the maximum level too soon, which is kind of annoying. Fortunately, when you beat these, you often get recovery items for you or your Spectrobes, which are very useful.

I was glad that the creators added some more minigames and add-ons this time, as the previous game had nearly nothing which would contribute to the gameplay. I won't get into too much detail about the minigames, however, they are fairly fun to play.

The minigame you'll probably be doing most often is the one where you ride your ship through portals (and, in one case, where you fly around the sun collecting light). It would have been more worth it to play this minigame if you had actually got something in return. Unfortunately, you get basically nothing for beating it (except that you can try to beat your own record, I guess).

Anyway, the gameplay is okay, and was fairly well-done.

Storyline (5/10)
Although the storyline has improved from the previous game, it is still quite dull. Unfortunately, the storyline may not even be considered to be more in-depth and interesting than Pokémon. If the storyline had more emotions, was longer, not to repetitive, and not so easy to predict, it would have been much better. This is a prime thing that they need to work on, as it is one of the most important aspects of an RPG.

Graphics (9/10)
The graphics are okay, however they aren't anything to get excited about. The majority of the graphics were copied from the earlier game.

I particularly liked the graphics displayed while excavating. Personally, I dislike the 3D graphics portrayed upon Nintendo DS games. Really, most games should just stick with 2D graphics and whatever.

Music (7/10)
Nothing impressive, of course. I personally think that music affects a game a lot (or rather, it can). Typically, it makes one feel more energized, and puts more emotion into the game (at least, if it is actually good).

Overall, the music is dull... there are about three music files which are actually worth listening to.

Sounds (9/10)
Seeing as sounds are not too important, this section has a high score. There were nothing wrong with the sounds, as far as I was concerned... infact, they were pretty well-done.

Play Time/Replayability (8/10)
You can easily beat this game in a few hours (maybe ten to twenty hours)... it really depends on how much you like doing other things, which Spectrobes you use, and how strong they are. The better your Spectrobes, the less work you have to do (since, eventually, you'll probably have to start training and excavating minerals a lot in order to keep up).

The game is worth replaying in certain portions. Really, the only thing that may be worth doing again is excavating, since it can be kind of enjoyable. Only problem is, things get extremely repetitive, so you'll eventually not want to play anymore.

Conclusion
This game can be good in certain aspects, though, as I mentioned previously, very repetitive. If story is a very big thing for you, I do not recommend this game. However, if you enjoy gameplay, this may be more suitable for you.

I would buy this game, seeing as it can be fun to play every-one-and-awhile, even after beating it; primarily because it is fun to excavate and train sometimes.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/08

Game Release: Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals (US, 10/07/08)