Spectrobes (Nintendo DS)

I've had the game for a few hours now, and could barely tear myself away long enough to post my first impressions!

I absolutely LOVE this game! The story is one I haven't seen before(no "team Rocket/Magma/etc is raising havoc again", but it does have a sort of "save the universe" feel), the game runs in real time; both battles and in running around and searching for fossils!

Speaking of fossils, I found that is one of the bits that took a lot of strategy, later fossils require you to use a delicate(but still speedy) touch. One of the most frustrating things about the fossil excavation part is if you take too long to excavate a fossil, you automatically lose that fossil!

After you successfully excavate a fossil, you take it back to your ship to "awaken" it (be sure to do this somewhere somewhat private, you'll be shouting at your ds a lot, but it's only for a few seconds per fossil, and whispering/blowing doesn't always work.)

Then, you take it to an incubation chamber and feel it minerals you have excavated(you'll often find minerals, fossils or other things when out looking for fossils, the color denotes what you may get: gold is always a fossil, blue is always a mineral, rainbow is always a "cube".)

It's best to put two monsters in one incubation chamber, then when they get old enough to fight, they will give each other bonuses. Come back and check on them in a while, and see if they are sparkling. If they are, they turn into a cacoon, and you tear it open to show your newly-evolved creature! Most have 3 forms, from child to adult(which is when you can fight) is two, then a final form.

Some monsters evolve over time, others when you give them enough minerals, others..I haven't learned yet! It's very similar to the "farms" from Digimon World DS I played earlier in the year, except you can't see them on your top screen during searching or fighting.

The game uses both screens, and many times both are put to great use. You have two monsters that are always with you ready to be summoned into battle(which is done by walking into these annoying black vortexes that tend to like to follow and/or trap you!)and one you can choose to follow you around and help you look for fossils. To do so, you simply tap on it, and rings appear. If a glittering gold, blue or rainbow spot appears, touch it, and you go into the excavation screen to dig it up.

Battles run in real time, and you have a monster on your left and right sides, which you control via L and R, respectively. Your character can equip weapons, but it's best to run everyone up to the Krawl(the game's enemies, lumped together and called simply "the Krawl" )and fight.

At first, the battle system seems kind of slow and clunky, and there is no way to turn the camera, but it's actually not bad! You have to wait for your Left meter or Right meter to fill up (think Active Time Battle meters and you'll be close) then you press L or R when your left or right monster is near an enemy to fight! There are combos, and monsters can work together on one single, massive attack, but I have yet to try this.

Graphics? 3D during game play and battles with nice effects when waking fossils, full-motion cut-scenes and a lush planetary design. Plus, the monsters actually animate(Pokemon, I'm looking at YOU!) during battle, or can be seen running alongside you or doing a little dance when they find a fossil.

As you can see, I have barely scratched the surface on this game, and so far, I'm addicted! It's everything I was hoping for and more! Contrary to what many are saying, I didn't find the game's music to be grating, just kind of bland. Nothing to hum during game play, and when you use your spectrobe to hunt for fossils(which you will do every few steps) you'll find that sound might grate on your ears very quickly.

 

 

All-in-all, while it may not be Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, I think this is a great monster-battling RPG to tide you over until those game come out!