Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS)
A good-looking grindfest -- with bonus Slime action!
2/18/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Plenty of depth; More than 200 monsters; Charming cel-shaded visuals
What's Not: No real head-to-head online play; Pesky camera
Susan Arendt
Status: This status message, and everything it says, is a lie!
How much you enjoy
Joker will depend largely on your tolerance for the repetitious nature of grinding. Although the islands are conveniently arranged based on the overall strength of their inhabitants, you'll still have to devote a great deal of time to leveling up your team members in order to make any kind of progress. Just taking a few steps past the scouting post -- your home base of operations on each island -- can require an hour or more of grinding to keep your critters from meeting an untimely end.
Even without monster interruption, getting around
Joker's 3-D environments can prove a bit frustrating. Although your fellow scouts and the more than 200 monsters you encounter are all very well-designed, the islands themselves are a bit bland and sometimes not very well-defined. The lack of detail can sometimes make it tricky to distinguish where a hill ends and a path begins, for example, leaving you running in place, wondering why you're not getting anywhere. The camera can also be a bit problematic. Pressing the left or right shoulder button will swing it around in the appropriate direction, which is fine when you're standing still, but slightly more awkward when you're on the move. It's not a game-killer, but you will more than likely end up being charged by monsters that you can't actually see.
You can battle other Monster Scouts over Wi-Fi, either in Chance Encounters or in the Wildcard World Cup. A Chance Encounter is a quick match against a nearby DS owner who is also in Chance Encounter mode, while the World Cup lets you try your best against downloadable teams. It's not quite as good as actually being able to battle it out online, but it's better than nothing.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker has a simple premise but an ample amount of depth for those who can get into its gotta-catch-'em-all vibe. Scouting, leveling and synthesizing monsters is an OCD gamer's dream, but the necessary grinding will prove too tedious for some.
This review is based on a retail copy of the game purchased by Crispy Gamer.
