Digimon World 4

THE BAD:
There aren't many Digimon to play as
Loading times are lengthy
A bit too hard early on

SUMMARY:
Digimon World games are a funny thing. They're as different from each other as a basket of assorted fruit, they change from one form to another like Optimus Prime and they reinvent their appearance like Doctor Who. The original World was basically a 3D Tamagotchi, while 2003 followed a more traditional RPG approach with levels. The one thing which remained consistent aside from the currency and the largely stat-driven gameplay was that, for the most part, you weren't a Digimon. Well, World 4 (which is actually the third European World game, the second wasn't released beyond Japan and the US) scraps the idea of you being a human "Tamer" commanding your Digimon to fight other Digimon and puts you right in the shoes (or claws) of the Digimon itself.

Basic story is, you're the newest recruit to the Digital Security Guard, a team of Digimon agents dedicated to preserving peace in the Digital World. Naturally, it's about then that things start going pear-shaped for the Digital World as a mysterious virus has attacked a nearby server and turned the usually friendly Digimon into mindless pawns in someone's elaborate plan to conquer cyberspace. There is a story running through it, which is quite impressive for a game which could so easily have conformed to the easy "play a stage, return to base, play another stage, repeat until final boss" formula.

The game's graphics and sounds are alright, with appropriate music and sound effects for each area and detailed Digimon models. Some of the enemy Digimon don't seem as detailed, but the environments are very impressive.


One of the game's stages. A desert where mummies and dinosaurs rule.

You start off in the DSG base, which is a large complex with shops, portals and all the things you'll need for your adventures. The game is played across four large stages, each with various areas to explore. These are varied, and they don't usually get repetitive. These areas branch off into dungeons where you solve puzzles, do platformy bits, fight enemies and fight bosses.

You start with a selection of four Rookie Digimon, namely Agumon, Veemon, Guilmon and Dorumon. While this may seem impressive for an initial roster, that's a quarter of all the playable Digimon in the game. World 4 sports easily the lowest number of playable Digimon in the World series so far, even less than the GBA's Battle Spirit. They're mostly the usual suspects; WarGreymon (X) and a few other X-ed Megas who've been around for a while get a look in, things that walk on two legs and have "Imperialdramon" in their names make their inevitable appearance. Throw in a couple of Garurumons and a few Digimon with "Mode" in their names and you've basically got the entire roster apart from a few obscure ones which I can only presume are from Season 4. While most of the Digimon you get are admittedly ones you'd probably enjoy playing as and it is nice to be able to change Digimon, they play almost exactly the same way. True, there are subtle differences in their movement speeds, jumping capabilities and which weapons they're best at using, but these aren't things you're likely to be bothered about until you have several Digimon to compare with each other.

So, you've picked your Digimon and you're soon launched into the main game. It moves well and the controls are simple enough - one button attacks, another jumps and the left stick moves your Digimon - and there are some intriguing control systems. Menus can be opened with the shoulder buttons and navigated with the D-pad, so if you've got a flexible index finger you can operate the menus while maintaining control of your Digimon. Gameplay mainly centres around exploring new areas and fighting bosses to obtain items which will allow you to progress to the next area.

Speaking of bosses, World 4 has plenty of them, and many are classic Digimon bosses. A lot of them are very well-designed; for example, SkullGreymon fires homing missiles while Blossomon uses her tendrils as weapons. Each area of the game culminates in a big battle against a proper boss, many of whom anime fans will recognise. Basic enemy Digimon are plentiful and they rarely simply aimlessly stagger across the screen and attack; most of them have tricks which need to be observed and taken into consideration when tackling several of them. However, enemy Digimon can be the cause of frustration as well; in the early game it's not uncommon for the game to throw several Digimon barely weaker than yours at you, forcing you to fight carefully from the off. The game also tends to lag when many enemies are on the screen; it doesn't happen often, thankfully, but it can be rather strange when it does. The only other problem is the load times, which can be rather lengthy, but given the sizes of the areas, this is understandable.


That's not the original WarGreymon there, that's WarGreymon X. Which is better, apparently. Either that or his armour's shrunk in the wash, one of the two.

But completing the game isn't the end of it. Oh no, there's still the hard mode (and then the very hard mode), which is basically the whole game again, except the enemies have loads more HP and do more damage, so you'll need higher experience levels. So what's the point of playing the game again when it's basically the same thing, with only a marginal rise in difficulty, with the same goals? Ah, well you see, that's where Digivolution comes in. Because each Digimon is only able to get a limited number Mega forms over the course of the main game, the majority are unlocked by doing quests on the higher difficulty levels which previously were barely rewarding.

This being Digimon, it clearly needs a selection of abilities, or 'techniques'. It has a fair number, divided into three simple categories of offensive techniques, curative techniques and status techniques. However, they're not the techniques you might be familiar with. Gone are the special attacks like Terra Force and Omega Blade; each Digimon learns a maximum of three techniques which have five levels of power. This in itself causes a problem, because at higher levels, techniques drain MP so fast that you may well need to recover after every few attacks.

There is one thing we haven't mentioned yet, and it's a great thing. The game gives you the option of plugging in up to three other controllers and allowing other players to join you with their Digimon. There's little more impressive than seeing a team of four powerful Digimon ready to go, and it plays amazingly well. If you can find a friend or several friends to play the game with, I can really recommend giving the multiplayer mode a go.


The multiplayer option is fantastic fun if you've got someone to play it with.

Digimon World 4 isn't going to appeal to everyone. While it doesn't require the kind of Digimon knowhow that its predecessors do, it's not a game you can simply jump into and out of as you please, nor is it an easy one. But if you don't mind putting the effort in, Digimon World 4 is a rewarding and enjoyable game.