Monster Rancher 3

THE BAD:
-Stupid, cheap combat system
-Annoying training
-Many monsters are useless
-Only 5 places to train
-Almost nothing to do besides training and battling
-Battling shortens your monster's life
-Fleria talks too much
-You have to rely on stupid monster AI for EVERYTHING!

SUMMARY:
You'd think a monster simulator would be great, wouldn't you? Well, if a slow pace appeals to you, and you aren't bothered by the lack of gameplay, you will love this.

Graphics: 9.7 -- Tecmo really knows how to create amazing and appropriate graphics. The models are all nicely cel-shaded, and they're so cute! And all their animations look smooth and life-like. They don't have a lot of detail, but that's not a problem with this graphic styling. The environments, one the other hand, are not quite as impressive. Sure, they look really cool with the hand-drawn style, but they look... flat. And some of the things in them literally are, indeed, flat. The five breeding zones aren't even that big, so it's pretty pathetic that they didn't put a lot of detail into them. Other than that, they look very rich and clean, like the monsters themselves. Also, the particle effects look pretty good, but they just don't have the visual greatness of the monsters. Even with a few minor flaws, this game is one of the prettiest I've seen.

Sound: 7 -- While still suitable for this game, the whole sound system is good but lacking. The music is pretty cheesy and repetive, but it's good for each of the areas and situations. The only real problem is that you can't really turn it off without destroying the gaming experience. I mean, it just sounds so weird and unappealing without it, which is not a good thing if you don't like it. The sound effects, however, are far superior to the music (well, kind of). All the monsters make cute and hilarious noises, all of which express their feelings really well. The battle sounds are not quite as good, but they do manage to add satisfaction to every good hit your monster makes. The downside to the game is that there is no spoken dialog at all! I know it would be quite impossible with all the custom monster and breeder names being used, but there are a few scenes where it would work out okay. Plus it would make the game feel more realistic. The game sounds good, I swear, but it may not be good enough for some.

Handling: 4 -- I am not at all pleased with the control system of this game. For one thing, the camera constantly changes angles at a fast pace, so it can often leave you confused and annoyed. There is nothing you can do about it, so you have to deal with it. As a result, the controls are the WORST part of this game, without competition. All you do is simply select what you want to do, and the game does the rest. But that's not the worst of it. Since the game "plays" for you, you have no control over your monster's performance. So if they fail to complete the weekly training, oh well. Consequentally, your monster suffers during battle. All you can do is move your monster back and forth and select a skill for them to use. Then the game takes over again, often making your monster miss. Likewise, your opponent seems to hit you more than you hit them, because the game dodges attacks for you as well. So basically, the whole battle acts only by chance, and you can't do anything about it. Also, I've noticed that your opponent seems to be more accurate in attacking and dodging than your own monster, regardless of how well you build your stats. So loss is not really very surprising. Because of this, the game holds a bad amount of difficulty and frustration. And what's worse is that your monsters can't even live to be five years or older, even though it was intended. The most common age for me is three, and then they die a few weeks or months later. The reason? Each battle you partake in takes one week off your monster's life. Wait, isn't fighting the whole point of the game? Since when is it logical to give the game's main gameplay element a major disadvantage? Because of just one very bad field in this game, this game suffers greatly.

Entertainment: 8.3 -- Despite numerous gameplay disadvantages, this game is actually fun to play for gamers of all ages. Although simple, it's somehow very amusing to raise and battle a monster. The gameplay is somewhat addicting, but the repetitive events (train, battle, train, battle, venturing, train...) are a real turn-off. The battles, although strangely amusing, can get on your nerves. But other than constant training, frequent tournaments, and occasional ventures, there's nothing to do, and it can get old with time. This game is fun; it just doesn't last as long as I'd like.

Features: 7.5 -- Just as many gamers would expect, this game has quite a few things for you to discover and unlock. First of all, there are over 30 monster species, each with at least five different breeds that can adapt to their surroundings, depending on how you raise it. There are also a wide variety of special breeds that can only be added to your selection from saucer stones. My only complaint is that many of the breeds look the same as the basic breed, but only with different colors and patterns or horns. Then there are the places you can train, or should I say, lack of. Seriously, only five locations? Plus they're all so small and hardly have any training methods. I've seen larger areas in cheap PS1 titles. It's not necessarily a problem, but it does make the game a little less fun. There are also lots of different people to meet along with loads of battles to participate in. Also, there are many, many different item classifications, all of which have a unique and useful purpose. The problem is that you can only carry an unreasonably small amount of each at one time (except with accessories), so you'll have to throw away others to make room. So if you go to a difficult tournament and win an awesome artifact that can teach your monster a new skill, but you find another rare artifact of different value, you'll have to choose one or the other, instead of keeping them both when they're not even the same thing! So you can only hope not to find too many rare goods. Anyway, this game is open-ended, but there are some storylines in each of the five regions for which you raise your monster. But starting a new game is good if you want to get a fresh start, possibly to fix any decisions you didn't like from before. But the problem is the lack of activities. Train, battle, train, train, battle, train, battle, etc. That's pretty much how you'll plan on spending your days. I think special training events throughout the year would be fun, provided you didn't rely on AI like you always do. But, for the most part, what you see is what you get here. The only extra feature I can think of is one secret monster, along with abstracted special breeds for every other monster. As far as monster simulators go, the amount of content is pretty good, but don't expect a whole lot.

Replay Value: Moderate

Overall: 7.3 -- So this game has some good, and some bad. It has a very crappy gameplay system but somehow manages to maintain a lasting appeal. If a 7 or better is still fun for you, I highly recommend it if you want a monster simulator.