Snake Eyes: Monster Tale (NDS)

Monster Tale

Platform: Nintendo DS

Released: 22 March 2011 (NA)

Developer: DreamRift

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment

Update (14 May 2013): This is a review I made for my other blog back in July 2011. As of this moment I also have a Sony PSP Go as well and may do some pieces on the games I really liked.

I have just started getting into the DS gaming scene recently, primarily because I have bought my 2nd Nintendo DS earlier this year. I broke my first one playing LEGO Rock Band, and it took me a while to buy another one. Why a DS? Firstly, I'm more of an on-the-go gamer now, choosing small and portable over HD graphics and powerful home console units. For some, they'd tell me I should've gotten a Sony PSP. Frankly, I don't care about the juice of the unit. I look for content, and the DS just has more content that interested me at the time of purchasing a handheld console.

The Story

Monster Tale. At first glance, it looks like a children's game. The premise is also very kiddie: a young girl, Ellie, wakes up in another world where monsters rule, and meets a new-hatched monster, Chomp, looking for his mother. The two end up discovering that other kids have taken over the monsters and have enslaved them, and it's up to them to free the monsters, and in the process, rescue Chomp's mother and return the land to the monsters' rule. There isn't much more than that, other than short insights into the previous lives of the Kid Kings (and Queens.)

Screen Layout

The 2 screens are used this way:  Ellie goes over the terrain on the top screen, which also displays her health and money. Enemies are mostly on the top screen, except for a few that goes into the Pet Sanctuary to avoid Ellie's pounding. For those monsters, Chomp should be in the Sanctuary to defeat them. Items, food including, that Ellie picks up from monsters as they die are transferred to the bottom screen, in which if Chomp is there, he will interact with them and gain experience, level up, learn skills, and unlock new forms.

You can also call Chomp to the top screen to use skills he has learned, as well as help you hit enemies on that screen. Do note that you cannot directly control Chomp, but skill usage is on your command. On the bottom screen is Chomp's stamina bar: it goes down when Chomp is hit or uses a skill. If Chomps STAMINA stat is not maxed (999), the stamina bar also depletes over time.

This setup is not confusing, and is easy to learn (the tutorial at the start also helps, as well as occasional tips whenever you get new skills.) Pity that you can only use 2 of Chomp's skills at a time. There's not much multitasking involved as Chomp is AI controlled at the bottom screen, in which you could just focus on Ellie and what she does. You could choose what item Chomp interacts with in the Pet Sanctuary though, but he will always try to do something if he's there.

Graphics

I am only tackling this due to necessity; I'm not really critical of graphics. That being said, Monster Tale has smooth animations, colorful characters, and good looking areas. Most of the monsters look cute, with the exception of few, which further lends the "kiddie charm" to this game, which, unfortunately, pushes away the "hardcore" gamers. There really isn't anything bad you could say with how they presented the game. Some of the monsters are palette-swapped, but there's enough of them for a good variety.

Sounds and Music

The music is charming, for every area and usually fits the theme. My only complaint is Ellie's shouting as she pummels the items out of monsters during her melee string combo: repeat those for around 5+ strings and you'll get annoyed too. It doesn't take away much from the game though.

Gameplay

Using Ellie, you can either kill monsters by her Melee attack, Band Blaster (like Megaman's,) or summoning Chomp to use his skills. Ellie learns a variety of moves as the game progresses, as well as being able to buy upgrades for her Band Blaster, Health, Melee damage, and so on. She does not, however, "level up" as Chomp does; she does not gain any experience from killing monsters.

As long as you know how to go around the levels, this game is not that difficult. You'll learn how to dispatch enemies quickly with Ellie's techniques, juggling them in midair for more chances of items dropping (they only drop items once they're dead.) Fighting the other kids with their pet monsters will just take a bit of observation to learn the patterns and cues, and it's a breeze.

One aspect of this game a lot of people don't like is all the backtracking. Every area has part that you are not able to access with Ellie's current skill set. You'll have to go to another new area, find the skill that Ellie is able to learn in that area, and backtrack to the previous area to access the parts you weren't able to. This is done throughout the whole game, and there's no teleporter of some sort to ease your travels. Ellie isn't exactly a fast runner.

I, for one, didn't mind it a whole lot. What I did mind was how useless Chomp's variety of forms are. Sure, a lot to unlock, skills to learn, traits to power up Chomp. But for what? The skills aren't all that great (I only use around 4 skills throughout the whole game) and there isn't enough incentive to go and unlock all the forms to unlock more skills.

What they could have done is require you to "grind" a bit to unlock a form, to learn a skill that you would need to access different parts of the map. There's potential in the form that boosts Ellie's jump midair to access high ledges, but that got stomped on when Ellie learns to wallgrab. What would've been great is to have special areas, maybe bonus, maybe main story, that would only be accessed if you have a certain form of Chomp, and the corresponding form's skill. That would have certainly added more flair and variety, as well as the much needed incentive.

Content & Replay Value

Maybe you've gone through the game fast and want to replay it to unlock all the forms. But as I said before, incentive to do so is really lacking. I certainly took the time to grind and save money to buy everything and unlock each and every form, skill, and trait, as well as maxing the levels of Chomp's forms (except for one particular form...) That's because I really liked the game and didn't mind the extra effort to do a 100%, which isn't very hard to do. A particular form of Chomp with some good traits and a particular skill, and he's all you'll be needing. There's not much to miss aside from the forms, so the only time you'll play it again is if you want to relive Ellie's adventure all over again. Which is what I have done, 2 100% playthroughs.

Conclusion

Monster Tale is a wonderful game. It's not that deep, or insanely difficult, but it can absorb you, and really take some hours out of your life. Fun hours, mind you. You can probably beat the game in as low as 6 hours, maybe even lower, but both my playthroughs were 18+ hours, time well spent leveling up Chomp and unlocking all his secrets. A game doesn't need to be "hardcore" or graphically superior to everything else to be great, it should first and foremost be fun and worthwhile. Monster Tale is great, even with the slight flaws in the gameplay, especially about incentive in unlocking all of Chomp's features. Definitely worth it.