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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
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Product summary
Digimon World DS is a solid, if unremarkable monster battle game, which pretty much means it's the best Digimon game ever made.
Specifications: ESRB: Everyone 10 and older; Genre: Role-Playing; Number of players: 1-2 Players See full specs
Price range: $39.96
Gamespot editors' review
- Reviewed on: 01/25/2007
- Released on: 11/07/2006
Fans of the Digimon franchise have had to put up with some shoddy games over the years. Thankfully, if Digimon World DS is any indication, it looks like Namco Bandai is finally taking steps to reverse that trend. The process of catching monsters has been made less tedious in this latest game, the battle interface has undergone a few strategic tweaks, and you now have a lot more leeway with regard to training and customizing your collected monsters. The ability to trade and breed monsters with people over the Internet using Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect service is also a welcome new feature, even if actual multiplayer play remains limited to opponents that you can fit into the same room with you. Digimon World DS still has some catching up to do when compared to the typical Pokémon game, but all of the various improvements go a long way toward making this the kind of game that Digimon fans can buy and play without much fear of disappointment.
Digimon World DS isn't much different from all of the other monster battle games out there. It's a story-driven dungeon crawler where you set out to capture and raise as many digital monsters, or Digimon, as possible. Monsters can be collected in the wild, evolved into other monsters at certain points, and mated with other monsters to yield eggs that eventually hatch into still more monsters. In all, there are more than 300 of the little buggers to find. Of course, because this is a monster battle game, you can use the monsters you collect to battle other monsters in turn-based battles. These battles are three-on-three and play out much like the battles in a traditional role-playing game. When it's your turn to attack, you pick one of your monster's attacks from a list and then watch the attack happen. Turns go back and forth until one side's team is defeated. Like in Pokémon, the monsters in Digimon have strengths and weaknesses based on their type. Classes, such as dragon, beast, insect, dark, and holy, come into play. Digimon World DS also ups the ante on its predecessors by letting you situate your Digimon on specific spots on the battlefield. You can place your monsters side-by-side to activate certain support effects or split them up to prevent the enemy from whacking you with group attacks. Beating the CPU's monsters will earn you useful items or advance the story along, while beating your buddies will earn you bragging rights and boost your ego. Ultimately, you want to capture as many Digimon as possible, achieve the rank of master trainer, and see the story through to its conclusion.
The biggest problem with previous Digimon games is that they put too much emphasis on the story and too little emphasis on the collecting and customizing of the actual monsters. Digimon World DS puts the focus where it belongs. The world has been streamlined so that dungeons are all accessed from a central area, and the story has been put together so that most events involve seeking out certain Digimon or improving your trainer rank. Side quests are given to you by your own Digimon. Completing those tasks gives them new abilities and allows you to evolve some of them into their rarer Mega and Ultimate forms. Finding and catching monsters has also been simplified. Each of the 20-or-so dungeons in the game contains a specific set of monsters. Those monsters still randomly challenge your Digimon to a battle every few steps or so, but now, instead of taking a random shot at trapping one, you can just head back to the farm to generate your own monster once you collect enough battle data.
In exchange for making it easier to collect new Digimon, the folks at Namco Bandai have greatly expanded your options with regard to training and customizing Digimon. You can give your monsters stat boosts by collecting more battle data before generating them, and you can strengthen key attributes by training them with specific tools on your very own Digifarm. Your monsters also gain different types of experience based on the kinds of monsters you have them fight. When one of your monsters gains enough levels to Digivolve into a later form, you usually have two or three potential Mega and Ultimate forms to pick from based on the different types of experience your monster has gained. About halfway through the story, you're given the ability to return Digimon back to their earlier forms, which allows you to mix and match the abilities of different types of Champion, Mega, and Ultimate Digimon. On top of all that, you can outfit your monsters with swords, armor, and other items that further boost their abilities.
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Where to buy
Digimon World DS (DS):
$39.96
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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