Monster Rancher 4 review (PlayStation 2)

Once you've given your monster a modicum of training, you can enter it into a tournament and have it fight against other monsters. The combat is real-time and bears slight resemblance to a 2D fighting game, though your monsters start off with only three different attacks, which can only be used at certain distances from your opponent. As your monster grows and matures, it earns additional attacks, many of which can be far more potent. You also have the option of simply letting the monster fight on its own, which sort of adds to the sensation that you're in the arena and cheering your monster on. You'll probably find yourself yelling at your TV, once in a while, if you choose the hands-off fighting approach. The combat isn't visceral enough that you're missing out on much if you go this route, however.

Along with the regular training-battle-training cycle that you get into, Monster Rancher offers a little diversion in the form of adventures. These adventures are basically dungeon-crawls, and you'll explore caves and such, looking for treasure and battling wild monsters. The adventure portion of Monster Rancher 4 is also the part of the game that most resembles an actual game, as much of the training and battling is menu-based. Despite seeming a bit passive and having a rather leisurely pace, there's something captivating about creating a monster from scratch, building up its abilities, and then praising it and feeding it its favorite food when it does well and scolding it when it fails. You'll grow attached to your monsters, and when one gets hurt while in battle or on an adventure, you'll feel a distinct loss while it's away at the hospital.

The visual style of Monster Rancher 4 follows the throwback-style of the gameplay by discarding the cel-shaded look of Monster Rancher 3 in favor of normally textured characters and environments. The game, in fact, appears to use a slightly beefed-up version of the engine that powered the Monster Rancher games for the PlayStation, and, as such, the visual fidelity isn't great. Your ranch, the arena, the caves and ruins you go adventuring in, and the temple where you create your monsters all feature simple geometry, pixelated textures, and noticeable aliasing. The monsters themselves are modeled and textured nicely, though much of the animation is shared by different monster types. The music, which essentially is the sound design for Monster Rancher 4, seems like it was pulled from a second-rate anime. It's not great, but it does mesh with the overall feel of the game. The game's other sounds, which are essentially limited to occasional grunts from your monsters, don't really bring much to the music-dominated sound design.

If you enjoyed the first two Monster Rancher games on the PlayStation but felt the changes made when the series transitioned to the PlayStation 2 were too jarring, you'll find Monster Rancher 4 to be a return to its classic form--so it should suit you nicely. The series is definitely starting to show its age, at this point, and only a fan could overlook some of the game's shortcomings. In the end, however, the formula still works.