Game Reviews

It's a phrase which every Pokemon player knows, and it has greatly added to the length of time fans will sit with each Pokemon title. After all, if you haven't caught'em all, no matter how good your favorite Pokemon is, you haven't quite won, have you? It's an idea that has worked so well, that while the phrase hasn't been used in other franchises, the concept has (think Bakugan). Now, UFO Interactive and Koei have gotten into the game with their latest title, Monster Racers, which is currently available on the Nintendo DS.

The basic story here, as with all get-a-monster-and-train-them-to-be-better-than-other-monsters games, is quite simple. Essentially, a few years before the opening of the game, an island, Star Island, was discovered and it was found to be full of monsters. These monsters loved to race one another, and so people decided that it would be good fun to train them and force them to race (apparently as animals who love to do it, there is nothing morally objectionable about compelling them to participate). Monsters were soon discovered in wild parts of the rest of the world and monster racing has become the new "it" sport.

Monster Racers begins with you starting off as a young, would-be monster racer. You are given the option of one of three monsters to start off with, though after you receive your racer's license, you quickly head off into the wild to find and train more monsters. And that, essentially, is the game. There are multiple areas of the world to explore, and multiple tournaments and quests within each area. Your goal is to get more monsters, train them (by winning races) to increase their stats, and generally be an all around good guy (or girl) – searching for crystals for others, saving folks should they get trapped, and making sure that the evil racers always lose.There are three different types of races available, and you will have to repeatedly play all of them. There are tournaments, which are a series of races which, when completed, award you a trophy and open up more areas and other tournaments. There are also challenges, which take place against another racer out in the wild.