Dragon Warrior Monsters is a great portable game that consistently keeps you playing for that one more half hour.
In Dragon Warrior: Monsters you play as a young boy whose sister has been abducted by monsters and taken to a magical land within their clothing drawer. Being recognized as a monster master who can understand the monsters language, you are taken to the kingdom by a friendlier monster where you learn that you have been chosen to represent Greentree in the monster tournament. You also learn that by winning said tournament you will be granted a wish which appears the only conceivable way to get your sister back, thus begins your quest.
While playing through the first hour or so of the game you will discover that Dragon Warrior: Monsters is an extremely complex game for a handheld system. Your success in the game revolves around you being able to micro manage a half a dozen things in tandem throughout your journey. It seems overwhelming at first but once you become proficient with all aspects of the game it has likely hooked you with its addictive spell.
At a glance the gameplay seems simple enough. You walk around town learning new information and get a quest from the king. Then you enter an action level where you walk around and fight turn based battle with your monsters. You fight the enemy and heal when necessary and as you fight new monsters they join your party. Where the complexity comes in is here: each monster prefers to fight a certain way. During battle you can plan your three monsters course of action then initiate the turn. If the monsters like you and your plan they are more likely to use their special abilities thus dealing more damage and helping with defensive support when necessary. When you are in town, the monster farm allows you to hatch found monster eggs, breed more powerful monsters and store your monsters. Taking certain monsters with you affects their attitude so you are meant to use a team of three monsters for a long time until you can breed better ones. Breeding the most powerful monsters is a very tedious endeavor but it makes the core game easier.
As for the graphics and sound, they are not particularly impressive. I was disappointed by the battle visual as all you see is the monsters you are fighting and written text explaining the actions being taken without any animation. When not in battle the view is from a Legend of Zelda bird's eye view style. The music is ok but not memorable.
But even with those complaints the addictive gameplay and amount of content more than make up for it. This is a game where you are leveling up every few battles and picking up new monsters and discovering new things on a frequent and regular basis. Ultimately this game is more than a boredom time killer. It is one that you invest some serious time and energy into making it an RPG that I can recommend to anyone who has enjoyed a game like it before.