Masters of the Monster Lair tries something that has been done before, and makes it very simple.
Other Platforms: None
Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Global A
Release Date: October 31, 2008
Genre: Dungeon Building into RPG?
Number of Players: 1
ERSB Rating: E10+
Review
So after picking up Master of the Monster Lair on sale, I was excited as no one really had said much about it, thinking it may have flew under the radar and was worth the $20 I shelled out for, I popped it in and started at it. I had read few reviews about it and just knew it was about dungeon creation and slaying, if you will. I will go into details about each part of the game and talk a little bit about what I found afters starting the game.
Story
If you can find the story in the game you can let me know ok? Well there is a somewhat of a story here, it is just really weak. After starting your game you meet the Mayor of the town and find out that you must build a dungeon in a cave near town to attract monsters. If it sounds easy, it is, very easy in fact. Oh, did I mention you find an irritating talking shovel? Strange to say the least.
Game Play
The game can probably be split up into two sections, Town and your interactions with Towns Folk, and then the actual Dungeon construction and fighting. First in town you can buy things to attract monsters from the Furniture store. Things like feeders or a straw bed to attract certain kinds of monsters. There is your home where you can go and rest, save and see all your guides. From there you can visit the Mayor, the Armory, and a man where you can buy Magic. That is about the extent of the monster town in Master of the Monster Lair. I know your excited!
Onto the actual dungeon building huh?! At first this process is extremely slow going. You enter the cave and basically are surrounded by walls all around you that you can take down. Once you have some pathways out you can make places to put your "furniture" to attract the monsters. All of these actions take MP from your shovel, which only starts out with 8 MP, so you can clear 8 sections, go back to town to save. It gets old extremely fast. Money is low to start with so it takes quite a few times going back and forth to actually start building up some cash flow. It is best to build your dungeon so that 2 monsters or even 3 attack you at the same time. It sounds dumb and like it would be harder but it makes the best items drop which is ultimately your goal of the game. Once you have your rooms set up, go rest and come back and as soon as you walk past the newly set rooms, monsters will attack. WOW! It worked so well! Don't worry if your HP goes down to 0, the only thing that happens is the fight is over and you run back to town scared. Like a wuss! Battle is slow and painful as you get very few options during your fights. You can of course, attack, flee, defend and magic, all of which are to simple if your a veteran of turn-based RPGs.
There is no experience gained from killing monsters in your dungeon. This is done by getting the items they drop and turning them into food actually in town. Sounds interesting huh, it's really not and feels like it is made more for kids of a younger age, as does the entire game.
You will meet a few other characters along your track of attracting monsters but they are rather bland and not any fun. One is a girl and the other is a creature called Gloop who can get very strong by learning the abilities of other monsters. Pretty cool, just nothing new or innovative.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics in MotML are very plain and uninteresting. The dungeon seems like the same color over and over and is hard to get excited about the same color brownish wall that graces every corner you turn. The town isn't terribly designed and fits into the simplistic values the game implies in other areas. Monsters remind me slightly of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker if you have played through that at all. However, the ones in MotML are less artistic and not as terrifying as a dungeon full of monsters should be. The sound also fit directly into the simplicity of this entire game. Very plain and nothing I would listen to if I had to. Most times I had something else on to listen to and the volume at zero.
Overall
I have a heard time recommending this to anyone. If you find it on sale or at a cheap price I would say pick it up, otherwise I would recommend Dungeon Maker for the PSP. It is more complex and not so simple in most areas. MotML is not a terrible game by any means, it is just simple as I have stated over and over in this review. Give it a try if your an RPG manic or on a dungeon building rage. Final score of 6.0