This game is not for everyone. The newest portable Monster Rancher game is decent, but not astoundingly awesome.
The battle system is a stop and go with the guts cost high on some moves and the hit rate causing frustration and then a stop as the play waits for more guts (to more than likely miss again). However, monsters will benefit from the winning of battles (as will the player's pocket book).
When on errantries or browsing the ranch, unless your monster has a certain 'stat', the player will have a difficult time controlling the monster. The constant tapping of the touch screen to 'try' to get a monster to go where you want it to go is atrocious unless the player's monster has that certain 'something'. However, this part may be too life like. It is kind of like training your dog for the first time (though maybe it should be like training a cat).
While there are quite a few monsters in the game, there are a limited amount of main breeds available. The sub breeds and unique monsters add a certain flair to the game as well as the unlockable monsters adding to....a sub storyline?
Overall, this game is pretty fun for a while but is sure to become monotonous with the constant training and then advancing the storyline one step about every hour. However, if you are an avid fan of Monster Rancher and a perfectionist (i.e. you like to break the game) then you will most definitely enjoy this. The game is not exactly like any other Monster Rancher game released yet and is a nice reminiscence of the ancient Monster Rancher series that had not really been introduced to the 'neo generation'. With the last release of a Monster Rancher game being so long ago MRDS is a good start to drawing in some new fans and old fans alike to the Monster Rancher era and get them somewhat hooked. Once you sink your teeth into MRDS you'll either eat it up or spit it out and move on. Not much of an in between here.