Hailing back to the original Digimon World, Re: Digitize combines an RPG/Adventure game with monster-raising elements.
Like the first game this one has monster raising elements, and to go along with that there is the thrill of getting the evolution you want, but also the occasional frustration of having your partner die after so many days. So that you have to re-train your partner back up to the highest levels until you are strong enough to resume the story, especially at the end.
Luckily it isnt hard to get all the way up to mega form and raising the digimon's level actually makes them live longer. Care mistakes still exist: feeding, going potty, getting sick or injured, and sleeping. These were never an issue for me as the hospital in the city is open from the start. Im also glad that there is more of a grace timer between when a digimon has to go and when he will have an accident.
A point I notice is that most of the digimon you recruit dont actually do anything other than just show up at given times in given places and say something to you. There are some though that open new shops, and others that take the place (sometimes) of an existing shop digimon and the end result is the shop has more inventory, the gym has better training, etc.
There are colusseum battles too, and an interesting feature of this is that you can save your current partner into the 'Digi Storage' computer, switch to him, and test your might against all the opponents without having time advance. The only caveat to this is that you cant leave the colluseum without switching back, but at least you can continue your PVP battles with a saved partner even if your current one just died; which is nice.
Graphics 9- Visually the game is quite appealing. It is bright, colorful, and has some of the best 3D models Ive seen on the PSP. Each area of File Island is highly varied and not used twice. There is the Railway Field that has random tracks and train cars on it. An underwater city where you walk on the water and see buildings beneath it, a swamp with plants and bones, an ice area, and several others. It is nice to see a game that pays so much attention to its environments.
Even though they look great, each area is small physically, and you can go from the city to just about any point on the island within 10-15 minutes. That is not to say the game is short. Im at over 30 hours of playtime and I still have one more area to explore and a lot of the colusseum to finish. Granted that about a third of that time has been spent on just training my digimon back up to where he was before he died.
The various attacks that exist in the game have decent particle effects. some even filling the whole screen. The nice thing about learning skills is that once you learn them, they stay on the skill board and carry over from digimon to digimon.
Sound 9- While the sounds are pretty basic, especially the UI sounds that have been with the series for years; the music really shines. Each area has its own track, with a generally slower and more mellow version for nighttime.
Fun Factor 9- Being a long-time digimon fan I love this game. It is nice to have a game with this franchise that does something old, yet also makes it more accessible and takes away a few of the frustrations of the original PS1 game at the same time. All the Digimon games on the DS play exactly the same way, so this game is a breath of fresh air.
It has been a good while since I was able to get this absorbed by a game. Personally I think this game stands among the PSP's best.
Replay Value 7- Though I have not yet finished the story (I am close) I hear this game doesnt have a New Game +, and so if you do absolutely everything there is to do, there is little incentive to replay it.
Ive been having a great time with this game though, and despite the language barrier- I know enough Japanese I can get by for where to go for story progress and such- it isnt a hard game to pick up and play. I truely hope this gets localized outside of Japan for all the Digimon fans out there!
Final Score 42/50