It's much better than Pokemon.
This game is much better than Pokemon for many reasons. For one it has good graphics. It's graphics are much like Dragon Quest VIII, cel-shaded and 3D. For its first DS game, that's actually very good, stylish, colourful and presentable. The music is very good too, it may not be orchestrated like Dragon Quest IV but it certainly has the sound of clear, crisp, quality xoming out of your DS speakers.
The story is pretty decent too, you start off with a boy in prison and is then given a mission by his warden father to join the monster tournament for some unknown reason. As you progress through the stages, the story itself is revealed at a good pace too. You'll eventually learn why the boy's father sent him on a mission that leads to the saving the world from destruction. Slightly predictable, I know, since it's not like Dragon Warrior Monsters.
The gameplay is pretty good, turn based much to the tradition of Dragon Quest in general. When you want to enlist a monster, you have the option of using a scouting ability during battle. This increases the probability of them joining you. The weaker they are, the more likely they'll join. Also, you can enlist other scouts' monsters too, but with far lower probabilities. At the same time, they too can do so.
You travel to various islands with one of those what-you-call-it waver riders? From point A to point B, but it's a shame you can't just skip the travelling part, especially when it gets a bit tedious. And island explorations aren't that much either.
The monsters are visible to spot, they will either attack you or run from you depending on your monsters' level. There are certain types that come at either day or night. You level your monsters up like every other RPGs, monsters earn skill points as they level up, and you can spend these on set types of skills they have. You can also create new monsters by synthesising them. They are designated as plus, minus or both, rather than male or female. Skills, stats and points are then pass over to the progeny. You choose what skill trees you monster can pass over, but that is limited to three. Each skill tree has certain number of skills/magic and stat boosts to spend points on to unlock.
This game is better than Pokemon because, your monsters can learn more than 4 skills and spells. It's a 3D view rather than a top down, like all Pokemon games. You can breed them to create other stronger monsters or even a new one. Oh and don't believe that Pokemon first introduced the breeding, it was actually ripped off from the first Dragon Warrior Monsters. The other plus side is that at least you get you monsters instantly rather than wait for hours for the egg to hatch.
It's a shame though that there aren't as many monsters from the first Dragon Warrior Monsters as I liked. The exploration aren't much to look at, and there are no random battles for more monsters.