Not the Grand Inovation It Could Have Been, But Can Be Fun If You Like Experimentalism
Fast-forward 13 years, and things have come quite a way. Many companies and developers have all made efforts to create their own success story based on the idea of raising monsters. Some turning out good (Digimon), some turning out bad (Duel Masters) and some just fell into obscurity because they couldn't develop the same hype levels Pokemon could (Metal Walker).
Recently in this generation of gaming though, there has been a fairly successful attempt to begin a new monster franchise brought to you by Disney Interactive Studios (Yes, something from Disney that's NOT a half-hearted sequel). They have brought the title "Spectrobes" to a DS near you. Instead of being a typical Pokemon clone though, it is actually a title that tries to go beyond such description. In a matter like Star Ocean, it is possible for your character to move from planet to planet across the galaxy, and instead of capturing the critters, your job is to resurrect them from their fossil form. Sounds enticing doesn't it? But does Spectrobes manage to reach the heights it aims for?
In terms of story, Spectrobes does not have much to offer since it plays very much like a typical 5th generation RPG. The story is as follows: You play as a young, ambitious Planetary Patrol officer named Rallen whose character design looks totally ripped off of Edward Elric. His partner is Jeena who serves as a communications and research specialist who is in a like/hate relationship with Rallen. They're on a routine mission one day and receive a distress signal on a nearby planet. When Rallen investigates, he finds a strange device attachable to his arm called a "Prizmod", and an old man named Aldous who has been in cryogenic sleep. Rallen has an encounter with a Black Vortex and learns how to use the "Spectrobes" against the evil creatures Aldous calls the "Krawl". Aldous then explains to the two how to face the Krawl using the critters Rallen has found. After that, you must set off on your quest to defeat the Krawl with your Specrtobes, or the Krawl will devour the Universe.
The plot may be a step up from Pokemon, but as a general RPG, it doesn't amount to much. This is made even worse since there's no character development, no plot twists, and no gimmicks to try and separate itself from the typical plotline. Of course the plot's aimed towards a younger audience, so there's not much to expect.
As far as graphics go, Spectrobes does a fairly good job of showing what the DS is capable of doing. The character models are fluid and well detailed, and the maps are just as well detailed despite some areas not having much. There's pretty much no slowdown to speak of even when the graphics are pushed to their highest with the battles. The only part of the graphics that doesn't shine are the stills in the cutscenes. The stills display the dialogue characters are saying in simple text bubbles, and the models, even though decently drawn, keep the cutscenes from feeling immersive.
In the sound department, Spectrobes manages to get the job done, but it's nothing memorable. The music is atmospheric and provides the right feel at the right time, but the only song that could possibly be worth noting is the song inside the spaceship. The rest of the music is pretty forgetable and nothing you'll be humming to yourself. As for sound effects, Spectrobes conveys a pretty good presentation. There are some creatures that make various screams and grunts to make themselves sound real, though some of these sounds may get annoying for some if they hear them too often. There's no voice acting to speak of either, even though the voice actors in the webisodes were decent enough, but they didn't make any appearance here. When the discussion is moved to overall gameplay, the presentation of Spectrobes can be a hit or miss for most people. There is a very high amount of things to do in Spectrobes to make sure players won't do one thing for very long.
Most of the game revolves around excavating fossils and minerals by traveling to a planet and looking for objects in the ground to dig up via touching your baby spectrobe with the stylus. Items under the ground are found by touching sparkling dots, which brings players to the digging portion of the game. The touch screen is used for these parts, as players use the stylus to carefully clear away rocks and dirt to get to the fossil or mineral. There's an amount of realism in the process, especially with things like blowing in the microphone to clear away dust from the fossils.
The fossil digging can be fun, though all a part of progressing into the more active parts of the game. The fossils that players dig up can be taken to the lab so they can be "awaken" by bringing the fossil to the room and speaking into the microphone. After that is complete, the spectrobe lives again. There are over 60 different Spectrobes, and they're broken up into three types. Each type is weaker or stronger against the other, though it doesn't really come into effect much.
The minerals that players dig up are used to feed the Spectrobes and raise their stats while they're in the Incubator that stores the unused spectrobes and newly awoken baby spectrobes can evolve into their adult form over time. In these areas, players can pet the spectrobes, and feed them minerals. Even though getting minerals is necessary to strengthen your spectrobes, it can get rather repetitive finding all these minerals, going back to their ship, loading Spectrobes into the Incubator, feed them, wait for them to evolve, and then continue. The lack of depth doesn't make this area much fun.
The third object found through digging are data cubes, which need to be found if players want to unlock all the game has to offer. It's a great way to space out the gameplay elements for new players, but it can be quite a chore to find them. Searching all over the maps gets old pretty quick. Most cubes have multiple versions lying around, so it's not possible to miss any. The cubes that offer information about battling or feeding aren't worth much, but some open up new things like the Wifi access, multiplayer, and an intriguing card system.
Each case comes with a few clear plastic cards that have seven little holes in them. To use them, players push the stylus through holes to enter in codes on the touch screen. The cards can unlock special Spectrobes, or custom parts to enhance player's current monsters and make them better suited for battling.
Of course, what good are battling monsters without battles right? Running into the black vortexs that contain the Krawl activates battles. The battles are more action RPG style, with the attacks based on a timer, similar to Final Fantasy XII. Rallen issues commands to his Spectrobes, who have a basic attack (L or R for respective side), a special attack (holding the A button, charging, then picking the spectrobe to do so), and a combo attack (holding the A button, charging, then pressing L and R at the same time).
Rallen can have up to six Spectrobes in his party, though only two can battle. The other four monsters offer support by way of stat boosting or any fall in battle. Each Spectrobe can help (or hinder) in certain categories, like attack power, defense and speed. By having the right monsters in the support boxes, players can make their fighting spectrobes just a little bit stronger.
Despite all of these features, the battles in Spectrobes are extremely simple, mostly due to unintelligent enemy AI. It can be easy for players to simply outmaneuver the Krawl while building up the special meter and then attacking the bad guys with the combo moves. Watching Rallen's allies attack in the wrong direction can become frustrating, and it's not uncommon for the enemies to gang up and kill a spectrobe pretty quick if players aren't moving around. Once players get a handle on it, the fights are just too easy to be fun.
Besides the battles, the entire game itself is easy. There are few puzzles to be found, and most of the missions simply involve talking to an NPC, and then killing a boss. Players are often told exactly where to go, and the maps are very linear so it's not easy to get lost. The only challenge comes in finding the necessary cubes and minerals, which is more of a matter of patience than skill.
In the end, the gameplay in Spectrobes is certainly ambitious and intriguing to say the least, but the ease may put off some players due to repitition, linear maps, and imperfect battle mechanics. Despite the criticism that Spectrobes got for its simplicity, Disney has recently announced that a sequel is in production right now. Perhaps Spectrobes is meant to serve as a founding block for a new franchise to make way for even greater adventures in the future (ala Street Fighter, Killzone, the early Final Fantasys…). The potential of Spectrobes is high to say the least, and with a few tweaks such as better challenge, less repetition, and possibly a better story, Spectrobes could become the next successor to Pokemon some were hoping for.
As it stands now, is this title itself worth getting? It really depends on what you're looking for. If you don't care for repetition or weak story telling, Spectrobes isn't your next RPG fix. But if you like giving new ideas a chance, want to try something different from the typical Pokemon clone, or you just want a DS title by Disney that isn't a complete shovelware title, Spectrobes might be worth a look.