Monster Rancher 3 (PS2 Review)

Once upon a time the virtual pet was the biggest thing to hit the scene since the invention of the Pet Rock. In 1997, Tecmo introduced the Monster Rancher series to the public. Although it never received the following that Pikachu and his friends did, it did gather enough of a fan base to spin-off multiple sequels in different game genres. This is the most current installment of the niche series.

 

The storyline starts in the history of the Tochikan people. Monsters were given to these people to help them in tasks and generally make their lives easier. Eventually, the sport of competition came into existence and owners would pit their monsters against one another during festivals. As this festivity become more popular, Monster Breeders were hired to help train the monsters so that they would become better in the arena. Different sections of the world had their own specific time when they would have these contests and ultimately they merged together and Monster Leagues were formed and rankings were created. You begin the game as a fledgling breeder with no experience with the ways of monsters. To help you on your journey to becoming a Master Breeder you are given assistance from Fleria, a Tochikan rookie adviser. While this may not sound impressive on its own, she is related to the leader of the Tochikan people and caretaker of the Monster Shrine, Grandpa Brogma. There are also twenty other characters that you will meet and defeat on your way to becoming the land’s premier breeder.

The Monster Rancher series has always been more about the breeding and training of your monster than about the battles that they are generated to fight in. How you treat your monster has a direct effect on its lifespan and simply feeding your beast the wrong food can shorten their life by years. Gameplay is broken down into weekly segments where you can only choose one specific task from a handful of available options. There are various training jobs that can be done by your monster. Working your monster increases the related statistics and each monster grows at its own speed. Some progress quickly while others evolve at a snail’s pace. Time management is critical to the success of your monster. If you spend too much time training and venturing, you may not have enough time left to move your monster up through the ranks before it passes on. 

There are weekly contests that can be entered with the big tournaments available at the end of the month or season. Even though any monster can enter any contest that has been unlocked by your ranking as a breeder, it is best to keep within their current ranking so that death or injury is less likely to occur. Moreover, if your monster is tired or overstressed it will not do as well. When the seasons change, your monster can go on Ventures where you can find rare items, boost your creature’s statistics, obtain new attacks or learn new training techniques. When your monster dies, you can take its heart and fuse it into a new creature. This option allows you to build on a previous generation which increases the chance of being able to win all of the tournaments within the lifespan of a single monster. With the proper choices, it is possible to sweep the five major Festas in only four generations.

The thing that set the original game apart from the rest of the Poke'-clones was how the player acquired his creatures. When prompted by the game, the player inserts any type of CD into their PlayStation. Each CD has a unique code that the game uses to generate a monster. Some CD’s have such a special code, mostly it is other games designed by Tecmo, that you can only find these rare monsters by using the predetermined discs. Once found, the monsters need to be trained so that they can fight in the multiple tournaments. If your monsters are successful, your rank improves and you gain the ability to unlock more challenging monsters to raise as your own.

Monster Rancher 3 improves the series in many ways. Since the game is designed to run on the PS2, you now have the ability to find monsters on DVD’s as well as CD’s. Although there are a limited number of monster types to be discovered, each disc has a monster with unique statistics. Secondly, the introduction of the Encyclopedia now gives players the option to save one type each of the 230+ monsters in the game. This helps out the player so that they do not have to remember which disc that they found which monster on. Moreover there are bunches of accessories that can be found or bought which can be used to increase your monster’s abilities. Most of these are monster-specific and can only be used on a certain group of monsters. Hats that work for one breed will not work for others. There are some generic items which will are allowed to be used on any of your new pets, but these are far and few in-between.

One additional new effect for the game is the environmental effect. Now, depending on where you train your monster, the area may have some genetic alterations. One clear example is if you spend too much time training your monster underwater, they can evolve to grow fins. These minor effects can have major results in the battlefield, so it is best to train throughout all of the game’s regions rather than just sticking to one specific location.

The game’s graphics are a bit better than your average Saturday morning cartoons. While the backgrounds and character appearances are a step up from previous installments, they in no way push the system to its limits. There is no slowdown in the framerate, nor any draw-in when playing the game. The time it takes to generate a monster can get tedious, especially when you are running through your media library looking for a specific monster type. The sounds and music of the game are average at best. I found myself turning the sound off and listening to the radio most of the time. The text translation can be confusing and sometimes make no real sense at all, especially when it gives you a one-liner about a monster’s preferences or abilities. Nevertheless, these flaws have been in existence throughout the series so they are in no way a step backwards for the current game.

Monster Rancher 3 is the first game in the Sony family to allow picture importation. Something that is just starting to be possible with the new EyeToy originally could have been done using a PictureParadise compatible digital camera in this game. This function allows players to take a facial snapshot and import their image onto a mask which any monster can wear.

The strength of this game is in its replay value. You can lose hours upon hours of your life simply checking your CD/DVD collection for monsters to add to your encyclopedia. Then once you have them, you can try to take each one up the tournament ranks. Overall it is the idea, rather than the game itself, which makes this game worthy of your attention. The sum of the whole is truly more than of its parts. I highly recommend this game for a rental to see if it agrees with you. For those who worship at the Temple Pokemon, it is a must buy. 

Difficulty: 7

Control: 9

Audio: 6

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 8.6