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Dragon Warrior Monsters
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Graphics & Sound:
The graphics in Dragon Warrior Monsters are actually quite nice, considering the game’s RPG roots. The various in-battle graphics are quite detailed, and the sprites in the game world that symbolize the various character races and such are as detailed as the Game Boy will warrant. On a GBC, the game plays very well, with little blur and quite good graphics. On a Pocket Game Boy, there is considerably more blur and the graphics aren’t quite as discernable because of the lack of color, but it’s still quite playable. We’re not talking Final Fantasy VIII here, graphic-wise, and the dungeons themselves are amazingly bland, but otherwise, the game is plenty good enough in the graphics department. The various sounds are pretty typical GB fare, with bleeps and bloops. Noticeable, however, are remixes of old Dragon Warrior tunes. I particularly enjoy the remake of the main theme from the original Dragon Warrior. It brings back memories...
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Gameplay:
In a nutshell, Dragon Warrior Monsters is basically Pokémon with Dragon Warrior characters instead of, well, Pokémon. The gameplay is somewhat deeper than that - you’re Terry, transported from the real world to GreatTree so that you can save your sister Milayou, and to do so you must win the Starry Night Tournament or some such bunk. But you control and capture monsters, level them up, and fight other monster tamers. Sound familiar? Thankfully, DWM puts enough flavor into the game to make it interesting in its own right. The various dungeons that you explore, which open up depending on how many of the tournament battles you’ve won, are randomly generated. If you’re a fan of rogue-likes, this may excite you. But unfortunately, the dungeons are all rather bland. They can be made of trees or mountains or water, but they’re all the same, with the occasional random item or healing pit stop. Where the game gets interesting is at the last room of each random dungeon, where you fight a planned boss. The room is often an homage to an older DW game, such as fighting AxeArmor in the destroyed town from DW1, and it’s neat to see. The tournament battles themselves tend to be quite easy if you’ve leveled your beasts enough. And if they reach a high enough level, you can breed your creatures to produce relatively custom-made beings that are more capable of doing damage. There are little side treks and such, but the bulk of the game is explore the dungeon - slaughter the enemies - kill the boss - win the tournament. Fortunately, the battle system (straight from the old DW games) keeps the game going enough to make it enjoyable.
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Difficulty:
DWM is tailored towards kids somewhat, and it shows. Although some of the battles are damned difficult, they tend to be pretty easy, and I find that I can beat most of the bosses with ease. It’s still quite fun, and sometimes it’s fun to wander around aimlessly on a level getting into random battles. Ah, old school level-ups at their finest...
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Game Mechanics:
Given the control scheme and such, the game mechanics are as good as they’re going to get. Saving the game is a bit esoteric on the first try, but after you understand what you’re doing, commanding your monsters in battle and checking on their stats becomes second nature. Dragon Warrior Monsters isn’t a perfect game, and it’s rather simplistic, but nonetheless it’s an absolute ton of fun. Since there haven’t been many good American-released RPGs for the Game Boy, this along with the SaGa, er, Final Fantasy Legend games, make great entertainment for long car drives. If you’re a fan of the genre, pick up DWM. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, I believe.
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-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon |
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