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Monster Rancher Evo

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game has been my favorite ever since the first time I played it. Every one I know that has played it,[4 or 5 people] loves it. I like it because you can take out Monster Rancher Evo and put another cd in then it makes a monster. To tell you the truth my cd broke about a year ago and I have been looking for it in stores, malls, and such and such and almost every place I have looked said Monster Rancher PS2 games are really hard to find. But I never did check on amazon until now. I can't wait to get my new Monster Rancher Evo Game!

A new and different turn in the series...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: May 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've loved many Monster Rancher games in the past... this one is fun, but different than the others. You have to run around a world that reminds me a little of ffx... which is an interesting turn, it makes me a little motion sick, but adds a little depth to the game... the raising seems to take a while to get used to, but I WAS used to the other games, it is still similar and fun, once you get the hang of it. There are also 3 main mini games, which test YOUR speed, accuracy, and timing, if you are not a big fan of mini-games, or you liked the previous games, where your MONSTER had to do the preforming, you may have a problem with this, but if you like to see changes, you'll appreciate this one. The monsters are nicely rendered, the breeds are fun, even if they don't have ALL your old favorites, they have mine, so it's ok...

Monster rancher evo

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game was decent to play -- the hardest part about the game is getting threw the missions and training right. Monsters were not that hard to get but it took time to be able to unlock things. The circus tricks are easy at the beginning but get a lot harder once you have all of the characters and the best equipment. Game was decent but addictive. Recomment for kids

A Pleasant Surprise

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This review was written by James Shea, my son.

The fifth game in the Monster Rancher series, Monster Rancher EVO takes the series in a bit of a new direction. While it includes many of the gameplay features used in other Monster Rancher games (raising and battling monsters), EVO also introduces a new one: the main character of the story is a performer in a circus, and his monsters are used in his act.

The main character is Julio, who plays an accordion to accompany the acrobatic act of his monsters in the circus. His original monster runs away, but luckily a magic-using girl with the ability to make monsters out of magical disks appears and joins the circus. She gives him a new monster, and the setting for the game is set - getting more disks to make better monsters, and raising up the ones that are born. Julio also takes missions in towns, moving ahead as the circus progresses. On a week-to-week basis, Julio must decide what the circus will do, which monsters to train, and so on. Monsters can become overworked if trained too much, but won't be as motivated or capable if not trained enough.

The circus shows are the main mode of gameplay. There are three different minigames within the circus - one where you hit colors as they fall, one where you pick out the different colors, and one where you press buttons in the right order. Depending on how well you do on these, your monster will grow more capable and powerful. This leads into the monster battling part of the game; the stats accumulated through training and circus shows are also used for monster battles. The battles are fairly simple; each monster has attacks for both close-range and long-range. Attacks also carry status effects.

One of the other neat things to do with the game is use CDs or DVDs to create monsters. You can generate a new monster by talking to the magic woman who creates monsters and asking her to make one from a CD/DVD. Put any CD or DVD into the PS2 when instructed; the PS2 will scan the disc. Replace the Monster Rancher EVO CD when prompted and you will be given a brand new monster.

The graphics are decent; there's a really wide variety of monsters and monster-types to get. The characters and art are all pretty high end, and the only thing that gets kind of boring is the backgrounds. The music is bright and energetic, with a lot of circus-like themes.

This game was a pleasant surprise, a departure from the usual fight-breed-fight theme of the old Monster Ranchers. The circus aspect was definitely welcome and unusual.

Rating: 8/10.

Suffers from bad design. Can't really recomend....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I played the original Monster Rancher years ago. I remember sitting swapping out CD's, breeding rare monsters, etc. It was an amusing way to pass the time, so I thought I'd try the latest in the series.

I really don't care for it. A for its theme, it's rather juvenile, like Pokemon. Your "foils", the Velvet Cats, are led by a kid who honestly looks like he's wearing leather underwear on his head. (No exaggeration.) The circus theme is not very inspiring. There isn't much depth to the story. The story also plods rather slowly.

When in adventure mode, the monsters suffer from fatigue. While this could be interesting, instead you regularly have to stop and let the monster rest, and occasionally let the game just sit for five minutes while your monster sleeps off fatigue.

Technically, the game is pretty bad. The translation is horrible, and grammatical mistakes appear a bit too frequently. In rare cases, it's bad enough that the meaning is reversed.

The inventory system is horrid, as is the shop system. There are only a few menus for items, and you have to scroll through pages to find something. When buying something, you can't see how many you have, though there's rarely a reason to by anything but gadget parts. ("Gadgets" are basically the equipment to do a trick during the circus performance. Monsters gain AP and abilities during adventuring, and their stats raise during circus performances.) When you sell items, the trick to seeing how many you have is to sell the max you can, then go down; your inventory when selling is not displayed as in every other RPG.

The controls during adventure mode have issues with the camera. When you try to sneak up on a monster, the camera can be shoved behind a wall, which stays opaque, so you can't see anything. (Infuriating.)

The breeding system is very slow. I've played up to about three years game time (in game), and my monsters are still not at a point where breeding them would pass on any benefits. Apparently, when you breed monsters, the result is a bare-basic monster unless one or both the parents have "grown", and I haven't seen that happen yet.

For a better monster-trainer game, for the PS, play "Jade Coccoon" (NOT the sequel!!!). For the PS,PS2, and PS3, the Shin Megami Tensei series is excellent.

They dropped the ball on this 1

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

this game is far from what monster rancher should be. I think that the mini games are complacated and not very rewarding.the thing that I hated the most is the very hands off training. If you like monster rancher avoid this game.

Only if you like mini games

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game because I really enjoyed the first Monster Rancher many years ago. I never play it because I hate the mini games, which are the only way to train your monster. The circus theme is a bit dorky to me, and oh, did I say I hate the mini games. The adventure part of the game is fun, but the manual that came with the game does not explain how to do the quests well enough. I'm sad I wasted my money. If you enjoy mini games you might like it, but as there are only 3 and they are very simple I'm sure you can do better elsewhere.

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