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The only (MR) game with an adventure element, and it gets trashed?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Why?

It has the closest thing to the actual flavor of the Monster Rancher anime. Granted, it isn't perfect, but it has at least tried to burst out of the monster fighting box, and people rate such comments as "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I must be the only one who actually understands this expression. This refers to overfixing to the point of wearing something out through repeated repairs, it DOES NOT refer to never fixing anything ever until it actually breaks, because being set in ways is a type of brokeness.

Besides I like monster fighting/adventure games, which is why I enjoyed the Pokemon gameboy games, but didn't even wanna buy some of the later Poke Tournament ones.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

You'll eat up hours upon endless hours with this game. Aside from a few things I wish worked differently as far as the mechanics of the game go, this is a very solid title, worthy of a place in any collection. I encourage you to read more about how it plays, I'm sure it will impress.

Monsters Rule!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Monster Rancher 4 is a great playstation2 game,when I rented one day from blockbuster,I thought "This game doesn't look that great and all",then when I played,It was like one of the best games ever!Creating monsters with game discs,Cds,and DVDs is a great feature,the battling style in this game is quite different,what attacks you use depends on distnce,and energy.The monsters in this game are really well done,I like how the monsters look when they are part breed.Ape Escape fans will like this too because it has 3 monkeys wich are from Ape Escape.What I like about this is that the Monsters do not die,they just get tto old that they can't stay at the ranch anymore.I love this game and I can't wait to get the 5th one!Oh yeah,by the way,I am actually 13.I'm not a kid.

How to turn a great series into a mediocre one

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: December 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Monster Rancher 4 (2003.)

INTRODUCTION:
One of the finest and most original game series on the original Playstation was the Monster Rancher series. Prior to this series, no other video game series had let American gamers raise their own monsters and let them participate in battles (in America, this series predated Pokemon by a pretty large time margin.) The concept of being able to get monsters from CDs was another excellent feature, one the world had never seen the like of before. With all of these features, it isn't surprising in the least that the game spawned numerous sequels on numerous systems. Circa 2003, the fourth consular game in the traditional Monster Rancher series hit the Playstation 2. How does the series fare this time? Read on and find out!

OVERVIEW:
Monster Rancher 4 was released in 2003 for the Playstation 2. The game was released on the Playstation 2 only, and features gameplay similar to the older games in the series, but with lots of new features as well. There are also tons of new monsters, features, and other things as well.

REVIEW:
Have you ever heard that old saying, "If it ain't broke don't fix it?" That saying applies to this game pretty well. This is one of those few game series that got pretty much everything right from day one. The two sequels that came before this one made modest improvements to the series, but here Tecmo just went overboard. They tried to make so many little changes to the series that the end result just explodes in the gamer's face. Although the game as a whole is similar to its predecessors, so many little things have been changed, and all of these little changes come together and ultimately make it so the gaming experience is no longer an enjoyable one. First and foremost is the imbalance in the way the general execution of how the game works. With all of the pieces of advice and tutorials you get during the game (which you CAN'T skip, even if you're a veteran of the series), you'd think the game was designed for beginners. But then, the game goes and throws a ton of difficult-to-navigate menus your way. In the old games, you picked one thing you wanted to do for one week - and with one click, you did it. Here, you have to plan out a schedule for every week, and do a lot more menu-oriented stuff. Another issue is how slowly the game starts. I had to play the game for nearly half an hour before I could fight in a tournament with my monster. In the old game, I just had to get a monster and I could use to fight whenever I felt like it. Not true here. Games like this which have a wide audience in mind should always compensate for the fact that most people like to get right into the good stuff! And then comes the biggest flaw of all - pointless cut scenes, and lots of them. Remember Monster Rancher Advance for the Game Boy Advance, and how every few months you'd get a visitor on the ranch who would give you lots of pointless chatter that seemed to go nowhere? Imagine that, only EVERY WEEK. No, I'm not making this up. Much of the dialogue is a pointless side story that goes nowhere, and much of it delivers gaming information veterans won't need. Why couldn't Tecmo just give gamers the option to skip these scenes with the start button? Is that so much to ask? In the end, this is a fun game, but its shortcomings come down hard on the overall experience.

OVERALL:
Overall, this game is a mixed bag. If you're one of those people who can't get enough of games like this, this one is worth checking out. But if you're looking for the ultimate Monster Rancher experience around, stick with one of the earlier games. Quite honestly, the games for the original Playstation are much funner than this one. Final verdict? For die-hard fans only.

EDITION NOTES:
This game was not produced for very long, and as such, is now very difficult to find in stores. If you want to play this game, it will likely take you a long time to find a copy in any store, so your best bet if you want to play it will be to look around online and see if you can find a copy for sale. Otherwise, you may be out of luck.

hey its actually good!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: June 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I first bought this game I thought it would be fun.Then I played it and it sucked especially in the beginning.I took it out and didnt play it for half a year.I decided to give it another chance and I started to like it...ITS GREAT THE ADVENTURE MODE IS VERY VERY FUN!!!!I LOVE RIDING ON THE MONSTERS FLYING,DIVING,FIGHTING,BURNING AND REGENERATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!OH ITS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!I just dont like having to regenerate a garu at the begining because you have no choice.Graphics,nice,music,niice,battle scenes,niiiiiiiice.Your monsters start off really strong making battiling a breeze.you can regenerate monsters that are special right away.so you can get a dragon right away.Its a really easy game so you can progress quicker than usual.Its like a dream come true.

Slow build up, but enjoyable in the long run

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

MR4 features many improvements upon it's past incarnations for those willing to wait it out. The game starts out giving you only one monster, and you have to progress through the game's storyline in order to be able to unlock more monsters from your own CDs. The main problem with this though is that it requires you to spend a tremendous amount of time training your monster and having him fight to raise his reputation. This can become tedious and boring for some gamers, and can cause their attention span to wane. As a result, the early half of the game can feel almost childish for some, and will cause them to not even finish it. The later half of the game though can become enjoyable due to the increased capability to create monsters of different classes, better training facilities, and more places to explore. This can be deemed though as 'more of the same' by some gamers, so those that do not enjoy games that are overly simplistic and sadly repetetive in the long run may want to steer cleer of MR4. It is not as innovative as it's first incarnation, but it does add more onto what fans of the series want.

A game to rent and try out first

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 10
Date: June 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I realy liked this game. I've never played the others but i remember watching the tv show. Everything in this game was great. Except i would of rather like it for the characters to talk so u dont have to read. Also i wish that monsters would stay alive longer cause me i like to get them good leveled up to like 200 b4 batteling. And the main character.... The real mystery is he male or female?.. I would of liked it if they would have had a option of characters to pick from and they put great work in the graphics of the monsters but not so much on the main character. The training gets very very boring but its so freaking addicting I keep traing. I reneted the game and got to the third town but now i cant rent it for a while. :(
But over all a great game but some would rather rent to try out first.

Fourth version is great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: June 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game returns to it's former playing style (Rather than following MR-3's style, it's more like MR-1 and 2). The graphics are a nice 3D environment regarding your character, the monsters and the battles. The chat/shop modes are flat anime style drawings, however the characters do have facial expression changes during the appropriate moments of chatting.

Whether you're a seasoned MR breeder or new to the game, the fourth version will be easily playable while still offering challenges for us "old timers". The larger your CD/DVD collection is, the more likely you are to get more monster choices. The game will walk you through "extracting a monster" from your discs. Computer discs, music CD's, DVD's, and game console CD's are read by the game at specific points and will display a monster held within for you to keep or not.

The interface (the yes/no options) are a bit tricky, be careful when clicking through to speed text up as sometimes it will click "yes" when you're not ready and tend to destroy a battle or result in purchasing an item you really weren't ready to spend your money on.

The music is nice, low-key, and fits well with the scenes. The monster models are excellent, very cute. Their animations while training/fighting are well done.

All in all, I love the game despite the minor issues with the interface at times. I am a long time MR player, so I was already hooked before I ripped the plastic off the case. :)

probably the best in the series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

monster rancher was the reason i bought a playstation instead of sticking with my sega genesis and nes. i have now played all four playstation games in the series, and monster rancher advance 2 for gba sp. i like the increased number of moves that i can have available in battle, training multiple monsters at a time, the new adventure system, doing adventures and battles and things on weekends instead of taking up training weeks, the more realistic look of the monsters, training gadgets and placing the house and barn and such. the only thing that i didn't like was having to be a premade character. in the other games, you could choose your gender and you name. i can still choose my name, but i have to be that kid. i know that in other rpgs you have to be a premade character, but i like being whoever i want in monster rancher. they probably did that because you have to have some form when you're running around on the ranch and on adventures, but it'd be better if the character was customizable, or not obviously a girl or boy so you could call it either one. or maybe if you could choose between a male or female form. also, i'd rather not have more of a past than, "oh, so you came from age island" and that's it. oh, and the pixies, at least the ones i've seen, aren't quite as cute in their new, realistic style.. still, the good outweighs the bad. another good thing that i forgot to mention is that they brought back the combine feature. that was something i really missed in monster rancher 3. you can combine two monsters to make one with qualities of both. i can't say much about it for this game because i haven't used it yet. you really should buy all the monster rancher games, but if you can only get one then you should get this one.

Okay, But Lacks Certain Qualities

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: February 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is deffinetly an improvement over the third but it lacks a few things that seperate from the best. For example: Because you can now hold up to 5 monsters on your ranch at a time, you'd think the designers might give you more vs. data slots. But they don't, which means that you can only have one full party of monster's data, plus one monster! Also, when your monster has to be retired, you can't save your vs. data so your stuck with what you have saved in the past.
Training in this game has improved dramatically with the introduction of training gadgets. You can customize your schedule so you don't have to fiddle around with the controls every week like in it's predeccessor.
Once you finish your training you have to go to "weekend activities" and choose to either enter a competition, go adventuring, go to town, or go to the next week.
The all new 3D adventuring in this game is amazing, walk around 4 levels, that you have to unlock as you go through the game, and search for treasures, do goals, or just try and get your monster a new move. You can also unlock the ability to fly, or ride on your monster.
Now about the battles. Your monster can now hold up to 9 moves, plus you can press any button you want, not just the button that's high-lighted, like in MR3. Also, when your monster does a move that annoying black screen, that shows up in MR3, doesn't show up. The second you hit the desired button, unless your monster is disobeying you, the monster does the move. What a relief!
Going to town is also a cool thing. You can go to 4 different towns and talk to people. You can also buy food, and items for your monsters at the item shop. I won't reveal any more of the game, but I will say, this game is deffinetly worth getting!

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