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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.

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 true sequal to Monster Rancher 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 18
Date: December 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

yes, i do not even consider MR3 to be a sequal to MR2. MR3 was far to horrable to even consider buying. but the good news is that mistakes were learned from. all the things that i liked in MR3 they kept. like being able to regenerate from your book, having a larve varity of food and even a few of a new species that i actually liked like the Raiden and the Zan. and they brought back the ability to combine monsters. i dont even know how they could call MR3 a "breeding sim". there was no breeding to speak of! the better news is that they have the monsters textured now most of the monsters that they made look dum in MR3 look alot better. at least the Naga looks as mean as it should. cooler yet you can actually control were you go on the adventures, no more wanting to beat your monster over the head with a blunt object because he walks by the item you want him to get 10 times (MR2). they do however need to get certain abilities like Dirt Search for looking for under loose dirt for treasure and such, unless you find chests just laying around. but bottom line this game is a GREAT buy if your a fan of the monster rancher series. compared to MR3 i give it a solid 10. if you hated MR3 you will absolutly love this game!

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!

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.

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.

Can't wait

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: October 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I can't wait for this game to come out, the things that will be cool is when you train your monsters in this game you can modify their training areas to improve their stats and they go to retirement when they reach old age, better letting them live in peace than dying on the battlefield or in the training facility. Better than using their hearts to power up your monsters in MR3. Training 5 monsters at once is a lot better than one. 4 stars from me

BEST MONSTER RANCHER GAME EVER!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 14
Date: December 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Monster Rancher deserves 5stars for it's multi breeding option so MR(monster rancher}can grow and becom better and better so for all of you who love MR you should buy Monster Rancher not1 not2 or even3 I'm talken4.

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.

NOT FOR EVERYONE !!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 21
Date: January 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game looked cool so I rented it for my 7 old son. Glad I only rented. My son knows how to read but what 7 year old wants to read for 15 minutes before you can start the game? There is too much reading in this game. I played it and I didn't like it. If I want to read I will get a good book. I give it 2 stars because I quess some people don't mind reading. I like all game play.

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