Digimon World DS

Oct 16, 2006

Digimon is the little clone that could, a blatant imitator of Pokemon that took off among kids and became its own running concern. The Digimon World titles are the equivalent of the color-coded Pokemon games, featuring young trainers who set on Digimon-collecting quests aiming to be the very best. Digimon World DS follows the same well-worn conventions, taking you on a journey to capture over 230 of the little monsters. You certainly can't say Digimon World DS lacks in stuff to do, or at least virtual creatures to subjugate.

Digi-Vu

The story is your typical "kids sucked into Digimon World, become trainers" scenario; it doesn't beat around the bush. Once you get over the loss of your parents, you can incorporate up to three 'mons into your active party. The bottom screen shows a reasonably attractive isometric view of the world, which you'll traipse around in search of towns and random digimon encounters. Digimon learn by doing, or in this case savagely mauling other Digimon.

Battles seem a tiny bit more involved than in previous titles. A new feature will let you input your moves several turns ahead of time, and an enemy placement system will bring in a little strategy concerning attack and target selection. Other than that, it's turn-based stuff pretty typical for the genre.

The real reason to look forward to battles, though, is for the ability to scan your enemies. Scanning is the Digimon equivalent of throwing a Pokeball, though it's actually a longer process. Every time you scan something you'll only catch a certain percentage of it; only when you reach 100 percent, after multiple encounters with the same type of creature, can you create a copy of it to add to your stable. However, those 100% acquisitions are for chumps and reviewers; scan a Digimon up to 200 or even 300 percent and you'll gain a progressively more powerful version of it. Needless to say, the dedicated Digimon trainer should set aside quite a chunk of time should they desire to catch 'em all.

Scanning is not the only way increase your digital legions, however. If you encounter a like-minded player in your real-world travels you can essentially mate your Digimon with theirs. Digimon mating ("blending") is actually a tragic process that results in the deletion of the two "parents," so it's not to be entered into lightly. Their mortally libidinous efforts will result in the creation of a digiegg, which must be cared for and nurtured before it hatches into another Digimon. Some rare and special Digimon can only be obtained via this process. If the blending mechanics seem too disturbing, you can also just trade individual 'mons with other players, or battle them in three-on-three contests.

Mass-Produced Monsters

The one area in which Digimon really differs from Pokemon is its concept of farms. As a trainer, you can setup up to four independent training farms that put your Digimon through the paces even as you run around on your adventure. Each farm can be tailored to train either specific types of Digimon (for example, dragon-types) or to train Digimon in specific skills. You can setup rings of fire to build resistance to that element, or provide punching bags to increase fighting skill. This is a cool way to power-up your creatures without much actual work; in fact, since the farms work in real-time, you could leave your DS on for days -- hitting a button every so often to clear the end-of-day screen -- to end up with super powered Digimon. There's your ProTip for the day.

All told, Digimon World DS looks like another competent, potentially diverting outing for the Digimon franchise, though it probably won't garner many new converts. If you're a fan you already know the drill, and probably already have your breeding / killing lists all drawn up. You can begin to implement your ghastly agenda come November 14th, when the game hits shelves.