Archive: 6th June 2006: Monster Rancher EVO / Eurogamer
“The critical requirements of a Monster Rancher title, that monster-raising be streamlined and rewarding, and the RPG sections be challenging and playable, are miserably out of reach for Monster Rancher EVO, with almost every part of the title a confusing, tedious mess that should make the average player ill with boredom. Much like a circus, a very dull kind of child might enjoy it, but just like that child, Monster Rancher EVO stinks of sawdust and vomit.”
Oh good lord, how much I hated Monster Rancher EVO. The worst thing was this review clearly came too late for poor Persona-Sama, who I discovered had purchased the title when I stayed at his house during E3. Every copy of this game should be burned in a big fire, and, to avoid the toxic gases released by the burning plastic getting into the atmosphere, the development team should be forced to stand around the fire and breathe in. Deeply.
Oh God, you don’t understand how much I wanted to believeeeeeeee. ;____;
I wish they’d go back to their original formula of just ripping off Princess Maker instead of trying to make their games all anime-tastic. Everyone loves life raising sims afterall! They should move towards more of a Harvest Moon-type game with you monster raising while courting girls on the side. The climax of the game would be the ancient sleeping monster lord would break out from the underground ruins you’re spelunking, and then kidnap your wife. In a last ditch effort to save her, you’d have to thaw out all the monsters you kept around along with any monster you can generate in a short amount of time and then have a giant 12 versus one giant evil lord battle that will remain forever epic in the hearts of all Monster Ranchers.
This is my ideal Monster Rancher game anyway. It would also include support for VMUs, Pocketstations, and Gameboy Advances for peripheral monster raising fun.
Comment by Persona on December 24, 2006 at 10:14 am