- Hundreds of new monsters with new monster attitudes.
- You're The Master: Fully interact with your new pets.
- Unlock Secret expeditions, levels, and monsters.
- Release your Monster Rancher 1 into the world of Monster Rancher 2.
Product description
-------------------
Monster Rancher 2 can unleash hundreds of monsters from your
common household CDs. That's right-you can actually use this game
software to spawn unique monsters from any CD you own-music CDs,
PC software CDs, or even other game CDs. EVERY CD YOU OWN
CONTAINS A MONSTER that you can unleash into the world of the
Monster Rancher 2, and then nurture and raise him (or her) to be
the ultimate fighting machine.
.com
----
Monster Rancher 2 is the sequel to one of the strangest and most
innovative games ever produced. It is a virtual pet simulator in
many ways, but transcends that description by virtue of its
varied gameplay elements and combat-oriented theme. The game
begins with the creation of a monster, which is accomplished by
inserting any CD (even an audio CD) into the PlayStation. A
unique monster is generated from the data that is imbedded on
each CD. Once you have your unique CD-generated beast, it's time
to go to the ranch for training. With each training session, you
will raise your monster stamina and strength statistics, which
gives each particular monster a better chance for success in the
game's exciting combat mode.
Sending an undisciplined monster into the arena is a recipe for
failure, so much of our playing time involved training our
creations and watching them develop into lethal, confident
juggernauts. No two monsters are the same, and each develops its
own unique personality as the game progresses. We became more
attached to this game's creations than other games in the genre
because of this well-executed feature. --T. Byrl Baker
Pros:
* Unlimited replay potential
* Better graphics than before Cons:
* Training requires much patience
P.when('A').execute(function(A) {
A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse',
function(data) {
window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100);
});
});
Review
------
Like all passing trends, virtual pets have made their swift exit
from the forefront of American pop culture and can now only be
found at the bottom of bargain bins at overstocked toy stores.
Amidst the Tamagotchi madness of 1997, a PlayStation game showed
you that you didn't have to be a preteen to enjoy raising a
virtual monster. With a deeply involved play style centered
around simplistic controls, Monster Rancher was ed at a
slightly more mature audience than those of the pocket pets, and
it easily gave you the best pet you could ever virtually own.
And, even though virtual pets have been taken off key chains and
stuffed into closets, Monster Rancher 2 shows you that, if done
right, monster breeding has the staying power to be a lifelong
passion.
The premise hasn't changed much from the first game. You stick
any CD into your PlayStation, which reads a segment from the disc
and then uses that data to generate your monster - a combination
of two basic types. From there, it's your responsibility as a
certified monster breeder to train your monster to fight. You
control every aspect of his training - from simple drills
designed to increase his six basic stats to errantry training
designed to teach him new attack techniques. Once your monster is
strong enough to handle himself in the ring, you can enter him
into a competition to raise his status. Your ultimate goal is to
raise your monster-breeding stats from an E level to the coveted
S level. Once there, you can create all sorts of special monsters
that you weren't cleared to create before. Along the way you'll
run into interesting characters, explore ancient ruins for lost
treasure, spar with your monster, expand your ranch, build
shrines, hold funeral services for fallen monsters, and even
receive fan mail.
There are tons of differences from the original. Instead of
cutesy 2D animations, you now have fully 3D cutscenes that show
exactly how your monster is training. On top of that, your
monster now has two new choices when executing a drill - he can
cheat or he can do better than usual, resulting in above-average
stat increases. When you send your monster off to a training
ground to learn new techniques, he'll actually run through a
series of various tasks instead of just standing beneath a
waterfall for a month. Raising a monster is now more complex.
Your monster has morale, a nature, a defining fighting style, a
specific weight, specific likes and dislikes, and stress. And,
unlike in the original, the battle competitions are more
balanced. In Monster Rancher 2, you don't necessarily have to
beat every monster you come across to win a round-robin
tournament.
Visually, the game looks very good. The monsters and the
landscapes are well rendered in 3D, and the menu-based
conversation and selections are nicely drawn sprites. Your
monster will behave differently depending on how he's treated.
He'll breathe heavily after a difficult battle or training, or
look cheerful after a long rest. During battle, the monster
animations are all creative, and they flow rather smoothly. No
two types of monster have the exact same attack, and the
celebration animations are simply adorable.
You'll be able to tell what season you're currently in by the
style of music playing. During the spring, an uplifting, jumpy
track plays, while a cold, breezy instrumental reminds you when
winter has arrived. Tense, suspenseful music flows over the
battles, and celebration music blasts when you win. The sound
effects themselves are all nice. You can hear the crunch of
monster footsteps on fresh snow in winter, the thwack of s
snapping when you connect a powerful attack, and the whine of
your monster when you reprimand him for cheating on a drill.
In Monster Rancher, you were a breeder for FIMBA, but in Monster
Rancher 2 you're breeding monsters for FIMBA's main competitor,
IMA. Because of this, you'll mostly be raising different
monsters, as IMA has gotten its hands on different disc stones.
However, every once in a while, IMA will challenge FIMBA to a
team battle, and if you earn the right to compete for your class
and win, FIMBA will grant you the right to raise four different
FIMBA monsters. Once you do this a few times, you'll have a huge
pool of monsters available to you.
Monster Rancher 2 does what every sequel should - it enhances and
refines the basic formula of the original without taking away
anything essential. Monster Rancher 2 delivers all the fun of the
original game with enough extras to keep the gameplay fresh and
the premise interesting. Fans of the first game should feel at
home with the sequel, while those new to monster ranching should
be able to dive right in. --Ben Stahl
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
See more ( javascript:void(0) )
