7.0

Spectrobes Beyond the Portals

Published by Disney Interactive and the developed by the Jupiter Corporation, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is the latest Nintendo DS RPG title to hit the console which is aimed at the younger market. The story revolves around Rallen, a space officer who must stop a sinister invasion and will venture to eight different planets. Although clichéd, the story provides a few twists and turns to the player, ensuring that the journey is quite diverse. As Nintendo have just recently released Pokémon Platinum, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is a similar affair, although not as polished and at times a little bland compared to the aforementioned title.

Features

* New, revamped three-dimensional perspective

* Players can take on the role of either Rallen or, for the first time, Jeena in special missions where her technical expertise is needed

* A new map system to assist with exploration

* New excavation and battle features

* More than 100 creatures, plus all-new items, gadgets, and a customizable patrol cruiser

* Online battle system utilizing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

* Includes DGamer, Disney Interactive Studios' innovative new technology that provides a fun, connected online game community for Disney video game fans

As mentioned, the game revolves around Rallen, a space officer of the NPP who has the ability to control spectrobes which are strange alien-like monsters who assist you in the various battles with the Krawl, the big bands behind this epic tale. You also have a friend called Jeena who assists with the story, especially through subtle hints.

Reminiscent of games such as Final Fantasy, gamers will explore vast areas as they encounter non-player characters (NPC) who assist in pointing you in the right direction for quests. Like Final Fantasy, the encounters with these NPC’s are generally quite verbose and you’ll spend much of the time reading.

The control system of Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals uses both the fixed controls and the stylus to interact with the gaming environment. The D-Pad is used to control your character that is complimented by the menu system to interact with the world and battles that you will face. Thankfully you only have three spectrobes in your control at the start which is almost like a tutorial that teaches you the basics of the gameplay.

The stylus is used for some interesting mini-games that has the player acting like a palaeontologist as you dig for fossils and minerals which are then used to upgrade your creatures and for sustenance. You even get to use the microphone on the DS where you need to wake the spectrobe fossils which is actually quite a cute feature. Although older gamers may be raising their eyebrows by now!

In relation to battles, Rallen should be considered your primary character who has access to a variety of weaponry from melee to ranged weapons. As you progress, so does your character, ensuring that you can take on a variety of more powerful creatures. The biggest issue with the combat is that if you lose, you are automatically returned to the start of the map which does become frustrating because of the time spent getting there. However, where the game does shine is through the battles with the spectrobes (gotta get em all) which all have pros and cons. Best of all, these battles are in real-time and these little critters have some wicked special maneuvers.

As with Pokémon, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals will allow you to trade your spectrobes with other DS gamers and the game supports an engaging online community. Graphically the title is quit anime inspired with cute Saturday morning cartoon colour graphics. The sound suits the game quite well, except for the MIDI inspired music which is stock standard DS.

At the end of the day, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is an interesting third-party Nintendo DS game that we would definitely recommend to lovers of Japanese RPG fans, due to the extensive dialogue and reminiscent gameplay to titles such as Final Fantasy and Pokémon. The game does make good use to the inventive controls of the DS, however some of these at times seem a little forced. For a third-party game, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is definitely worth investigating, however if you are after a more professional affair, than this may not be the title for you.