Review: "A little from column 'A', a little from column 'B'."
Enix has their Dragon Warrior beginnings firmly rooted in Nintendo History. The original Dragon Warrior made its debut on the 8-bit NES more than ten years ago. The game was some of the best classic role-playing that I have ever experienced complete with a gigantic world to explore, monsters to slay, and gameplay that didn't require flashy graphics and sound to sell copies. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 recreates that classic glory and blends it with monster breeding for an experience that can't be beat.
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 is actually made up of two separate titles; Cobi's Journey and Tara's Adventure. Like the different colored Pokemon titles from Nintendo, the two DW Monsters games work in tandem to create the entire gaming experience. The games start out with Tara and Cobi moving to the land of GreatLog, wherein their parents are opening a monster farm. Unfortunately, both games have the same quests and are nearly identical on the role-playing side of things. However, each game does have monsters and keys that are unique and to do everything in the game you will have to link up with a friend playing the other title.
In general, the RPG elements of Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 are short but sweet. The graphics and audio are both on par for your typical Game Boy fare but the gameplay is excellent. As you journey around the world trying to plug the leaking GreatLog navel you use your team of three monsters to defeat the feral monsters of the world. Defeat the right monster at the right time and it will join your brood for either adventure use or breeding stock. The RPG quests can probably be completed in under 12 hours but the monster breeding can last a lifetime if you let it. In total, there are more than 300 monsters available for you to find and breed with each title having several monsters unique to it. I really find that the breeding function of DWM2 is what keeps me coming back to it. I have a feeling that no matter how long I play I will never manage to find all of the monsters.
To help make sure that you maintain some semblance of a social life Enix included a two-player link option in Dragon Warrior Monsters 2. As a matter of fact, you have to link up with a buddy to find everything in this game. Through the link you can battle your monsters, trade keys and monsters, and breed two monsters together. This linking will allow you to gain access to new areas of the world and the monsters you crossbreed are some of the rarest of them all. The multiplayer elements included in DWM2 help to keep this already great game fresh.
