Created by Poppin Games Japan, Monster Breeder (モンスターブリーダー) is a mobile RPG in which players take on the role as a monster breeder. Drawing monsters in the game’s Gacha system and participating in tournaments makes the game quite similar to the old-school wonder “Monster Rancher” (a.k.a Monster Farm in Japan).
For those who don’t know what Monster Rancher is, it is a life simulation game developed by Tecmo (now part of Koei Tecmo) which lets players raise monsters for tournaments. The game was unique in a way that it features a calendar system, and players will have to prepare their monsters before each competition starts, from training to resting before each tournament. As player progresses to higher tier tournaments, they unlock the privilege to raise stronger monsters.
Rather than being an alternative mobile version of Monster Rancher, Monster Breeder combines the idea of Monster Rancher with the typical structure of Japanese Mobile games. Monsters are obtained via the Gacha system and can be strengthened by levels and ranks (stars).
Tournaments acts as typical stages, each with different types of enemies and has a chance to drop items and monsters from the stage. The combat system is similar to Monster Rancher. Monsters have 3 skills they can use during combat, which move you use is determined by the distance between your monster and the enemy.
The Good
Mobile games nowadays, asides from action games, features a simple combat system, using skills on a cooldown/mana base etc. It is quite fresh to see an alternative combat system, even if it is just a revamp of a older game’s system.
Almost every monster you get early on can be ranked up to several different types. Again, not an innovative feature, but it is still quite different from what other mobile games offer.
Full Auto-mode is available right after tutorial for easy farming and easy early stage progression.
The Bad
For fans of the classic Monster Rancher series, Monster breeder will be a huge disappointment. Although Monster Breeder does carry some elements fro Monster Rancher, the core elements that made Monster Rancher great was left out. Instead of really developing your monster in your own way (by individual stats), monster development in Monster Breeder is more focused on just levels and ranking up.
The monster pool available in the game right now is quite limited, which makes each stage seem quite repetitive.
Like most mobile games, its about being lucky with your Gacha draws or paying to compensate bad luck.
Auto-mode isn’t the smartest auto out there so it’s almost a sure lose, unless you’re over leveled and have attribute advantage.
Final Thoughts
Being a fan of the Monster Rancher games, Monster Breeder feels like an incomplete imitation that misses the most important factors of Monster Rancher. Making the game so similar to Monster Rancher could be the downfall of Monster Breeder. Whilst it does create a sort of nostalgic feeling initially, its quite disappointing when it doesn’t live up to the expectations it creates for Monster Rancher fans.
For those who haven’t played Monster Rancher games before, the game is can be quite enjoyable since players do have a direct control of the combat. Positioning your monster to deal the most damage or move to where your opponents can’t attack is quite a unique combat system for mobile games. The game is also quite fast paced, players can simply jump in and play a couple of stages quickly and put it down whenever.
During certain loading screens, instead of showing players fancy artworks, Monster Breeder throws in a small mini-game which makes the loading time feel less tiresome.
All-in-all, the game is worth a shot, just don’t have too high of an expectation.
