Digimon Masters is a free-to-play MMO developed by Digitalic and published by Joymax. The game is based around the world established by the popular Digimon series and puts players in the role of a trainer for the DATS organization. As an avid Digimon fan when I was younger, I’ve been wanting a game like this for some time. With such a strong concept, it would seem that a game like this could not fail. Is it the success I secretly hoped for or does it hold a dark secret?
I, like many children, loved the Digimon series when it first aired. It was a great concept that has proven successful with many other series (Pokemon, Monster Rancher, anything with kids and pet monsters, etc.). It involved a group of children who had been transported to a digital world who then made friends with the digital monsters who inhabited the world. Along their journey, they overcame many obstacles and eventually found their way back to the real world.
Digimon Masters is heavily based around a series farther down the Digimon timeline, Digimon Data Squad. While this seems like a great tie-in, very little is explained to the player about the world they inhabit. If I didn’t have a very basic understanding of the series in general, I would have been even more lost. Players are thrown into a starting area and sent on repeated “Kill X number of creatures” or fetch quests that do absolutely nothing to convey what is going on in the world of Digimon. It may make perfect sense for those up to date with the Digimon series, but as someone new to the series, I don’t see them becoming very engrossed with the world of Digimon. A player shouldn’t have to resort to outside sources to understand what is happening within a game. This isn’t made any easier by the broken scripting when reading anything on the screen, and there’s a lot to read. In nearly every dialogue box, words are split and spill into the next line. It looks very sloppy and makes reading the bland text more of a chore.
Again, things are never clearly explained why your character is doing what they’re doing. What is DATS and why should I care? Why is one of my quest contacts doing nothing but insulting me and sending me out to kill countless Digimon in the name of research? I thought Digimon were OK guys? Will I eventually need to kill my partner Digimon? What’s that? Digimon are killing bunnies and I need to go kill them? Sure thing, let’s get this Digimon genocide started! I’d like to believe that I’m a capable adult who can follow a basic storyline, but this is ridiculous. I can’t imagine a kid getting behind the idea of slaughtering the various adorable Digimon roaming the land because a mad scientist needs to prove his theory so he can get funding for his project through DATS. Despite why my character and his partner Digimon were doing what they were doing, I soldiered on. “Surely, the must be more variety in this game.” I thought to myself. “I’m sure that once I reach the digital world, things will open up and it will start clicking.” Nope, just more dastardly Digimon that needed to be put down. It got old very fast and I found myself struggling to stay awake as I sloshed through the cesspool of storytelling.
Visually speaking, Digimon Masters isn’t much better in quality than the story. The world is bland and flat, and looks like something from the Playstation or N64 era. Even with the graphics maxed out, there’s not a whole lot to take in. There are only a handful of graphic options to tweak and one seemed peculiar, turning off the cartoon style. I can only imagine that this would turn off the cel-shading, but can’t be certain as each time I attempted to turn it off, the game would crash.
When starting out, players choose one of three characters which they can they pick a name for. They can then pick one of a few different Digimon to be their partner. Each character comes with a fully loaded bio, which makes no sense in an MMO. Using this concept, no one is truly unique. There’s little to no individuality. As players progress, they level up along with their Digimon. Both have a health bar and digisoul meter. Digisoul is the fuel for Digimon attacks and functions much like mana or magic in other games. Digimon can evolve into more advanced forms, but will drain the trainer’s DS while in this state. Monitoring this balance would make for some wonderful strategy if it weren’t so easy to annihilate everything in the game. At no point was I worried about dying. It was seldom that my Digimon would draw aggro and if it did happen, it would only be an additional enemy that was easy enough to dispatch. Items and gear can be equipped to trainers which can provide cosmetic and stat changes.
In addition to the partner Digimon, players are able to acquire Mercenary Digimon. Mercenary Digimon can either be purchased or collected from fallen foes in the form of a digi-egg. To use the Mercenary Digimon, it must be hatched by injecting DATA three times. Additional DATA can be injected, but this risks breaking the egg and forfeiting the Digimon inside.
Battle in Digimon Masters is fairly straight forward. The partner Digimon follows its trainer around and will attack targets through a series of commands in the bar. Individual attacks can be leveled up, resulting in more powerful attacks. There is also an attribute system in place where Digimon may be at an advantage or disadvantage against certain foes depending on their attributes. Essentially, it’s a grander game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If you’re not sure how your Digimon will fare against an enemy, fear not because your Digimon will not shut up when attacking and will clearly tell you if it’s at a disadvantage.
I really wanted to like Digimon Masters. However, it took a favorite childhood series of mine and turned it into a cheap, mediocre product. Whatever unique style and personality Digimon had is far removed from this sub-par game. From the bland storytelling and graphics to the constant “lost” feeling that accompanied me while playing, Digimon Masters fails on nearly every level. Loyal fans of the series with a deeper understanding may gleam something from the title, but I will be nothing but happy once it is uninstalled.
by~ Christian D.
GamingClimax.com Writer and Author of ZeroAnd09 Blog
