Dragonquest Monsters – Joker, is somewhat of a pokemon like experience on the nintendo DS. Though it mixes up the formula some. You are not running into random battles, you actually see the monsters on screen walking around. The graphics are in full 3D, and it actually looks pretty impressive. However 80% of the game i found, was about grinding ( Fighting wild monsters over and over ) just to level your monsters. And also, you have to keep combining your monsters to create even better ones, which really leaves you feeling like your doing things in circles. However, the graphics, story and music is terrific, and a fan of the series will expect all the issues i stated – and will love this game anyway.

This game is somewhat a merge of Pokemon and Final Fantasy. Exploring multiple 3D islands to collect and battle monsters is the premise, and Square has pulled it off well. Instead of random encounters, you can see the monsters before you attack, which saves alot of annoyance. One of the best features of the game is the ability to battle your friends. Overall, a challenging but worthwhile game.

If the length of the story had been longer I may have given this a 4. You will spend a long time in the game, but there is an element of grind in it, making monsters, capturing more etc. Alot of the content is optional, with a lot of content after the main quest finishes. Quests and maps are fairly straight forward – dont expect any mazes (yay!). Graphics and music is a bit cutesy as you are likely to expect.