MonsterMMORPG: Fight to the Top
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist
Co-Written by Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief
Any of you who are reading this and are active on OnRPG’s Free MMO and MMORPG forums might have seen a thread about this game before. One of the developers advertised MonsterMMORPG in a thread and it caught the eye of a lot of people. I as well saw the game and decided to try it out. These are my thoughts on this uniquely made Pokemon-based browser game.
When I made my account and selected my character and starting Monster I felt right at home. I was able to select my avatar and choose from one of 13 starting Monsters. Anyone who has played Pokemon will be able to jump right in since the concept is so familiar, with trainers exploring various maps and encountering monsters randomly within the tall grass.
Once your initial selections are made you get teleported into the middle of nowhere with a lot of other players around you. Unfortunately there was no NPC or anything to greet me or I simply missed it because it was quite crowded and confusing.
As you can see your character is always in the middle and I chose for an old man as my avatar since I love the thought of old men battling young ones and winning money from them. So I started to walk into the bushes and battle my first Monster to try and catch it! I started with the fire themed Monster, Scortorch and went up against Duseep which is a really weird looking Monster. In the battle menu you get to see the statistics of both Monsters such as HP, Attack and Defense and even more important factors in a matchup. It also shows the opponent’s Monster’s Nature, which in the case of Duseep was “Potential.” I had no clue whatsoever at the time what this meant but I figured anything with Potential is ideal to add to my collection via the MonsterBox.
I decided I wanted to catch the Monster but because my starting Monster started off at level 10 it didn’t really go as planned. I instantly one hit killed my opponent and I couldn’t catch it anymore. After the battle I got to a screen that told me how much money I received and how many experience points my Monster received. It also shows a recap of the battle and the status of my active Monster which is very useful in continuous battles so you can make decisions on switching monsters or not before the next round.
The mechanics in the game are really easy to learn. I found using the arrow keys instead of clicking the onscreen arrows is far more effective to move around the map. Unfortunately I didn’t realize this right away because there isn’t a proper FAQ or in-game tutorial to show you the more subtle controls and features. There is however a lengthy youtube video to watch which explain the basics of the game if you really want to be shown everything prior to jumping into the game. I’d love to see a reference page within the game listing the controls and other functions since it’s a pain to have to open youtube in another tab just to get refreshers on how to use some of the features.
The Market is a really useful shop that you can visit in Monster MMORPG, if you need any items or simply have waaaay to much money you can spend it all at the shops and even at the bazaar. If you have captured a Monster that you don’t like or simply want to get rid of you can sell them on the Bazaar. And if you have saved up some money you can easily buy some of the Monsters eluding your collection. This system is really familiar if you are known with MMORPGs and in Monster MMORPG there are a lot of choices you can make if you want to buy or sell something which is really helpful.
Of course the most important aspect of this game comes into play with the multiplayer aspect of it. How cool is it to experience all the frantic Pokemon style action from your childhood in an interactive online browser game? Other players will move in close to real time on your map and you can approach them to do battle at any time simply by clicking on them. You can also check out their player profile to learn a bit about them and what Monsters they are packing so you don’t go rushing into a fight that’s way over your head.
The game keeps a great global ranking system so players have something to aim for besides just Monster collection. With the ease of access to PvP and a system that shows you progress (or lack there of) I feel like this game really does take browser gaming a step beyond the normal sphere of browser games.
Also there is a heavy emphasis on growing your monster and customizing it to your liking. Like Pokemon, monsters are able to learn up to four skills total, but have a much larger variety of skills they can learn. Not only do they naturally learn skills, but you can force teach them more unique skills with MT items.
The game presents all this in a well organized format, showing your stats, resistances to various skill types, evolution paths, happiness, and total skill list all in one page. It’s interesting that they even included a happiness function so that if you treat your Monster poorly and constantly lose battles, they will refuse to evolve into their full potential.
Conclusion
Monster MMORPG is a really nice game and probably the greatest online recreation of Pokemon to date. I had some fun playing this game and it can be a really nice time waster but personally I cannot see the game keeping my attention for long periods in its current state. Personally I feel this game is lacking direction due to a lack of NPCs. Jumping straight in against other trainers can be a bit much for some people and I wish there were NPC trainers between towns to hinder my progress and give me practice battling trainers. NPCs in towns that give quests, even if they were just delivery quests between towns, would be a cool feature that would add a lot to the game. I hear they are intending to come out with the equivalent of gym leaders in the near future, which is another feature much needed in MonsterMMORPG. One final gripe with the game is the system that forces you to return to your nearest healing center should you surrender a battle you have started. The lack of ability to run after starting a fight seems like an overlooked feature that should be patched.
Nonetheless this game gives pleasure to the Pokémon lovers in somewhat a more unique way with creating its own Monsters and I do see the developers are putting time and money in their game. If you are a big fan of the Pokémon concept and love to battle other opponents with your own Monsters or you simply want to catch them all then I’d advise you to check out MonsterMMORPG because it will entertain as promised!
