By nestlekwik
While the Digimon series has lent its services to the Playstation One and Sega Saturn and have lead to greatest hits re-releases, none of the games have yet to reach full acclaim. While the concept makes for a good RPG in theory, the weird stories, flat combat and the ludicrous amounts of experience it took to level your characters made for an unfulfilling time, especially considering all of the other superb RPGs on the PSOne developed by Squaresoft.
This time around Bandai sided with all three systems, giving the Microsoft and Nintendo consoles their first taste of U.S. Digimon love. The fourth installment also changes up the format dramatically as the game play now revolves around a 3/4 overhead adventure akin to titles such as Champions of Norrath and Baldur’s Gate. While this change up easily makes it the best in the series - complete with influences from Phantasy Star Online as well as the other aforementioned epics - a small number of nagging issues prevents from being as good as those staple adventures.
Digimon World 4 puts you in the role of one of the four leads which represent the four seasons of the animated series. As you progress in the game with quests, digivolutions become available which not only adds to the total number of characters, but also makes you a heck of a lot stronger for the more advanced difficulties that become available when you clear the game. After choosing your Digimon, you can then choose to outfit your character with one of about 10 classes of weapons as well as various armors, boards and upgrades to further push your attributes. Skill levels can be earned by repeatedly using the same class of weapon and add to the damage done with attacks and high skill levels are necessary to use the more powerful weapons in the game.
The storyline is basically the same as in any other Digimon World game - you enter the digital world and most coincidentally, the crap hits the fan as soon as you enter. While Digimon World 4 takes things on a more serious note, there’s no leaps and bounds in the storytelling for the series and it definitely won’t win any awards. Upon entering the world, you are pitted up against a virus which threatens all Digimon and has created new sectors on the landscape. To make things worse, the brave Leomon and his expedition crews have gone missing. Yeah. You have a lot of work to do.
The digital world is a dangerous place with vast environments and numerous, twisting dungeons filled to the brim with evil at every turn. While some of the monsters are just common goons for you to whack away like weeds, there are also some really, really nasty Digimon who would like to delete your head from your body. The graphics do a nice job of bringing all of the style from the animation to the home console and most of the up close shots look really nice on the Gamecube. The outdoor environments are nicely detailed as well, but when you reach a dungeon level, you’ll be treated some very bland environments for the most part, i.e. lots of black, empty space filling in the areas between walls.
Perhaps the thing that surprised me the most was the really excellent music in the game. The sound is decent, but the music could perhaps be one of the strongest points in this game. Not only are most of the tunes catchy, but they fit well with the theme of the environment, ranging from peppy orchestral themes to more quiet ambient themes while in dungeons. All of the sounds in the game are your pretty typical hack and slash bits, nothing that really stands out, especially since no dedicated voice samples are included in the game.
All of the controls in the game are pretty responsive, utilizing a button for attacking, one for guarding and another for jumping. In addition to those standard moves, you can also do spinning attacks, charge attacks and shield dashes to do more damage or just get out of a hairy situation. The other buttons act as your live menu system for techniques and items, which is alright in most cases, but the menus do not reset after using an item or skill so you may find yourself accidentally wasting an item. Also the menus do reset when your character gets hit, so you may end up attacking instead of healing - which isn’t good when your hit points are in the red. While the menus are navigable during down time, using them when there is an enemy on the screen can lead to some aggravation.
Overall, though, Digimon World 4 is a great game and an excellent 4-player romp through the digital world. The only thing that could make the multiplayer better is if it were online (since it shares so many aspects of the Phantasy Star Online series); something inexcusably missing from the PS2 and Xbox versions. But with how thin the RPG selection is on the Gamecube, fans of the system should overlook the Digimon theme and give the game a shot. There’s lots to do and explore and you’ll always find yourself going back to the same level to find the rarer items in the game. If you’ve got plenty of time to kill, give it a shot. With great graphics, sound, multiplayer and replayability, Digimon World 4 gives the lulling Gamecube a much-needed shot in the arm.
GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 out of 5
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