Breeding/RPGs are a rising genre these days. Games like Pokemon probably led the charge, but still, many newer titles have their ways of standing out. Monster Rancher 2 by Tecmo is the sequel to 1 of the earlier Breeding/RPGs on the Playstation, Monster Rancher.

Monster Rancher 2’s story and overall concept is simple enough. You play a new monster breeder whose name you decide. Your goal is to raise a monster at you own Ranch. Raising a monster isn’t the only thing you need to do, though; like most Breeding/RPGs, you’ll probably find yourself training your monster for fights in competitions. This is more of a necessity as you’ll need the money won from competitions to help pay for the costs of raising the monster, as well as upgrading your own Ranch. Helping you out will be Holly, a young lady and also your personal assistant, who will narrate to you practically almost everything that happens. The ultimate goal as with all Breeding/RPGs, is to raise the ultimate monster that will help you dominate the competition.

The unique and addictive feature of this game is the way you get your monsters. Aside from buying a basic monster at the Market, players will be able to use practically their entire CD collection to generate different and sometime rare monsters! Each CD generates a monster unique to its own data. Even if a player gets a same monster from another CD, the status of that monster will always be different. This practically allows players infinite possibilities to choose their monsters as long as they have the CDs.

Monster Rancher 2 features close to 400 different monsters and a convenient Encyclopedia that records which monster you have found before. However, it doesn’t mean you can just pop in a CD and get a powerful Dragon right off the bat. You will have to first acquire a license before you can generate and raise certain monsters. To acquire a license, players will have to either get a special invitation to a tournament that awards it, or get it by breeding or finding a method which allows the monster to be generated.

Raising monsters is simple enough. Players can only raise 1 monster at a time at the ranch, while others will have to be stored in cold freeze at the lab. Monsters grow and have life spans and time passes weekly. This will probably make parting with an old and dying monster that much more painful as players tend to develop quite a ‘relationship’ with each monster. The challenge is training a young monster into adulthood, raising its competition rank, and eventually either breeding it with another monster or letting it pass on, which is quite a waste. Breeding is thus the solution.

By breeding 2 monsters, the player will have to release the parents, but they are left with a new baby monster that is the combination of both parents’ types and inherits some of their abilities. Monsters created this way also tend to be that much more powerful as they have elevated status as well.

Aside from the weekly monster raising and simple training, players have the option of sending their monster on Errantries in many different locations, provided the monster is old enough and the Player has the money. Monsters on Errantry go for a grueling 2 week training trip to the location, were they do multiple events and upon successful completion of each, gain increases in a specific status. Successful completion of the entire Errantry will allow the monster to learn a new technique for battle.

Your monster may also be attacked by wild monsters, so you’ll have to hope it’s tough enough to deal with it as you have no control in that battle. Winning the battle gives you money as a form of bounty for the defeated monster. Your monster may also bring back items!

The game also features some side-quests. Simple quests are carried out in the form of events, with visits by NPCs that will lead to special events that let the player find special items or clues to getting rare monsters.

The main side-quest in the game is to send your monster on exploration trips to different locations depending on the season of the game year. On such trips, your monster is limited by a bar, which depletes as it moves or does actions like clearing the way or exploring an area for items. Players will have to end the exploration before the bar depletes entirely or risk your monster getting lost for a time or suffering from severe exhaustion. Such trips, however, allow players to get a whole load of special items as well as discover new monsters! Players will thus have to manage their monster training, rest, tournament, and exploration schedules to suit their tastes.

The battles are simple enough: players can decide to control their monster manually or let it fight by itself. Players will generally maneuver their monster back and forth from its opponent, with different ranges allowing different techniques to be executed. Battles can be called off if it seems hopeless, preventing your monster serious injury if it gets knocked out. Such a situation can be serious, as it will reduce your monster’s life span. Players will thus have to know when is enough in a battle.

Controlling the game is usually done through menu after menu. Players select items to use, open up options, and generally raise their monsters through menus. Controlling a monster in battle is simple enough as moving them forward or back and pressing a button to execute a skill when there are enough skill points to do so. The simple interface this game provides is quite a plus and really reduces the learning curve.

The game is fully 3D; players will see their monster moving around on the ranch and when the seasons change, expect to see the ranch area change to match the season. Techniques used in battle have very smooth and fluid animations as well, especially for the more powerful attacks like a wave of fire or an aerial charge. Characters are represented by portraits to accompany their text boxes. Monster designs are good as well, and they seem reasonably more suited to battle then, say, some Pokemon.

Music and sound in the game is simple and functional, but most players will barely notice it as they control their monsters in battle. Most tunes outside of battle are simple and repetitive, but fortunately they are not bad and provide some aural entertainment if players bother to listen.

In the end, all that can be said is that Monster Rancher 2 stands out as one of the greatest and more innovative of the breeding/RPGs today. Monster Rancher has its own hold in the market, with a mediocre anime, many lesser-known games and, fortunately, a great new sequel coming soon for the PlayStation 2. Fans of the series have every reason to be excited.