Anime Forum Games Links Movies Music Profiles Survivor TV Shows Monster Rancher has always been hit or miss for me. One hand it's a lot of fun to see what monsters you can get from disks but on the other hand you get subpar gameplay. A lot has been revamped in this one and it's alot better than the previous games. The story is basic but hey, it's better than nothing. You you a student in some school but you're kicked out so you have to regain your pride by being a monster breeder. Okay, so it won't win any awards but it's better than being a boring old monster breeder for no good reason. The graphics are a lot better than those found in Monster Rancher 3. I'm just not a fan of the cell shading and this game got rid of that. Thee graphics aren't mind blowing but they work, humans look horrible though. I can't really comment on the sound too well. The sound effects are alright, the music is tolerable and I don't remember any voice acting. Overall, it's a pretty bland experience when it comes to the sound area in this game. The control is easy, pretty much just one button does it all, plus you have onscreen commands for changing menus and what not. Battles are easy but I couldn't find a button that would push back the other monster, which was featured in Monster Rancher 3. The meat of any breeding game is the gameplay and now it's more complex and organized. Battles are pretty much the same but now you can do a lot more attacks which I thought was a nice additon. It also now tells you the hit percentage of an attack which is very useful. Instead of just telling your monster to train, you plan out a schedule which gives the game a more realistic feel that I enjoyed. However, you no longer see your monster train but I found it annoying having to watch the monster train in previous games. You can also explore dungeons and fight random battles which is a nice addition but does feel tacked on in the end. There are still plenty of monsters and you can get them the same way as you did in the other games, by using a cd/dvd. You can also raise moe than one monster at a time which is also another new addition that I liked. The replay value is high, but only if you're into these types of games. It's a decent rental but you probably won't beat it in a rental period. Personally, I rented the game and don't feel like it's worth buying but that's because my plate is full and I don't have the time to play a game that requires so much time. Overall, Monster Rancher 4 should make the fans happy and that's all that really matters I guess. Control: 8 Gameplay: 7 Graphics: 7 Replay Value: 8 Sound: 5 Story: 3 Final Score: 65/100 Reviewed by Americanpieflute Reviewed on March 2nd 2004