Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Developer: GoodBeans GmbH
Ok lets get it out of the way right now this is clearly influenced by Pokemon. There I said it. And with that I am sure that there will be a number of people who are willing to give this game a try. As for some reason we still have not gotten a game on the iOS that really has that same Pokemon magic to it. Is Zuko Monsters the game to fill that void on the iOS? Please read on to find out.
When it comes to talking about how Zuko Monsters looks we have to do it in two parts. You see much like Pokemon this is a game that is split into two areas there are the exploration areas and the battle areas. The exploration levels look decent enough even if a little detail here and there would have been nice. But the battles are really impressive. All the monsters look great and are very well animated.
Now lets talk about the game play. Now I am sorry, but I am going to mention Pokemon again. One of the things that makes Pokemon so great is not only are the battles really fun and exciting, but the exploration and story also is. Sadly this is a area that Zuko Monsters is not really nailing. I am not saying it is bad, but it feels kind of boring. I feel if a little more time had been spent here that it would have made a ton of different. When you are exploring you will need to find people to battle with, but there are also some areas that have missions your monsters can do in order to level them up a little. This is also where you can find new monsters to catch and add to your arsenal of monsters.
The battle part of the game is where Zuko Monsters really shines. One thing that really did blow me away was that I had full control over my monster. It is a turn based battle. meaning you have a turn then your opponent does or vice versa. Your monster will have there own set of attacks that do considerable damage, but these will deplete your energy. If this happens you are required to use some basic attack while your energy fills back up. So there is a great deal of strategy of knowing when to use your stronger attacks. If you are getting a beating because you picked the wrong monster. Then do not worry as you can swap monsters during battle.
Now this is a freemium game, but not a obnoxious one. If you rely get into this game then no doubt you will spend money to buy energy and new monsters. And the time that the game requires you to wait before letting you move on is not as bad as in other games. But the speed your energy charges at after a tough battle can be hours and hours. I know these issues are not exclusive to this game. But I think a version at say five to ten bucks that let you play as much as you want would have been a big hit.
As far as Pokemon clones go this is certainly one of the better ones. Especially in terms of the battles they really are a ton of fun. I personally hope that the guys at GoodBeans are hard at work on a sequel that makes the exploration aspect of the game more interesting. This is a decent enough game. But be warned that if you really want to get into then you are going to have to pay.