Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner
Atlus is bringing over Sony's monster-rearing RPG. We take a peek at a near-final version of the game.
Published: January 28, 2007
Though it certainly didn't single-handedly create the genre, the Pokemon effect is undeniable. Through the guise of an all-encompassing multimedia juggernaut, the idea of building a stable of monsters that you can raise and strengthen was passed off as a kids' game, but the concept couldn't be more universal -- at least to RPG freaks that get off on leveling up more than just a party of semi-static characters.
Given the breadth of options available for the basic concept, it's not surprising that there have been multiple attempts at tweaking things, but developer Gaia, headed up by Shin Megami Tensei creator Kouji Okada, fuses the monster capture/raise idea with a decidedly non-occult bent. Though the game is technically a Sony project (the Monster Kingdom series is headed to the PS3 too, Sony Computer Entertainment America passed on localizing the game here, and the US wing of Atlus decided to pick it up. Fitting, considering Okada originally worked for the Japanese dev/pub.
Gamers familiar with Atlus' localization are probably jumping for joy, given that they're quite fond of spending plenty of time and effort in bringing the games over, and while our half-dozen or so hours with the game have yielded plenty of anime-level voice-over moments and some nearly cringe-worthy bits of banter, we're happy to report that the core game is a fantastic little Sony-based portable monster-raising adventure.
We should mention that there are ample amounts of voice work in the game, complemented by great, hi-res character portraits and speedy, quick-loading battles. In fact, Jewel Summoner is one of the most technically competent PSP games we've seen in a while (not surprising given that the game was developed as part of Sony's Worldwide Studios initiative, but it's still nice to see a definite lack of clunkiness overall).
As the name implies, jewels are at the heart of the game's storyline. See, long ago humans and monsters had a groovy time. They held hands and dances through fields of posies, opened doors for each other and generally just got along fabulously. As time went on, though, things started to sour. Abominations, monsters unable to dance, started to crop up, and humans turned to monsters summoned from jewels to combat them. Thing is, only certain humans can summon, and even then it takes training. Then there's Vice, a human that actively hunts Abominations -- particularly the one that offed his ma -- using an innate ability to summon monsters without actually being a jewel summoner.
Actually sussing out why this is possible seems to be part of the overall storyline, but after a chance encounter with a enigmatic eyepatch-sporting, cape-wearing could-be bad guy, Vice stumbled into the middle of a jewel summoner training run, meets up with the Order that oversees summoning, and eventually starts training himself. Through a little mix-up, the spiky-haired protagonist is sidetracked from his quest to find his momma-killer, but luckily we as players get to jump right into learning about summoning.
Given the breadth of options available for the basic concept, it's not surprising that there have been multiple attempts at tweaking things, but developer Gaia, headed up by Shin Megami Tensei creator Kouji Okada, fuses the monster capture/raise idea with a decidedly non-occult bent. Though the game is technically a Sony project (the Monster Kingdom series is headed to the PS3 too, Sony Computer Entertainment America passed on localizing the game here, and the US wing of Atlus decided to pick it up. Fitting, considering Okada originally worked for the Japanese dev/pub.
Gamers familiar with Atlus' localization are probably jumping for joy, given that they're quite fond of spending plenty of time and effort in bringing the games over, and while our half-dozen or so hours with the game have yielded plenty of anime-level voice-over moments and some nearly cringe-worthy bits of banter, we're happy to report that the core game is a fantastic little Sony-based portable monster-raising adventure.
We should mention that there are ample amounts of voice work in the game, complemented by great, hi-res character portraits and speedy, quick-loading battles. In fact, Jewel Summoner is one of the most technically competent PSP games we've seen in a while (not surprising given that the game was developed as part of Sony's Worldwide Studios initiative, but it's still nice to see a definite lack of clunkiness overall).
As the name implies, jewels are at the heart of the game's storyline. See, long ago humans and monsters had a groovy time. They held hands and dances through fields of posies, opened doors for each other and generally just got along fabulously. As time went on, though, things started to sour. Abominations, monsters unable to dance, started to crop up, and humans turned to monsters summoned from jewels to combat them. Thing is, only certain humans can summon, and even then it takes training. Then there's Vice, a human that actively hunts Abominations -- particularly the one that offed his ma -- using an innate ability to summon monsters without actually being a jewel summoner.
Actually sussing out why this is possible seems to be part of the overall storyline, but after a chance encounter with a enigmatic eyepatch-sporting, cape-wearing could-be bad guy, Vice stumbled into the middle of a jewel summoner training run, meets up with the Order that oversees summoning, and eventually starts training himself. Through a little mix-up, the spiky-haired protagonist is sidetracked from his quest to find his momma-killer, but luckily we as players get to jump right into learning about summoning.
