Review: Mega Monsters
Score:
81%
Hulk smash!!! Or in this case a giant panda, as Ewan takes a look at the B-movie inspired Mega Monsters from Nokia on N-Gage.
Version Reviewed: 0.3.62
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Many years ago there was a game called Rampage. It did well in the arcades and made the jump to the 1980's home computer market. You played “a big monster” in this side view action game, and had to eat and destroy some skyscrapers while not being killed by the army. Take that idea, spin it into a top down 3D view of a full city, and make the monsters gigantic fluffy animals like rabbits, turtles and pandas... and you have Nokia's Mega Monsters, just released on the N-Gage platform.
What's interesting about this title is who's behind it. Firemint are well known for their titles on the iPhone platform, including the smash hit Flight Control. So to have them behind an N-Gage title should be something that Nokia would want everyone to know – yet the game comes out with little fanfare, apparently at the end of the life of the Next Gen system.
Which is a shame. Mega Monsters is a great little pick up and play game – because of the nature of the game, it's tough to play more than three levels in any one gaming session, but I suspect that's not the point. Firemint have previous form in making games that you can play for short periods that you keep coming back time and again. That's certainly true of Mega Monsters.
Okay, threadbare plot time. A misguided scientist has created a special process that can make living things really big. So naturally his handy collection of cuddly creatures get the treatment and can now be sent out (fired from a cannon) into the cities of the world to gather information and supplies so he can build more growing machines. Or just get revenge on a city that ignored him in his teenage years (hah).
Threadbare plot over, onto the threadbare game play. Controls are incredibly simple; whichever monster you choose (and there is a large menagerie to select from) they will always automatically move forward – or hop in the case of the bunny rabbit – and if it comes across a building they will start attacking it, kicking, punching and ripping, until it becomes rubble. You can speed this up with a pummel attack, but this temporarily drains your strength so you can't use it all the time. Luckily you regain the strength pretty quickly.
Apart from turning left and right, your other controls are a handy “duck” option which sometimes helps when the teeny tiny army attacks you, and “roar” which gives your monster permission to let out a death scream worthy of Brian Blessed. Which is good fun and scares a lot of the crowd (earning you points equal to the damage and trauma your monster causes) and gives a distraction to stomping round, attacking a building, stomping a bit more, destroying a bit more, stomping further, etc.
Finally you have access to a 'special power' that builds up over time and can be used to help you in the game. With the time limits on each level, the “slow down time” power of the Bunny Rabbit is pretty useful and fits my style of playing nicely.
Mega Monsters gets repetitive quite quickly, but what's nice is that when you come back to the game, it still feels pretty fresh for another few rounds. Which is a pretty good piece of design for a mobile game, so congratulations to Firemint on this.
Congratulations also on the wonderful graphics. Viewed from above, but just behind , you're getting a clear 2D style roaming action, but with lovely 3D representations of the buildings that shift and give the the perfect sense of height as you stomp around. It has stuttered once or twice on my N95 8GB, but it's not regular and doesn't get in the way of the game play. And I love the occasional advertising billboard promoting other N-Gage games... a nice touch!
A quick word about the demo version. It's understandable that not all the monsters are available for you to cause havoc with. It's understandable that there is a limitation to make you consider the game – but when you look back at other first party titles on the N-Gage (such as Reset Generation) they have a decent amount of game play time for you to judge what there is to offer. Mega Monsters gives you just over a minute on playing a level before kicking you out.
While all the game play hangs together and creates a lovely environment and a relaxed piece of casual gaming, there are a few faults, and one of the biggest ones seems to be that each monster has to make their own progress through the game. Just because you have laid waste to your home city with a panda, doesn't mean you can skip it with other animals. The turtle will have to plough through the concrete jungle again. It's a frustrating touch in an otherwise good game even though it theoretically extends the game length.
What do you have for the monsters is the ability to customise their appearance by finding accessories and clothes as you stomp around the levels, and these can also be traded online with other N-Gage Arena users. And that's just one of the online features. With an auction house, store and makeover facilities for your monsters, you have lots of opportunity to customise your monster, and this capitalistic route provides an alternative to trying to find all the hidden items in the levels.
The multiplayer is also a good touch, but it does seem to be lacking the ability to interact with other monsters. There are a number of scenarios (chosen at random) including doing the most damage, surviving a number of attacks by the army, or targeting a number of the larger buildings. You'll play these scenarios against another monster in the same city - but if you're hoping to get close to the other monsters for some personal payback, you'll need a lot of luck because the slow stomping and large map make finding your opponent on the map almost impossible.
I would have liked the option to choose which scenario to play, but that's a minor issue because the online games are short and fun to play. You might even uncover some accessories for your monster even in multiplayer and it wouldn't surprise me if these are only available on these levels, making them even more collectible. Firemint have done a good job of making the online part easy to understand and access.
There's an argument that buying items to decorate your monsters could have been in the offline version, but promoting the Arena should be the job of every N-Gage title – and by doing it this way, new items could be added, say, for Christmas or other special occasions.
Mega Monsters is everything an N-Gage game should be. It's got strong visuals and is optimised for playing on a mobile platform (not just a small screen but the controls, length of play and level construction). It's not a flagship title, and it's not being promoted as such, butit's exactly the form of game that is suitable for high end smartphones.
To be honest, the N-Gage catalogue should be full of games like this. That it's not isn't down to Firemint – and I hope that even in this Indian summer of the N-Gage they get the rewards from the users for a cracking b-movie style, b-list title.
-- Ewan Spence, Oct 2009.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at