Monster Rancher Explorer
for the Game Boy Color
A nice change of pace after RPG Monster Rancher of one kind on the PS2 to the other kind on the Game Boy Color, plunking down a little time on classic old school puzzling was a nice change of pace and while it has its flaws overall it is still a pretty fun batch of retro.
A rare game based on the game mechanics of Solomon`s Key, a pretty fun old school NES slash Famicom era game, your tasked with climbing a 100 floor tower. Each floor is a puzzle room you solve by using your character with this magical ability to create and break blocks. Using this skill you can traverse levels using that skill figuring out how to open the exit and move on to the next floor, facing a sub boss every 10 levels. Simple enough, right? Yes, and yet it is also a pretty decent bite of micro puzzling that challenges you a bit, and gives you a bit of a workout... but then we roll into the big flaw in this game, a nd that is this game has absolutely nothing to do with Monster Rancher!
For its good point this game has about as much in common with Monster Rancher as broccoli does with cheesecake... absolutely nothing. It is Monster Rancher in name only, and while it has visual and maybe story elements in common, this game is completely alien in comparison to other Monster Rancher games. Also without a randomizer to shake things up the game is a bit of a one trick pony. Worst, the big gimmick, the level creator, would be a better gimmick if this was a downloadable game off the 3DS or Wii slash Wii U Store, and utilized the online capacity of each system in full.
Still, for an old school puzzler it is pretty nifty and worth a play through if you ever get a hold of some old school Monster Rancher in handheld form. A 3 out of 5.
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