Master of the Monster Lair (Nintendo DS)

The fictional town in Atlus USA's "Master of the Monster Lair" is in double trouble. First, there's the seemingly endless threat of monster attacks to the townspeople, then there's the town's recent economic downturn. The only solution: pay a kid with a magical talking shovel to dig a dungeon that lures in monsters, which the mayor hopes will attract tourists to the town. While this might sound like an exciting task to play out, it quickly gets old. The game's monotony and simplicity hold back the story and the action of what, at first glance, sounds like an excellent adventure for the Nintendo DS.

The game itself is very easy to get the hang of. After glancing over the manual for the basic controls, jumping straight into game-play isn't hard to do. After what feels like half an hour of dialogue that tells the story of the town's woes and the discovery of the magic shovel, the game begins. Players familiar with other Nintendo DS titles will quickly realize that "Master of the Monster Lair" fails to make use of the DS's trademark touch screen. All of the controls are done with the directional arrows and the "A", "B", "X", and "Y" buttons. Your shovel tells you how to catch the monsters, and in the earlier stages of the game when the game's developers assume that you're still learning, it never wants to shut up. The character digs a room by facing the area where he wants the room to be, and pushes "A". To determine the type of monster that will wander into the room, the character can place furniture in the room: feed barrels, trash piles (which only attract the disproportionately hard to defeat Slimes), and treasure chests. Once setup is complete, the character climbs out of the dungeon, goes home and rests until the next day, when the monster hunting begins.

Monster hunting sounds like fun, and is at first, but even that gets old once the player begins to realize that the selection of monsters to fight is very limited. Armed with only a knife, the character encounters numerous Crowbats, Pigboars, Goblins, Warcats, and Slimes. It's a wonder that the character doesn't lose his health and have to restart the game from "Game Over" more. There are some magical items, such as fireballs and healing enchantments, which cost too much for their one-time use. It's much more worth it to save up the game's currency and buy a full-blown spell, which lasts for any number of uses.

For all the bad things that have been brought up about the game, "Master of the Monster Lair" does have a few bonuses. The meals that the character eats after a hard day's work let the player decide where to allocate points. For example, pigboar ribs give a point to the character's HP (hit points, the total damage he can take in a battle) and STR (strength). Other meals give points to MP (magic points, which allow the character to use spells and magical items) or to Speed. Different meals allow the player the choice of how to better the character's abilities, provided that the proper ingredients are on hand.

The overabundance of dialogue, lack of action, and repetitive nature of "Master of the Monster Lair" make it sub-par. All of these factors also add up to the inevitable fact that the game has little to no replay value, something that gamers want out of their purchases. When buying a $25 game to go with a $120 game system, you hope to enjoy the game enough to play it more than once. "Master of the Monster Lair" is a game that most players will not even finish. Overall, it is a decent game, but only decent.