Spectrobes

Now here's a video game that I just learned about (though it's been announced for quite a few months), and it really caught my attention in quite a few ways. Now at first glance it sorta reminded me of an updated version of Monster Rancher. How so? Well throughout the game you'll need to excavate, raise, train, evolve, and battle with these monsters called Spectrobes. Excavating is a big part of the game (created by Disney and Buena Vista). You'll have many tools to use (along with the microphone...possibly to blow away any dust), however, if you damage the fossil too much, there won't be a Spectrobe to revive. What's another reason that it caught my attention? It's an action RPG game...and not many of those come by...the last time I saw/played on was for Tales of Symphonia (correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't most Tales of... games action RPG?).

What's the plot of the game? Well here's what the Wikipedia article had to say about it:
"Out on a routine mission, Planetary Patrol Officers Rallen and Jeena respond to a strange distress signal and discover the wreckage of an escape capsule in which an old man has been in a cryogenic sleep for decades. Once conscious, the man, whose name is Aldous, relays an unbelievable tale of the attack on his home planet by a vicious horde of creatures known as the Krawl. As a scientist, he was able to identify an extinct species of creatures called Spectrobes as the natural enemy of the Krawl, and developed a device based on the technology of the Ancients that could harness the power of the Spectrobes. Armed with this knowledge and the device he calls a Prizmod, Aldous sets out to gather as many Spectrobes as he can to stop the Krawl from destroying the universe.

Fearing the Krawl will soon migrate to their galaxy, Rallen and Jeena join forces with Aldous to seek out the Spectrobes and defeat the Krawl."

One cool thing about this (from what I've observed) is you get to control the Spectobes via voice control such as "Go!" and "Attack" as you are fighting as the main protagonist, Rallen with a sword that's quite reminiscent to the one Megaman uses. I know that a few other games have done this, but I have a feeling that this game will have more controls than a few.

There are quite a few cool Webisodes of the plot I talked about above (I've heard it just may be downloadable onto your DS...more on that later), trailers, and the intro.
You can view the six webisodes at the Spectrobes Mainsite.

Ok, so I've covered excavating and how the microphone would be used. Ah, yes, online play! Each game will come with four code input cards. With these cards (and inputing the data into the game at the right moment) you'll be able to unlock additional things such as more videos, creatures, custom parts, and minerals. As expected from a company, you'll be able to purchase more code input cards later on after the game has been released (which was yesterday by the way, and I'm thinking about picking it up).

Online you'll be able to download additional content and fight others online (but I do wonder if you'll be able to fight with others online. Unlike most online DS games, the player will be given a "Personal Planetary Patrol Badge Number" in order for you to access your stats, game results, armor, weapons, and players' profiles will include information about their Spectrobe monsters (hmmm...learn a little bit about your opponent before fighting. Smart move) all on the Spectrobes website. In addition, a leader board on the web site will track the top scores from several special sequence battles in the game, allowing players to show their success to a global audience. Here's another thing that really surprised me: You can organize a wifi worldwide tournament that can support up to 16 players! Who wouldn't want to get a piece of that action!

Like most DS games, this will be sold for $29.99 (USD)