Destructoid writes: "If there is one thing you can't quite accuse Koei of recently, it's not at least attempting to branch out. Titles like Prey the Stars and Saihai No Yukue may have roots in other games, but they are new directions for the company. Monster Racers for the DS is very much the same -- it's clearly attempting to capitalize on the success of Pokémon, but hey, it's not Dynasty Warriors.
Koei has been making Monster Racers a huge part of its TGS presence, going as far as to unveil that ridiculous red dragon (photographed above by ParaParaKing.) The dragon was hilarious. It randomly came into the Koei press conference, proud as anything, but then started squeaking as it walked, and it couldn't see so someone had to lead it by its hand, and then it knocked into a chair."
It’s too bad there’s so little variety, because this could’ve been a great game. The story, while hardly unique, has plenty of humor and enough interesting characters to keep you hooked. There are some tough battles, but they usually seem to come down to luck rather than skill, so overcoming them doesn’t feel all that satisfying. Monster Racers is nice for short bursts of gratuitous entertainment, but not much more.
Jeremy writes in his review: "The racing itself is done in a 2-D platformer style. You run to the right as fast as you can, nabbing temporary invincibility, building up turbos, grabbing coins, and avoiding obstacles. The controls in this area are good, and it was all actually fun enough to keep me at least a little entertained the whole time I was playing."
Diehard GameFAN writes: "It is beyond easy to take one look at Monster Racers, decry it as nothing more than a cheap Pokemon clone with a gimmick, and move on. However, a lot of games have done something interesting and occasionally quite good with the Pokemon formula, but weren’t actual Pokemon games themselves. Last year’s Fossil Fighters is a great example. There was a game that could have been nothing but a clone, but it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable game with a cute story, fun mini-games, and satisfying strategic battle system."
