Producer: Bandai
System: Playstation
Year: 2000
Overview: I'm not sure what Digimon games were released in Japan before Digimon World came out, but this was the first one to see the light of day in the United States.
Story: A great evil has befallen the Digital World (doesn't it always?). Many digimon in the great Digital City have fallen under its influence and have left, leaving it a desolate village. Your character (he has no particular name, you can give him any one you want), is brought to the Digital World to try and restore order.
Graphics: Not too bad. They aren't exactly the most high-resolution I've ever seen, but the polygon models of the digimon are done alright.
Sound: Eh, there are a few good-sounding tracks, but a lot of it is pretty bland.
Gameplay: Hmmm...what to say about this...The game plays mostly like an RPG, but there are some different elements to it. I think the biggest thing I can say is that the game was made to emulate the original V-pets too much. Your digimon evolves differently depending on how you care for it, and how much his stats are trained (the training area allows you to train one of six statistics). The criteria are quite specific, and if none are reached by a certain time, your Child stage digimon will automatically evolve to a scuzzy Numemon. You must also get it to a toilet immediately whenever it has to go potty (you can tell your digimon's needs by a speech balloon over its head). If your digimon misses the toilet too often, it'll mutate into a Sukamon. Battles are quite a pain. They take forever to load, for starters. Plus, you have no real control over what your digimon does; all you can do is give commands to it and pray. Even more, your digimon can and will die of old age after so long. When your digimon dies, either from old age or in battle, it reverts back to an egg and a new baby hatches...and you must raise it all over again.
Challenge: The biggest challenges come from hoping that your digimon will do what it's told and from juggling between training it and completing your journey so he doesn't die in the middle of a quest.
Final Rating: 6.5/10 Certainly not a game for casual RPGers. If you're a fan of the V-pet, though, give it a try.
