Cobra King
Well-Known Member
- Credits
- 400
This is my first time reviewing a video game, so here I go! Today I will be reviewing Fossil Fighters Champions for the Nintendo DS. What is Fossil Fighters Champions? It is an RPG about excavating and reviving dinosaurs called Vivosaurs, and using them in combat. It is a very straightforward game, you choose a file, create a character which can be male or female, give yourself a name and an icon, then start your adventure. The story takes approximately 7-10 hours to complete, and there is plenty of side missions and vivosaurs to keep you busy post game as well!
First I will talk about the plot( and I'll try not to spoil it too much!).The story is about your character and a young boy named Todd. Your character and Todd Start off looking to find wild Vivosaurs. They then get into trouble with a rogue Allosaurus and are rescued by Joe Wildwest, The most famous fossil fighter in the world. After that you start your first fossil battle and after, Joe leaves you to get home. 2 years later you and Todd are entered in a fossil battling tournament started by Joe Wildwest, against fossil fighters all over the world, in the Caliosteo Fossil Park. The fossil park has three main islands, each with three digsites. Each time you progress in "The cup", you unlock a new digsite, and of course more vivosaurs. The villains are a group called the Barebones Brigade, run by Don Boneyard. Don Boneyard wants to end the Caliosteo Cup because it is really run by a body stealing sorcerer pretending to be Joe Wildwest to gain a new body. Thats the plot in a nutshell.
The games combat system is very straightforward. You assemble a team of up to 5 vivosaurs, but you can only use 3 in combat. The other two stay in the reserves. They will not be brought out if your current team loses a team mate, if you don't use them, you won't use them. The layout of he teams is displayed on the touch screen as are the menus, while the battles are shown on the top screen The battles are turn based, and whoevers team has the highest total speed will attack first. Vivosaur attacks need Fossil points or FP to be used. the amount of FP you get per turn is based on your level as a fighter. There are 6 zones in the battle feild. 3 are attack zones, and 3 are support zones. They are arranged in a hexagonal formation and the 3 in front are attack zones, the three in back are support zones. In the support zones the vivosaurs support effects come into play, if they have them. These will positively or negatively impact your team or the enemies team. There are 2 formations you can use in battle:
Cambrian Formation- 1 vivosaur in AZ and 2 in SZ
Jurassic Formation-2 vivosaurs in AZ and 1 in SZ
You can rotate your team and change formation in battle if you need to, but that will cost FP. The battles in Fossils Fighters Champions require strategy.
Now on to the flesh and blood of Fossil Fighters. Digging and Cleaning. When you go to a digsite you use the the L or R buttons to use the Sonar to locate Fossil Rocks and press A to swing your pick ax and dig them up. Then you go back to town to excavate or "clean" the Fossil Rock. During cleaning you will be using the touchscreen entirely. You need to dig the fossil out of the rock to revive it, or integrate it into a vivosaur you already have. Vivosaurs can only be revived from head fossils, so if you have found a different part to a vivosaur you don't have, do not worry, it will be held in storage until you find the head. It may seem boring, but there is a huge variety of the kinds of fossil rocks you can find. Some can only be cleaned a certain way!
Once a head fossil is cleaned, you will revive your vivosaur. Some can only be obtained as bonus data via Nintendo wi-fi connection as a downloadable event. There is an impressive selection of prehistoric critters to choose from. with over 150 vivosaurs to revive and raise, you will never be bored! Each vivosaur is truly unique in appearance, stats, battle skills and special abilities! each vivosaur comes in one particular elemental type. There are 5 elemental types:
Water
Air
Earth
Fire
Neutral
These types all have advantages and weaknesses to eachother, excluding neutrals-If you have played pokemon, most of this isn't anything new. Each vivosaur also has a certain range at which it is most effective in battle, so keep an eye on that when assembling your teams for battle.
Graphics wise the presentation is good for a DS game. The graphics are at their best during the battles, movie clips, cleaning, revivals, and when veiwing your vivosaurs in the Fossilary. When roaming town or out in the digsites, the graphics are not bad. Not the best, but they are quite a bit better than the first Fossil Fighters.
The music in the game is very consistant. There are over 35 sound tracks to listen to. Each digsite, building and town has its own theme music, and many of the main characters do as well during the story. The music I find is very fitting for the many situations and the themes for the many locations were very well chosen.
My conclusion: It is a very well done game. There is plenty of variety, lots to do, and the story is full of unexpected twists and turns! It is easy on the eyes and on the ears as well. The only negative point about it is that the story is a tad on the short side. If you like dinosaurs and are looking for a game that is all about pitting them in combat, or just love RPG games in general, This is a title that is really worth adding to your library!
I give it 8 out of 10 Nintendans.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them!
First I will talk about the plot( and I'll try not to spoil it too much!).The story is about your character and a young boy named Todd. Your character and Todd Start off looking to find wild Vivosaurs. They then get into trouble with a rogue Allosaurus and are rescued by Joe Wildwest, The most famous fossil fighter in the world. After that you start your first fossil battle and after, Joe leaves you to get home. 2 years later you and Todd are entered in a fossil battling tournament started by Joe Wildwest, against fossil fighters all over the world, in the Caliosteo Fossil Park. The fossil park has three main islands, each with three digsites. Each time you progress in "The cup", you unlock a new digsite, and of course more vivosaurs. The villains are a group called the Barebones Brigade, run by Don Boneyard. Don Boneyard wants to end the Caliosteo Cup because it is really run by a body stealing sorcerer pretending to be Joe Wildwest to gain a new body. Thats the plot in a nutshell.
The games combat system is very straightforward. You assemble a team of up to 5 vivosaurs, but you can only use 3 in combat. The other two stay in the reserves. They will not be brought out if your current team loses a team mate, if you don't use them, you won't use them. The layout of he teams is displayed on the touch screen as are the menus, while the battles are shown on the top screen The battles are turn based, and whoevers team has the highest total speed will attack first. Vivosaur attacks need Fossil points or FP to be used. the amount of FP you get per turn is based on your level as a fighter. There are 6 zones in the battle feild. 3 are attack zones, and 3 are support zones. They are arranged in a hexagonal formation and the 3 in front are attack zones, the three in back are support zones. In the support zones the vivosaurs support effects come into play, if they have them. These will positively or negatively impact your team or the enemies team. There are 2 formations you can use in battle:
Cambrian Formation- 1 vivosaur in AZ and 2 in SZ
Jurassic Formation-2 vivosaurs in AZ and 1 in SZ
You can rotate your team and change formation in battle if you need to, but that will cost FP. The battles in Fossils Fighters Champions require strategy.
Now on to the flesh and blood of Fossil Fighters. Digging and Cleaning. When you go to a digsite you use the the L or R buttons to use the Sonar to locate Fossil Rocks and press A to swing your pick ax and dig them up. Then you go back to town to excavate or "clean" the Fossil Rock. During cleaning you will be using the touchscreen entirely. You need to dig the fossil out of the rock to revive it, or integrate it into a vivosaur you already have. Vivosaurs can only be revived from head fossils, so if you have found a different part to a vivosaur you don't have, do not worry, it will be held in storage until you find the head. It may seem boring, but there is a huge variety of the kinds of fossil rocks you can find. Some can only be cleaned a certain way!
Once a head fossil is cleaned, you will revive your vivosaur. Some can only be obtained as bonus data via Nintendo wi-fi connection as a downloadable event. There is an impressive selection of prehistoric critters to choose from. with over 150 vivosaurs to revive and raise, you will never be bored! Each vivosaur is truly unique in appearance, stats, battle skills and special abilities! each vivosaur comes in one particular elemental type. There are 5 elemental types:
Water
Air
Earth
Fire
Neutral
These types all have advantages and weaknesses to eachother, excluding neutrals-If you have played pokemon, most of this isn't anything new. Each vivosaur also has a certain range at which it is most effective in battle, so keep an eye on that when assembling your teams for battle.
Graphics wise the presentation is good for a DS game. The graphics are at their best during the battles, movie clips, cleaning, revivals, and when veiwing your vivosaurs in the Fossilary. When roaming town or out in the digsites, the graphics are not bad. Not the best, but they are quite a bit better than the first Fossil Fighters.
The music in the game is very consistant. There are over 35 sound tracks to listen to. Each digsite, building and town has its own theme music, and many of the main characters do as well during the story. The music I find is very fitting for the many situations and the themes for the many locations were very well chosen.
My conclusion: It is a very well done game. There is plenty of variety, lots to do, and the story is full of unexpected twists and turns! It is easy on the eyes and on the ears as well. The only negative point about it is that the story is a tad on the short side. If you like dinosaurs and are looking for a game that is all about pitting them in combat, or just love RPG games in general, This is a title that is really worth adding to your library!
I give it 8 out of 10 Nintendans.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them!
