The Best Ripoff I've Been Around
If you have to make a game by ripping off a successful game franchise, Fossil Fighters (FF) for the NDS is the example you want to follow. Certainly many of the things seen in this Artdink product will scream Pocket Monster knockoff, but there are enough features to separate the imitator and the imitated. In fact, there are moments that FF actually seems to surpass Pokemon. The story is one of humor and charm, the game takes place in a 3D world, and the game actually tries to exposit on the origins of the dinosaurs your character will hang around with; that's a better effort than the Pokemon games and comics combined. It's not perfect, but Fossil Fighters is still a good game worth your attention.
If you played any Pokemon game, then you know the drill. You, as a Fossil Fighter (Mr. Vandal), start out with a few Vivosaurs (the revived dinosaurs) and you battle other Fossil Fighters, training your Vivosaurs up to learn new abilities and increase their stat lines. When not doing that you find new Vivosaurs by digging up and cleaning their fossils by using a radar and hammering on the A button to let fly your useful pick. After you complete the mission from the plot you fight another Fossil Fighter to rise in rank to earn some benefits and continue the storyline. Rinse and repeat for roughly 15 hours, and you have the backbone and formula for FF.
But despite this formula the game doesn't cease to as boring as it could be. That's because FF has one of the funnier and more bizarre plot lines I've ever seen. The whole story starts out simple enough; the hero saves the day and earns the respect and admiration of one Rosie Richmond (Ms. Pink) who'll follow you in the rest of the hero's adventures. There's also the eccentric professor, not to mention the Team Rocket clones (BB Bandits), to deal with. But that's where any sense of normalcy ends. From then on, your character and Rosie meet a tribal chieftain who performs rituals by shaking his butt like he's in a music video. Then they encounter this ghost who swears eternal vengeance to the humans because he lost his bow tie that he ties his long beard with. If you think that's not oddball enough, how about having to deal with an ancient race of super high tech dinosaur aliens that once tried to create life on Earth only to fail, resulting in them trying to rid the world of mankind? How about fighting a planet-sized monster's innards? The latter examples shows exactly how off the wall the story gets, but Fossil Fighters performs this narrative well because the cast, heroes and villains alike, is generally likable and charming, and the crazy plot twists will keep you guessing. In short, you'll be motivated to see the end of this crazy tale.
Fighting between Vivosaurs is a 3 v 3 affair, but it isn't as simple as trotting out the best 'saurs and be done with it. Like needing archers, catapults, knights, and swordsmen (and not just one over the others) in a medieval army, team composition can make or break your success in battles. Besides needing to account for elemental strengths and weaknesses (water beats fire, wind beats water etc, there are four elements and some Vivosaurs don't have any), you need a fine balance between those that do best in the front line (Attack Zone) and those are best suited to play a support role providing extra attack and defense etc to the front line Vivosaur. There's also the case of managing Fossil Points (FP), the points required for Vivosaurs to use an attack. Sometimes you want to use the FP immediately upon receiving them, other times you rather store them up to prepare for a punishing counterattack. The strategy behind the fighting won't make your brain explode, but you do need to know what you're doing. Overall it's a solid system with neither major strength nor major weakness.
On the plus side, there are these two commentators that narrate your battle. They crack a lot of jokes and even offer useful information on the special effects the Vivosaurs can provide. Though there's a lot of reusing of old lines but the commentary still feels fresh and overall, more importantly of course, funny and silly.
An even better part of the gameplay comes from cleaning the fossils you dig up. Think of this part of the game as a more general version of the Trauma Center games. In 90 seconds you need to remove all the rock covering the fossil via drills and hammers (controlled by the stylus), however doing too much pounding or drilling can result in damaging the fossil and ergo failure. Given that Vivosaurs will be stronger when you clean the fossil better, you have incentive to do the best you can and not do it halfheartedly. I don't know how to describe it but cleaning fossils as perfectly as possible is very fun, and it also contributes to your success in the game; do it well and you have better Vivosaurs and you can have more money by cleaning rocks that have gems in them well and selling these precious stones.
Graphically the game is a mixed bag. On the one hand the world is very cartoony and colorful in a good way. Character animations on the Vivosaurs are rehashed but character animations, like the chieftain shaking his butt or Rosie bending all the way to her left to wave at you like she doesn't have a right elbow, contribute to the charm of the game. Environment and characters (especially to the latter), however, lack detail and come off as a bit blocky. There are some nice cartoony, electronic soundtracks to add to the fun atmosphere but neither of them are very memorable.
In the end, Fossil Fighters borrows a lot from Pokemon, so there's the question of originality, but the former does so to good effect. At the end of the day the game is still a joy to play and a barrel of laughs waiting to be opened. Given that the game will take double digit hours to complete, and the above average quality of the game, it would be best for the game to be bought outright rather than rented, as the game has a lot to offer, even after the main story is done (new sites to dig fossils, more missions etc).
Pros:
- Very funny, enjoyable plot with a good cast of characters
- Fossil Cleaning is fun
Cons:
- Borrows heavily from Pokemon
Final Verdict: 4 stars. There simply isn't much to outright dislike the game, but there are some qualities to really like in Fossil Fighters