You are missing a lot if you skipped this game... It's a must for any digimon fan.
The 3-D rendered polygonal battles look nice for a PlayStation game but they could have improved a thing or two. The backgrounds of the stages you walk on look fresh and futuristic but nothing catchy meets the eyes most of the time. We can’t expect much of a game that came so long ago anyway, plus, I don’t think that graphics play an important role when it comes to an RPG game. The story is more important and in that, BanDai has done a great job.
Story
Digimon World 2 has an intriguing story-line that is revealed to the players as they progress through the game. A group of criminals – The Black Knights, is trying to invade the Digital World. This is the impression you will get after accomplishing the first few missions. But there is more to it. I will not mention any key elements of the plot in this review because it would spoil the fun of finding them out yourselves.
Gameplay
One thing I like about this game is the freedom to choose a Guard Team, offered to you at the very beginning of the game. Although limited, this allows you to customize your gaming experience in a way since joining a different group will result in you getting a different digimon as your partner.
In the beginning of this game you have to choose a team before you can start with the missions. Your first partner will
be assigned to you according to the team you join. Here is what digimons each team offers.
Gold Hawks: If you join them you will get Agumon. I think this is by far the best choice because a lot of the boss digimons
you will face in the game are Virus type and Vaccine digimons have advantage over Virus type digimons.
Blue Falcons: You get Patamon if you join them.
Black Sword: You get DemiDevimon.
Digimon World 2 features over 180 digimons which, in my opinion, is absolutely amazing and they are more than enough. Digimon fans will be able to see digimons from the TV series such as WarGreymon, Veemon, Omnimon and more.
Another good thing the game offers is the ability to merge digimons together. This is called DNA Digivolution and in some cases it is the only way to get a specific digital monster because every time you merge two digimons together they the newborn beast receives a Digivolution Point, which in turn allows it to digivolve into a different form under certain circumstances.
There is a timer that counts how many hours of gameplay you have. Mine is well over 99 hours (although it blocks at that point). This game kept me interested for a good few months and is one of the games I don’t regret purchasing.
There are a few secret digimons to unlock. Kimeramon is one of them – there is a 1 in 666 chance of encountering it in Tera Domain (a domain you unlock after beating the game). Other that I know of are:
Omnimon: In order to get this digimon you will have to raise a MetalGreymon with 20 DP to a mega form. If it has the needed DPs it will digivolve into Omnimon, instead of digivolving into WarGreymon. Omnimon's tech is Transcend Sword and it causes paralization.
Diaboromon: You need to raise an Okuwamon with 20 DP to its mega form. Diaboromon has Inferno Missiles and it hits all foes. *Note: this attack does not have any status effect.
Baihumon: You need to raise Meteormon to a mega form (20DP).His tech is Kongou and it makes invincibility status to one of your digimon. The effect of this assist disappears only if you the digimon given invincibility status attacks.
The Stadium in File City is a nice opportunity for you to test the strength of your team and win cool prizes. Every once in a while as you complete missions, tournaments will be held there which you will be able to participate in for a small fee.
Don’t count on the Two Players mode too much though. It has a completely different battle system from that in the game and most people won’t like it even a bit. The only good thing about is that if you have a friend who is also playing the game they can bring their memory card to your place and you can battle together, no matter that the battle system is crappy. It’s still fun.
Another aspect of the game that can creep you out is the similarities in the design of each domain. They all look alike except for the music and different floors that are changed occasionally.
The Good:
A great variety of digital monsters at your disposal
The game offers you some freedom at the beginning, where you can choose between three Guard Teams. When you join one of them you will receive a partner digimon which varies depending on your choice of team
Intriguing gameplay with an in-depth plot. The whole story becomes more clear as you progress through the game
Many levels in the form of domains to explore and conquer
Secret digimon monsters, only available to those willing to spend more time playing the game
At least 50 hours of gameplay
DNA-Digivolution allowing you to combine digimon together
Two Players Mode
Tournaments
The Bad:
Every domain is designed in a similar fashion
It takes over 99 hours of gameplay to train your digimon if you wish them to be strong enough
Digimon pronounce their techniques in Japanese. Hello? English voice-overs???
Verdict:
If you are a digimon fan than this game is the right one for you and you will enjoy it. On the other hand, if you are looking for a classic RPG experience this is definitely not the game for you. By all means try it if you like the breeding-monsters type of games, it won't let you down. Just remember that it's a dungeon crawler game and everything will be alright!