Better than Spectrobes 1... But it is missing something... Oh yeah, it is BORING.

User Rating: 6.5 | Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals DS
Compared to Specrobes 1, this game is a huge improvement. Everything is now completely 3d (except for the character standups in chit-chat conversations), which is quite something to marvel on the DS. But what does sicken me is that most reviews call Spectrobes is a Poke-wannabe. Well, just to say to the little Pokemon hardcorists out there... You fail. Spectrobes is not a Pokemon wannabe just because you collect little creatures that evolve into big things. Why don't you go accuse Digimon... Or Yu-Gi-Oh of being Poke-wannabes because they have little collectible creatures.

Now with that out of my system. To the actual game. Storywise, it is kind of easy to forget and the characters almost seem to be cliche built. But a plus is that it is space-themed. But the problem is that space-themed games + collectible games do not mix well due to the player base that would rather have a shooter game that involves taking over/saving the galaxy with high-tech things. That can be a problem in the formula. But, at least it starts off nearly right from where the first game left and immediately introduces a conflict. But the near-endless storyline that leads you around in circles and bores you seems to make this game never seem to end.

Grinding. Ew. I have put over 40 hours into the save file and I have yet to actually feel as I got into the meat of the game. It is a hard grind, but the game is just too easy. Simple as that. Finding fossils, minerals, and cubes still sucks though. Considering you have to look... A lot just to find a baby spectrobe with a good scan radius.

Camera. It plagues this game horribly. I can't decide which game has a worse camera... Shadow the Hedgehog or this game.

Graphics. They are quite pretty. I have already stated before that they are gorgeous for DS graphics.

Sound. Boring and bland. It almost seems that everything has the same sound.

Overall:
If you like grinding space-themed games with collectibles, this is the game for you. As it will definitely keep you more busy than Pokemon would. You wouldn't be able to get through the game because it has so much grinding.
6.5/10.