At a Glance

Disney has returned to the world of Spectrobes. While the series' emergence on the Wii is clearly aimed at a younger audience, Disney has put together a game with a depth that goes beyond the often sub-par offerings often churned out for youngsters. There are some obvious comparisons to be made to the likes of Pokemon – the game features two human characters thrown into a heavily-stylised anime sci-fi world, complete with a four-legged companion. Comparisons to Pokemon are not, however, a bad thing... Gameplay is a blend of monster battling with action RPG elements. Not only will you be deciding which of your spectrobes to send into battle – you'll also be charging around with your main character and taking part in the action directly. Disney has introduced an interesting method for acquiring spectrobes – it's a question of digging for fossils. You'll literally excavate your helpers, using the abilities of spectrobes you've already found, which differ according to their evolutionary form. This makes keeping close track of how you customise and build up your spectrobes essential. For gamers looking to play with friends, there's also drop-in, drop-out co-op gameplay, in which one player controls a spectrobe while the other takes charge of the main character.