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Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker

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9.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 14 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: TOSE

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: Multi

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)

Release Date: November 6, 2007

Summary

Joker is the first game in the series to have online play, via Nintendo Wi-Fi. The battle system is similar to previous Dragon Quest Monsters games. The player has three monsters in a party which can be given direct orders or set to one of 4 AI settings. A player's main character does not directly participate in battles with the exception of using items when directed as such. The sole method of encountering enemies is to run into them on the overworld.

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Hardcore Gamer Magazine

It's awesome. Joker features the same style of RPG-lite storyline and team-based combat from the earlier "Monsters" games, only everything here has been prettied up. [Dec 2007, p.62]

Worth Playing

This is a game that people are going to really enjoy if they can get into it, but Joker does a player no favors when it comes to helping you get into the game.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Joker is a massive jump forwards from the first GBC game of '98. In terms of depth, storyline and sense of real adventure and progression, it's an enjoyable and compulsive game. [Feb 2008, p.76]

Digital Entertainment News

Dragon Quest Monsters – Joker delivers some much-needed freshness to the monster collecting genre, but don’t expect it to be Dragon Quest IX. It’s just pure monster-collecting fun.

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Pocket Gamer UK

Bright, addictive and fun - Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is a great addition to the DS adventure line-up.

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AceGamez

Where Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker really surprises is in how different it manages to be to Pokémon whilst still maintaining the addictive gameplay mechanics that made the latter so damned popular in the first place.

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Games Radar (in-house)

The game takes patience and plenty of top-grade monster scouting.

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GameSpy

The next Dragon Quest Monsters installment on DS will probably be even better, but in the meantime players can enjoy this fun and innovative experience that is more than just another Pokemon game.

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Nintendo Power

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is not quite a Pokemon pretender. [Dec 2007, p.86]

GameZone

The game features some interesting additions to the monster-collector format, but isn’t as deep or compelling as other Dragon Quest games.

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Game Informer

It may not have the built-in fanbase of Pokémon, but in terms of gameplay and visuals, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker puts up a good fight.

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IGN

Combining some impressive 3D work on the DS with over 200 collectable monsters, a lack of the somewhat irritating random dungeon generator, far more depth and production value overall, and impressive depth in a monster battler, Joker is a great chance for the more niche RPG gamers on DS to dive into the Monsters series for the first time and see for themselves what all the fuss is about.

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Games Master UK

Solid stuff. [Mar 2008, p.82]

Cheat Code Central

After the 30 hours of gameplay in the single-player mode, the game has pretty much peaked and waned. For the money, that's still a pretty good deal considering that you'd pay this for games that lasts less than 10 hours.

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GameShark

If you enjoy micromanaging monsters and think Poemon is for babies, then you will be hard pressed to find a deeper game than Joker on the market.

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RPG Fan

If you're a fan of the genre and appreciate the ability to challenge others in battles, you'll do well with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. Otherwise, you'll just find a mediocre game with silly dialogue.

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Game Revolution

I was also a little disappointed that the game didn’t take more advantage of the DS capabilities. For one thing, it barely utilizes the stylus and touch-screen, forcing you to work through the game the old-fashioned way by pushing buttons.

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1UP

It's certainly not a bad game by any means -- it has plenty of depth and looks fantastic -- but it never quite rises above the sensation that it's just a warm-up for better things coming (hopefully next year) in the form "Dragon Quest IX."

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GameSpot

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker feeds that compulsive need to customize as many monsters as you can and is great if you don't mind a little level grinding.

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NGamer UK

A welcome twist on the Pokemon formula, but only an English translation will really uncover the game's possible depths. For now, it's fun and a joy to look at. [Mar 2007, p.75]

GameDaily

Despite a horrendously nonsensical title and some time consuming level exploration, Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker has everything a monster battling role-playing fan could want, including sassy accented text and tons of monsters to recruit and battle.

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Play Magazine

If you don't dig Pokemon, do DQM. Or, if you've already beaten Pokemon, take a stab at DQM. In the end, though, it's just more of the same. [Nov 2007, p.77]

Gaming Nexus

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker provides a good spin on the monster collecting style of gameplay, and it is definitely more challenging than what the other companies out there provide.

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NTSC-uk

As a monster-collecting game, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker isn’t in the same league as Pokémon. As an RPG however, it’s a big success.

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Eurogamer

It's difficult to shake off the suspicion that the game is a bit slight. You can get through the whole thing in little over 20 hours, which seems a bit short for an RPG - especially considering the amount of level-grinding.

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GotNext

Though the pacing is quite nice for a 40 hour quest, you spend way too much time gallivanting about the land to just level up. The scenery may be pretty, but it's a chore to go through.

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Gaming Age

Controls are rigid and unforgiving using the d-pad. Thankfully, you can use the R and L buttons to rotate the camera and move forward at the same time, this makes for much more fluid turning than using the d-pad.

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GamePro

Joker could've used a heaping helping of the friendly big touch-screen button style interface that the latest Pokemon mastered, but ultimately with these monster hunter games, it's really just just up to your brand preference.

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Modojo

SquareEnix did its hardest to push the Nintendo DS on a technical level, and this crude approximation of Level 5's graphical work with Dragon Quest VIII can at least be admired on that level.

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NintendoWorldReport

More frustrating than fun.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris S. gave it a10:
This is a game that keeps you excited to pick it up and is impossible to put down. You control the characters, their traits and their success. This is the first Dragon Quest game that I have ever played, I just completed it, and my next game will def be a DQ one.

David The Baka gave it a10:
DQM:J was a great game! The graphics are nice, and if you think that they are a Dragon Ball Z rip-off, it may surprise you to learn that the same guy who drew DBZ also drew this game. The sound is alright, considering there have only been a handful of games (all of them final fantasy) that I consider to have good sound (IE, Final Fantasy VI Advance has some pretty awesome music. You rock Nobuo Uematsu!) The story is short but sweet, and enjoyable. The battle system is one of the best non-Final Fantasy battle systems I have experienced. The fact that you can attack AND use items in the same turn is very nice, compared to some OTHER games. The out of battle movement system is very awkward, and there is a lot of moving around (Seed of Skill hunting...). There is a huge amount of level grinding required, and the only game that REQUIRES you to level grind more than this game is Final Fantasy X (And I have the US version. I pity the guys who have the International version. Dark Aeons.) The wi-fi feature is nice, but beware: you will probably end up fighting all level 99 monsters. The most annoying part of level grinding is that in order to get 2.5 minutes in the metel menagarie, which contains the highest exp monsters available is that you have to do the Madame Rummy Challenge each time; kill (from 15-24, it increases each time you attempt the challenge) slimes in 5 minutes. Really frustrating, that is. Synthesizing is about the worst thing you can do to a game. Honestly, it's okay to change synthesizing to breeding, and make it teen rating, it's only a three year difference in audience... Anyway, some monsters are + rating, some are - rating, and some are ± rating (o.O). You can synthesize a + with a -, a + with a ±, and a - with a ±. When you synthesize, you lose the two original monsters. the amount of skill points both monsters have in one skill category are averaged and the new monster has the averaged amount. if a monster has the skill slimer with 90 points in it, and the other monster doesn't have the skill slimer, then new monster will/might have slimer with 45 points in it. after the monsters synthesize, the new monster can have up to three skill sets. it can choose from any that the parents have, any from that monster species usually has, and any upgraded skills. upgraded skill rock. Attack Boost III is awesome. Monsters also have some "odd" (that's the polite way of saying it) ranking system which ranges from F,E,D,C,B,A,S, and X. There are 15 X monsters.

Jason H. gave it a6:
I am a HUGE fan of the other dragon warrior monster games... this one... not so much. The other games had randomly generated worlds, a MUCH better "synthesizing" feature (it was actually breeding) and about 150 more monsters (with only 2 color overs that I can think of). Now, I'll talk about each of these points. The lack of randomly generated worlds leaves you with a measly 7 islands to explore. The only rare monsters are metal monsters, and are always found with other monsters on the field (since you actually SEE the monster wandering around before you attack it) Thus, the variety of monsters that you can actually scout seems very limited. Now, synthesizing was introduced to this game, perhaps because breeding was not PG enough... At any rate, it provides a much poorer system of attaining monsters. The previous DWM games had two monsters pair up, one of them had a pedigree, and from that, you obtained a new monster. In this game, there is no pedigree, the monsters fuse together, and the player is provided with three choices. Now, this would not be so crappy if there were no ranking system. Every monster is given a rank from F to A, and thus, in every monster catagory, there are generic F, E, D, C, B, and A monsters. If you breed a rank B dragon with a rank F slime, you'll either get a rank B generic dragon, a rank F generic slime, or some random third option that I think is a demon. Also, a lot of the past breeding combos have been scrapped in favor of things that honestly just don't make any sense. The fact that there are only 200 monster, 42 generic monsters, and what seems like 100 color overs makes the game's monster variety very limited. The last point would be that of a lack of monsters. There are SO MANY COLOR OVERS, gamer beware! The worst part I think, is that the truly authentic monsters are now nigh impossible to get. Metalies pretty much can only be scouted with a 1% chance every time, and now synthesizing may depend on the monster's grandparents. Furthermore, awesome monsters like rainhawk, watabuo, and orochi have mysteriously dissapeared in favor of lame subsitutes like spitnik and a chainine. In fact, three monster catagories no longer exist: water, birds, and legendaries. Thus, the would be water and bird monsters are all crammed into a "nature" catagorie, whilst the legendaries are degraded down into demons, zombies and w/e else. I'm one of those guys that likes to see the world expand in sequals. This is why I was so dissapointed in DQM. Less monsters, less exploring, and absolutely nothing to do after completion of entire game (DWM2 had contests, and keys to get). Sure there's better graphics, and yes there may be internet features (though this feature seems to be on hold) but the point is, it lost a lot of it's charm, and what made the previous games so fun.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
It's deffinetely much better than Pokemon. This game is original, gives a lot of new features to the monster trainer genre. And Pokemon? Nearly nothing new, just the same catch-them-all-win-the-duels-and-the-league. And Monsters has full 3D graphics, more interesting story, better solution of receiving stronger monsters.

John M. gave it a9:
While i do argee that the controls and your first playthrough aren't very friendly, its easily overshadowed by the rather unique features of the game such as scounting and synthesising. However, like most games, this needs alot more of storyline as well.

Matt M. gave it a10:
This is the best RPG on the DS to date, everything from the original with stunnign graphics.

Tawna E. gave it a6:
Because I’m a devout fan of Dragon Quest video games, I got Dragon Quest Monsters to add to my collection. Monster collecting games like Pokemon do not appeal to me, because they involve tons of level-grinding. This game is no different. In the game, there are 7 different islands. Each island has different monsters, ranked according to their power from “F” being lowest to “A” or “S” being highest. Going from one island to the next involve a dramatic increase in the challenge in this game—hence, the need to level-grind to increase the levels of the monsters in my party. Fusing monsters is a key element to this game. However, doing so is a bit tricky. Fused monsters start off with stats that are half those of their parents. So, it’s best to level-up the monsters so that they won’t be too weak when starting out. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the third entry in the Dragon Quest Monsters series to reach America. This game features many modifications. The player can now store up to 100 monsters in inventory from the beginning. The monsters no longer have the WLD feature that makes them unruly or run away. When monsters in inventory level-up, they gain skill points, which the player can allocate at leisure. The player assigns skill points to certain skill sets for their monsters to learn. Each monster can learn up to three skill sets when fusing them together. When both monsters know much of a skill set, but haven’t mastered it, their child can learn a more powerful version of that skill set. Another major change to this game is that the player no longer uses meat treats to tame monsters. Instead, the player tames monsters by using a scout feature, in which monsters attempt to impress a new monster by displaying their attack power. It works fine at taming multiple weak monsters at the beginning, however, the more of a type of monster a player has, the harder it is to impress. This game makes minimal use of the touch feature. Touching the bottom screen moves the map and makes selections in inventory. The top screen shows the action in the game. I, however, tend to play the game without touching the bottom screen at all. It’s an optional feature that people can use, if they want to. The most appealing aspect of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the graphics. The game is full 3-D, just like Dragon Quest VIII. Pokemanics craving monster collecting in 3-D can look here to get their desires met. This game uses a wi-fi feature that ranks the player against other players according to performance. The wins prizes for connecting to the network each day. The player can also battle copies of another player’s team, and can get a prize for winning, too. I have yet to try that, but I keep starting this game over from the beginning. The further I go into the game, the more level-grinding I have to do, and I *hate* level-grinding. However, folks that love level-grinding would probably enjoy Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker.

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Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker

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What The Critics Said

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