The "Denpa" Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll's title couldn't be more accurate. Of the three games available thus far, it is the best and does a wonderful job of encouraging players to keep going further into dungeons and interacting with the virtual world.
The very definition of a well crafted, slept-on series, this is punching well above its weight, and for the budget price will appeal to a wide section of the Nintendo fan-base.
The Denpa Men 3 is the best entry in the bizarre franchise, hands down. Genius Sorority has fixed most of the issues we found in the previous installments and refined the overall experience.
While the more frustrating points of the game may turn away those looking for a more streamlined experience, the amount of content here makes Denpa Men 3 a great value for those who feel up to the challenge.
The Rise of Digitoll may look cute and accommodating at a glance, but don't believe it. It would be one thing if the game was trying to be a brutal dungeon crawl, but a massive revision to its mechanics would be necessary for that to work.
As a newcomer to the series, I have to say I didn't expect to be this addicted to a $10 J-RPG. Although the mechanic of capturing your party members through wi-fi hot-spots can be annoying to some people, it helps the game keep its freshness, making a visit to a fiend's or family's house something exciting because you don't know what you'll get. Battles are joyful and funny enough, but this cute-looking game can get challenging at some points, so it feels rewarding when you breeze through a newly discovered area that gave you problems when you first visited it. Aside from combat, there are tons of things to do, like fishing and planting flowers or crops Animal Crossing style, and there's even completion bonus, side quests or economies regarding those side activities, making them joyful and helpful to do. There's even a online component consisting of three facilities, the Bazaar where you can browse other player's shops or set your own shop and publish it on the internet for people to buy your things and get money. The Denpa Men Rental, with the same mechanic but in this case you can rent or lend your denpa men to get help in difficult parts or to get money. And lastly, the Coliseum where you can fight other player's Denpa Men parties or publish your own for other people to fight. Now looking at the cons, I have to say the main problem the game has is money balancing, enemies give petty cash, really, really low amounts, and it doesn't changes from area to area since the further you progress, items get more expensive, although it can be helped a little bit with fishing and selling fish, but having to pay for bait makes it painful to do in the early game. Also, I didn't like the addition of DLC inside the game, to buy Crystals (a more valuable and scarce currency used to buy better equipment and facilities to help you), it can be obtained inside the game, and the DLC can be avoided but still, I don't approve its use.
Overall a fantastic game with a few drawbacks but it doesn't hold it back from being a well made J-RPG, and a sight for sore eyes since that genre doesn't get much releases outside Japan. So far, haven't been able to put it down.
As far as quality, budget RPGs go, you can't go wrong with the Denpa Men series. This new addition isn't anything you haven't seen before in other dungeon crawlers however, just like the last two, it has a twist. Instead of the normal group of young teenagers saving the world, you "capture" your characters using the antenna tower. Basically it allows your 3ds to pick up wireless signals in the world and uses the random bits of information to create characters with different stats, names and abilities. These characters are the Denpa Men.
From there you go off on a simple but fun quest that is long, silly and perfect for relaxing after a long day of work. The battle system is perfect (you can command each of your Denpa Men to do different things or simply let them decide what to do for themself) and navigating the world couldn't be simpler with the ability to warp to any previously visited location. Especially good is the price (currently at $10), which makes this a particularly long budget title and another perfect addition to the 3ds library.
SummaryDenpa Men are all around you. Find and catch them to form a party and take them on an exciting adventure!
The Denpa Men are mysterious creatures that live among radio waves. Invisible to the naked eye, they can only be seen and caught by looking through your Nintendo 3DS. In this game, catch Denpa Men, form your team, and head out on ...