Monster Strike

Monster Strike
Developer(s)	Mixi
Platform(s)	iOS, Android
Release date(s)	iOS JP August 8, 2013 (2013-08-08) NA October 20, 2014 TW May 23, 2014 KOR November 6, 2014 Android JP December 14, 2013 NA October 21, 2014 TW May 13, 2014 KOR November 16, 2014
Genre(s)	Puzzle, RPG

Monster Strike (モンスターストライク, Monsutā Sutoraiku) is a physics game with elements of RPGs and strategy games. It is developed by Mixi for the iOS and Android platforms. The game was co-created by Yoshiki Okamoto.^[1] In Japan, its name is often shortened to MonSt (モンスト, Monsuto).

Gameplay

A game of Monster Strike where the player prepares to launch one of their monsters at enemies on the field.

Monster Strike has been compared to competitor Puzzle & Dragons and other freemium puzzle games in that the player battles waves of monsters to collect them, fuse them, and evolve them and earn gold and other items through gameplay to get stronger monsters, and build a list of friends with monsters to use as well. What sets it apart is that rather than being a tile-matching video game, the player flicks their monsters around on a field, compared to both air hockey and marbles, bumping off of walls and enemies to perform damage. Colliding the currently in play monster with any of the allied monsters activates Bump Combos (友情コンボ, Yūjō Konbo, "Friend Combos") that set off explosions, energy beams, or projectiles to perform damage on opponent monsters. Every turn, numerous counters on enemy monsters count down to launch various attacks that deal damage or add hazards to the field. Player monsters often have other unique pasive abilities to counter these hazards, or may have passive abilities that cause greater damage to particular kinds of enemy monsters. Each of the player's monsters also has its own counter, which allows the player to activate the monster's Strike Shot (ストライクショット, Sutoraiku Shotto) attack to perform more damage. The final battle of each Quest Mission features a Boss monster that has a moving critical hit point. Monster Strike also offers co-operative play for up to 4 players.^[1][2][3]

Each monster has its own HP, Attack, and Speed statistics. The player's three monsters' HP and their friend or helper's monsters' HP are combined for a total HP. Attack determines how much damage the player's monster does to enemy monsters and Speed determines how fast (how much distance) the monster travels in a single turn. These values are increased by fusing monsters together to gain experience, or using special stat-only increasing monsters. There is also a Luck (ラック, Rakku) value, symbolized by a four-leaf clover, that determines the possibility of obtaining bonus monsters or cataylsts at the end of a Mission. Luck can only be increased by fusing two of the same monsters together, or monsters in the same evolutionary line; fusing two Red Smydras or a Red Drake and a Red Smydra will both cause Luck to increase.

After raising a monster to its maximum level, the player can Evolve (進化, Shinka) them through the use of the Stoans (獣石, Jūseki), Sharls (獣玉, Jūdama), and Divine (獣神玉, Jūshindama) catalysts. Players can also Ascend (神化, Kamika) their monsters into even more powerful forms through the use of other monsters with given Luck levels.

Quests in the game are divided into Solo and Co-Op and then Normal and Event. Event Quests are only available for limited periods of time and often feature rare monsters that are powerful or that can be used in the Ascension of other monsters. Completing the levels of a quest awards the player monsters, catalysts, and coins. In Normal Quests, for completing the penultimate level in the quest, players are awarded a rare catalyst and for completing the final level, they are awarded an Orb as well as unlocking a Bonus Level featuring the experience-increasing or high-selling turtle monsters. A Mission Log is also given to players to reach certain goals in Quests in order to win other Catalysts, Orbs, or experience-increasing monsters. In the Japanese edition of the game, a new series of Quests were added that award the player the Wakuwaku no Mi (わくわくの実, "Exciting Fruit") that gives one of the player's monsters an additional bonus.

The game also features Hatchers (ガチャ, Gacha) that the player spends either Friend Points (earned through choosing another player's monster to complete a level) for fairly common monsters or Orbs for rarer monsters. The main Hatcher cycles through a series of different sets of monsters that have an increased availability, with the rarest found during the Legend Series (獣神祭, Jūjinsai) events. The Friend Hatcher is sometimes used for giving out rare Event monsters for collaborations, such as with Line Corporation and Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan. The Japanese edition of the game has also featured a special Hatcher to commemorate the release of Godzilla requiring special Godzilla Sharls to use it. Collaborations have also been made with Lawson's convenience store chain, Monster Hunter Big Game Hunting Quest, Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!!, Game Walker, and Parasyte.

The game has an in-game store to purchase Orbs that are used to continue lost Missions, expand the number of the player's available saved monsters, restore Stamina used to play Missions, or use them in the game's Hatcher to earn powerful and rare monsters.^[4]

Development

Monster Strike was originally released in Japan in September 2013, and by November 2013 it was credited with saving Mixi, originally a social media network, after the app became popular in the App Store.^[5][6] In September 2014, it was announced that a North American version and a South Korean version would be released.^[7]

Music

A theme song for Monster Strike titled "Hippare! Monster Strike" (ヒッパレ！モンスターストライク, Hippare! Monsutā Sutoraiku, "Pull! Monster Strike") was written by Nagae Kuwabara (lyrics) and Riichiro Kuwabara (composition) and performed by Hironobu Kageyama. Kageyama performed it live for the first time at the Monster Strike first anniversary event at the Nico Nico Douga live house nicofarre on October 25, 2014, and the song was later released for sale on October 29.^[8]

Reception

With the English language version's release, a reviewer for Android Authority said that the game was fun, but similar to other games on the market, and had concerns about the length of the game's tutorial levels.^[2] On Pocket Gamer, the reviewer found the game not challenging, as there did not seem to be any strategy, and as it is easy to earn Orbs (the premium currency), he could easily use the Hatcher to get better monsters, resulting in just a wait for the Stamina to refill and fuse monsters, until you run out of gold to fuse and space in the Monster Box.^[4]

References

External links

• Official website