The one attempted innovation is the need to keep the digimon happy. When it's the player's turn to choose an action, action choices completely wallpaper the screen, most of which are repeats. Whichever action the screen displays the most is the action that the digimon desires most. When the digimon begins to despair, players must compliment or cheer it up, taking up a whole turn. This becomes necessary when the only thing the frightened digimon wants to do is flee. In the end, though, this ploy to inject the game with emotion falls flat and becomes just another annoyance that draws out battle length.

If the battle system isn't enough to make players apathetic, the bland visuals and repetitive, numbing music will do them in. The game employs a sloppy use of cel-shading that makes the models look indiscernible from a distance, and somewhat deformed up close. Character animations are similarly hideous, with jerky transitions and awkward movements. The environments in which missions take place are plain and generally unoriginal, with low quality textures and confusing layouts. The camera, too, cannot be panned the way players want it to, and as such it makes navigation that much more difficult.

The music is somewhat catchy in an old school sort of way, but the fact that the game uses the same tunes over and over again becomes exceedingly bothersome. The voice acting is particularly awful, but this is really par for the course when it comes to this kind of commercial tie-in.

Digimon World Data Squad is a sleep-inducing, unimaginative and completely typical RPG that excels in nothing and aggravates plenty. Even Digimon fans shouldn't consider picking up this disappointing entry.