Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker plays similar to Nintendo's Pokemon franchise, with you collecting various creatures and battling them. You play as a boy, imprisoned after wanting to join the monster scouting competition but released under orders to win the tournament and further the CELL organization. Along your merry journey you'll encounter hordes of monsters, wacky denizens of different islands, aspiring monster scouts, and of course, countless way-too-similar character designs.

You'll explore the seven Islands of Green Bays to locate darkonium crystals and advance in the Monster Scout Challenge. Traveling via a new-fangled jet ski, the travel and load times are a welcome surprise. Visiting different islands means meeting different monsters, and while the turn-based strategy leaves plenty of room for customization, scouting new monsters takes up much of your time.

The scout system is all about patience. Your character will attempt to scout new monsters by showing a feat of force, the goal to impress the monsters with a one in five chance of attracting them. When you do scout a new monster and it joins your elite monster battling team, there's a special feeling of pride, knowing your character was hip enough to convince certain creatures to fight alongside him.

The islands are big, and your character is small in comparison. Your tiny hero's legs don't move fast enough, and as a result, it takes far too long to reach certain areas. Not to mention the d-pad doesn't work well within the 3-D environment, resulting in awkward movements. Furthermore, don't expect to utilize the DS' unique features. About the only thing you can't do with standard controls are drag maps around and the fact that you can't zoom in makes that ability kind of useless. The other not-so-innovative touch screen abilities allow you to select battle tactics and in-game options with the touch of a stylus.

With that being said, don't let these quirks dissuade you. If you dig monster battle games, you'll find plenty of bliss with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker.