Monster Lab - First Look Preview

Many of the games at last month's Game Convention in Leipzig were already known about months before the German event, mostly heading for release within the next six months. One title that was formally unveiled in the former-East Germany however, was Monster Lab from Eidos, a Wii-exclusive title currently in development at Foundation 9's Backbone Entertainment studio. Even at high profile events things can go wrong however, and the demo of Monster Lab proved to be one of those rarities. Backbone's debug Wii had failed in the trip over to Europe, leaving them no choice but to talk through a small number of videos shown to the Eidos board several months back...

Due for release in summer 2008, Monster Lab has been described by Backbone and Eidos as a cross between Pokemon and something from the mind of Tim Burton, perhaps the best analogy of what is shaping up to be a very stylish-looking game. An action-RPG following a monster-building apprentice of the 'Mad Science Alliance' (the original title of the game earlier in development) as he attempts to overcome the evil Baron von Mardy, Monster Lab's gameplay splits into three definite parts: Experimentation, Combat, and Exploration.

The first, and most significant element is monster creation, the experimentation side of the game. Over 150 different parts across three distinct monster-types (Biological, Mechanical, and Alchemical) are being added to Monster Lab, including heads, torsos, legs, and arms, with Backbone announcing the 100 million possible combinations available with the usual sort of glee that comes with revealing such a stat. Once built, the monsters get zapped with electricity in the gold old "Frankenstein" sense, before being let loose into the gameworld. Each monster gets a list of attributes, the sort of breakdown usually associated with RPGs, including Hit Points, Energy, Attack Points, and Defence Points, though there also seems to be a level of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' to the monsters. For instance, Mechanical monsters beat Biological monsters, Biological monsters beat Alchemical monsters, and Alchemical monsters meet Mechanical monsters. Players will also name their monsters along the way.

But building a menagerie of monsters and using them to push back von Mardy's own band of creatures out of Ghostly Valley is just one part of the game, Backbone is developing a lot more to Monster Lab than just mixing and matching body parts into a grotesque aberration for the fun of it. The game is spread out over six regions, which might sound substantial, though it's unclear how deep exploration actually is in Monster Lab. However, with its 'action-RPG' tag and Backbone's confirmation that the campaign is story-driven we hope that the fun and games of monster building doesn't overshadow the potential depth of the game.

There's method to the mad professors and their drive to build monsters, with various mini-games and recipes to collect and accomplish in order to build ever-evolving monstrosities to take on the Baron. In fact, over thirteen different experiments will feature in the final release, all part of robotic evolution to create more powerful creatures through the course of the game. Only one or two experiments were on show however, the first a shape matching test that improves the quality of one of the robotic monsters, improving the version number of the mechanical brain, whilst the other saw demonstrators following the seam of two pieces of metal with the Wii-remote, welding them together. Further experiments will see players combine a number of ingredients found in the gameworld, with different constituents chucking out different parts - various recipes will be available to find and buy throughout the game to make sense of it all.

Regardless of how deep the storyline and exploratory gameplay will end up being, combat is suggested to be a significant part of Monster Lab, with beat-em-up style bouts between the creatures and online combat already confirmed. The bouts themselves are split across several weight classes including Lightweight, Welterweight, and Heavyweight, ensuring that some of the gargantuan fighters won't face the slighter examples in the ring. Though it would be hard to say how 'hardcore' the fighting actually is - somehow we suspect that it won't be as pure as the likes of Virtua Fighter -the demo videos at least showed what appeared to be a robust system that'll allow gamers to target the various limbs and heads of their opponents.

Online support will also extend to give players the ability to trade different parts, along with monster recipes, and entire monsters - it seems that Backbone and Eidos are stepping up to offer a significant presence on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection next summer...if it makes it through development (unlike some other Wii titles).