Joystiq E3 eyes-on: Monster Lab
Monster Lab for the Wii is one of those games that is clearly designed for a kid, but could grab hold of many adults. The head of development studio Backbone Entertainment walked us through the RPG with turn-based combat and told us the title is designed for 10- 15-year-olds, but if he'd known in advance the response from the press during E3, the company would have upped its demographic target.
As it stands now, Monster Lab, which will be out this Halloween, has the player taking control of a monster that they'll upgrade over the course of the game. Various items will be collected in battles and can be fused together to form new parts for the monster back at the lab. There are mechanical, biological and chemical parts; each type being more or less susceptible to the others (mechanical > biological > chemical >mechanical). Also, the quality of new parts added to the monster will be determined through several minigames.
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The backstory of the game is that you play as an apprentice to Professor Fuseless, one of the members in the Mad Science Alliance. The alliance has disbanded due to some internal issues and it'll be your job to bring back the other members and take down the main bad guy. Fuseless is a mechanical expert who'll give you your first monster (which is almost pure robot).
The gameplay works that you'll be put on a point A to B world map in each level. As you take the linear path you'll stumble into other monsters. Turn-based combat will occur, with the ability to use your weapons to knock off different parts of each creature; at the end of the battle you'll receive parts that can be fused together back at the lab to make new limbs or upgrades for the creature. Obviously, in battle, if the enemy has a giant buzzsaw on his hand, the first thing to cut off would be his arm.
There will be between 100 - 200 parts for your monster and only after mixing stuff together will the player discover if the recipe yields results. There are also over 10 minigames that will represent crafting in the game. The better the player does at the minigame, the better the resulting item will be for their monster.
Monster Lab has a dark -- yet whimsical -- feel to it and, although it's clearly not designed for adults, there's potential in it for anyone looking for a casual RPG experience.
