While Compile Heart games have been available in the international market for many years now, their titles have been spread across many different localizers / publishers. For example, both Hyperdimension Neptunia and Mugen Souls are series that NIS America have become known for while the Agarest series has been shared between Ghostlight and Aksys Games depending on the region. Late last year this all changed when Idea Factory decided to open an international branch of their company and, for the first time, directly publish Compile Heart games to the western market. There were many different titles and series they could have chosen to work with, but the demand was there for a brand new IP which no other publisher had chosen to work with – Monster Monpiece on the PlayStation Vita.
Monster Monpiece takes place in the fictional world of Yafaniel, where due to previous events the world is cohabited by Humans and ‘Monster Girls’ who are contained within special cards. The game follows a young student named May Esperio, who despite holding a shy personality is studying to become a master of Monster Girls just like her mother. Due to events that happen early in the game, one of her friends, Elza becomes “lost” by a mysterious masked entity. With Elza corrupting others and seeking to steal the “Magus Quartzes” from each of Yafaniel’s major cities, it is up to May and her remaining friends to cure Elza and save the world.
The storyline is decent, and continues to offer just enough to justify you going through another set of battles. Unfortunately asides from being “decent”, there is very little that stands out in terms of plot with mostly unmemorable characters and dull dialogue. While Compile Heart wouldn’t be the developer you would necessarily go to for an epic story, its teams have produced many games that are quirky and makes strong use of pop culture / anime / video game references which I have personally enjoyed. Little of this “Compile Heart” charm carried across into Monster Monpiece. To its credit however, the Japanese voice acting was of a high standard (No English dub).
At first glance you might be tempted to think that Monster Monpiece would require hours if not days to learn the intricate mechanics of its gameplay system that many trading card games seem to require. For someone whose personal experience with trading card games is almost exclusively limited to the 1998/200 Gameboy adaptation of the Pokemon TCG, Monster Monpiece was still pretty much pick-up-and-play, with a few short and easy to understand guides explaining everything you need to know.
Battles take place on a 7×3 grid, with each competitor owning a 3×3 section of it and a base sitting at either end of the arena. The goal is to send in the right combination of Monster Girls into your competitors territory to both destroy the enemy base and prevent their Monster Girls from doing the same to you. The fundamentals of the system are simple, requiring you to choose the best combination of Monster Girls for your 40-card deck and balancing your own Attack, HP and Intelligence stats against your enemy’s. There are also a few other elements such as fusion, different attack types, skills and mana limits to take into account which slowly turn each battle from being a breeze at the start to a legitimate challenge once you surpass the newbie handicap provided for the first couple of chapters. If you have a friend who also owns the game, there are also options to enjoy Ad Hoc or Network battles with come with the added bonus of being able to dictate particular battle conditions.
What may turn some people off from… (or encourage some to play) Monster Monpiece features a Monster Girl levelling system accurately titled “First Crush ❤ Rub”. By trading in “Rub Points” and “Seal Stones” accumulated through Card Battles, you are presented a special mini-game which requires you to navigate around the body of a Monster Girl and prod, pinch or rub certain hot spots on their body through the touchscreen until a gauge fills. After you have “poured your magic” into the card, they are upgraded with improved or altered stats, in addition to having their card design slightly stripped of clothing for the sake of fanservice. As noted since the game was first announced, some cards were censored in the US/EU release due to their overly sexual content. Rather than get into a debate about the justifications of video game censorship, feel free to take however many points of the final score you think 40 censored images are worth (or don’t).
The card designs in Monster Monpiece are very good, with approximately 350 images in total split across the different Monster Girls in different states of undress. When viewing the cards in either the card gallery or during “First Crush ❤ Rub”, they are for the most part well detailed and clearly unique from each of the other Monster Girls in their design. Unfortunately these designs don’t carry across in battle, and are represented by small number of generic character models and a handful of different colours in the battle field. Sure the limited number of models helps when strategizing, but it would have at least been nice for each Monster Girl to have a clearly distinct 3D design that looks at least somewhat like their official artwork.
The gameplay of Monster Monpiece highlights what a game on the PlayStation Vita should be in theory – providing a decent challenge and offering content that facilitates both short playthroughs (With battles easily completed or lost in a few minutes) for those on the move and extended sessions from the comfort of ones couch. The tactical card battling system is approachable and offers enough to keep itself interesting during an entire run of the game, however the overall experience suffers when it comes to its storyline which is decent but offers none of the charm that previous Compile Heart games have managed to provide.
