Although the Pokémon series games are sold in insane quantities every year, people buy them as if by inertia, and then talk about their low quality on forums and social networks. Every step forward that Game Freak tries to do in their games, is accompanied by one or two steps back. As it turns out, the recipe for success is not so complicated: a tiny team Bytten Studio created Cassette Beasts — clone Pokémon, which not only brilliantly conveys the essence of the popular series, but is also magnificent in isolation from the source of inspiration.
In the animal world
The basic idea is about the same as in “Pokemon”: we appear in an unknown region, get to the city, make new acquaintances and go catch animals. Only here we use not pokeballs, but cassette audio players, recording the creatures we see on film. The technology is strange, but you shouldn’t be surprised — the New Wirral region is located somewhere outside the Earth, and its inhabitants have no idea how they got here, so the rules and laws we are used to do not work here.
There’s a lot to do with music here. As you explore the world and talk to merchants, you find different types of tapes — there are regular ones that you can buy cheaply at a local eatery, and there are those designed for catching a certain type of monsters. To heal a creature crippled in battle, you use pencils — it’s a pity that the animation of their scrolling is not shown in the cassette. And the abilities of animals are designed in the form of stickers applied to cassettes. Re-gluing and rearranging them can be done as painlessly as possible — if in “Pokemon” annoying dialog boxes pop up, here everything happens much faster.
When a character records a creature, he loses his bestial appearance and becomes vulnerable — it is important not to die at this moment.
Although the protagonist’s goal is to leave the region and return home, he doesn’t want to rush into it. You immediately start running from corner to corner and looking for animals that you haven’t recorded yet, and you fill out the local bestiary, which includes more than a hundred unique individuals. None of them are hiding (except for the creatures masquerading as bushes) — some even run towards the player when they see him to fight. And sometimes there are other hunters along the way who challenge you at the first opportunity.
With the help of the player, the main character turns into a beast when the battle begins — which cassette is inserted, that creature you will turn out to be. Accordingly, you can switch between forms both in the arenas and outside them. In Pokemon, the death of a monster in battle was not dangerous for the trainer — you just throw a new pokeball and fight on. IN Cassette Beasts it’s different — when your form’s health runs out, you turn back into a human and remain that way until the end of your turn. Man, of course, is not immortal — opponents may try to finish you off so that you do not transform again. The player also has this opportunity — if he manages to defeat the enemy hunter while he is “naked”, the battle will end earlier.
The battles here are turn-based. In addition to regular attacks, heroes have special techniques that cost action points. Everyone starts with two points, and on each move they give two more. The most powerful skills require a lot of points, so you need to put stickers on cassettes wisely — calculate how many points you will accumulate, how to spend them effectively, are there any techniques that affect several opponents at once, and so on. There is no shortage of stickers — you find them in the world, buy them in stores (the assortment is updated every game day), and receive them for completing tasks.
Tamed and taught
Most in Cassette Beasts the implementation of Casinobetti.net the strengths and weaknesses of the animals is impressive. We’re used to the fact that water is good against fire, electric attacks are useless against ground-type Pokemon, and grass creatures lose to poisonous ones. Here everything is a little deeper — here are just a few examples:
Damaging a beast that is vulnerable to your element will negatively affect its attacks and stats. A water beast will reduce the protection of earth and metal ones, and an ice one will worsen the accuracy of air ones;
if the beast, on the contrary, is strong against your element, its characteristics will improve and harm the player. For example, if you use poison against a metal creature, for three turns it will deal retaliatory damage to you when you try to wound it in melee. The same thing happens with plastic animals.
Some types of creatures may lose action points or gain them, depending on the opponent. Air beasts will lose points when attacking astral ones, but will take them away from plant animals.
There are many such subtleties — for example, electric creatures can impose a “debuff” on water and air creatures, with which they will receive damage even when attacking another target. Of course, there is no need to memorize all this and constantly check the guides — in most cases, the good old “brute force” is enough. But if you delve into the combat system and use the possibilities to the maximum, the game becomes even more interesting.
You have to fight often, and these mechanics make the process not boring. But even more fun Cassette Beasts thanks to how closely combat and world exploration are intertwined. There are local "stadium leaders" (they are simply called rangers), and defeating them earns you stamps on your card. However, this is far from the only entertainment. There are metro stations where you can not only take a train to the other end of the map, but also meet the archangels — local deities who offer some of the most exciting battles accompanied by luxurious music. There are places where animals appear in waves. There are local vampire realtors who have opened offices in every corner of the region, and we need to put a stop to their dealings.
For difficult fights — for example, with the same archangels — you need to seriously prepare, since such enemies have a lot of health, and they have unique techniques. But the protagonist is no stranger. Firstly, he is always accompanied by a partner — a plot character who transforms into a beast in the same way and uses abilities. And secondly, together with your partner you accumulate a Fuse scale and with the press of a button you can unite into one big monster that has the skills of both creatures, a large supply of health and crushing power. What’s impressive is that absolutely all combinations of animals come together to form a unique creature — sometimes it looks ridiculous, sometimes it’s cute, but in any case the idea is implemented brilliantly.
It’s getting better and better
I can talk for a long time about the advantages Cassette Beasts — up to this point I haven’t mentioned half of everything that the game delights with. Here you can spend long evenings switching from one entertainment to another, and every element is made to last. When catching animals, for example, you don’t rely solely on luck — just like in Pokémon, you need to bring the enemy’s health to a minimum, only here the game also tells you what your chance of catching him is. If you didn’t succeed the first time, and your opponent’s health has depleted, you can make another attempt — for example, take a more expensive cassette.
Here you not only fight monsters and hunters, but also solve puzzles in the spirit of The Legend of Zelda . You look for boxes and stones to put them on the buttons, fly with the help of wings from platform to platform (wings are given out at the beginning of the game), find all sorts of secret nooks and rooms. Then you switch levers and destroy the walls, thanks to which you can quickly move from one area to another. It’s hard to believe that such a large-scale game was made by a team of two people.
There were evolutions — if you often summon a beast in battle, over time it will turn into a stronger individual.
There is even an analogue of shining Pokemon — in the world you can meet creatures whose bodies seem to be covered with interference. They look the same as ordinary animals, only the color is different. If in Pokémon The features of the “shiny” are limited to this, but here their analogues change the elements, which allows stickers to be glued to the cassettes that are inaccessible to ordinary individuals. Those who, after complete completion, want to return to the game will have access to new modifiers such as permanently breaking cassettes (if a creature dies, it’s gone forever), a timer for speedrunners, and so on.
Cassette Beasts, obviously, I would like to recommend to fans of the series Pokémon — the game even looks like Pokémon Black & White . However, those who are unfamiliar with “Pokemon”, but love games about collecting creatures, will also have great fun. It’s interesting to explore the world and assemble the perfect team, and battles don’t get boring thanks to many subtleties. For me, this is the brightest release of spring — not just a clone of a popular series, but a wonderful development of old ideas, which the creators of "Pokemon" are not very willing to do.
Pros: the big world is interesting to explore thanks to a variety of entertainment; more than a hundred unique monsters, the catching of which is even more exciting than classic “Pokemon”; a deep combat system that encourages switching to suitable creatures; Enough activities after completing the main story; charming graphics and gorgeous soundtrack.
Cons: I would like to see a setting that allows you to speed up battles.