Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals - hands-on

The most impressive feature of Beyond the Portals is its extensive community-focused online functionality. When you log on to the officialBeyond the Portals site, you can upload your in-game stats to an online profile so that all your friends can see your accomplishments; similar to Xbox 360 Achievements, Spectrobes awards 50 different emblems for various accomplishments. And not only are there online leaderboards, but you can form squads with your friends, averaging your combined rankings to form a group ranking. Probably the most interesting feature though, is the ability to sell your Spectrobes dinos via the online marketplace, where you can set your own price using in-game currency.

Although there are well over a hundred Spectrobes to catch in-game, like Pokemon, some of them will only be available through outside means,such asusing special cards or downloading them via the website. A few of the heavy-duty collectible plastic cards will be included with the game, so don’t worry if you don’t have any. Each card has a pattern of holes on it that you punch in sequence using your stylus on the DS to unlock the contents of the card, like special Spectrobes or items. Fans of the first game will be pleased to note that not only are all your old Spectrobes transferrable to Beyond the Portals, but your old cards will still work as well.

So while it may not be a Pokemon killer, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals looks like it’s going to be an addictive monster-collector in its own right, so look for our review when the game ships in October.

Sep 24, 2008