It is hard to find decent games for the Nintendo Wii. The majority of the games released by third-party publishers have been very sloppy ports of other games or a cheap knock off of popular Wii games. Ever so often a game gets released with very little fan-fare and it turns out to be a true diamond in the rough. Monster Lab can be placed in this category. There has very little advertising for this game, and the box art is not the greatest either. When players pop in this game they will find out that it is always better to look beyond their first impressions as they will be in for a nice surprise.

In Monster Lab, players take on the role as an apprentice in the prestigious Mad Science Alliance (MSA). Player's goal is to become a full-fledged member by mastering the three Mad Science disciplines: Mechanical, Alchemical, and Biological. Once players have mastered these sciences, they will be able to create the ultimate monster to do their bidding. Once players have done this, they will be able to take on one of the MSA's former members: Baron Mharti. This scientist has "gone off the deep end" and is using his ultimate creation to plug the world into chaos. It is up to the players to face off against the Baron and put his evil schemes to rest.

Many players will love this storyline, but will be severely disappointed with the way the developers followed through with it. Even though the premise is great, the developers did not place too much emphasis on fleshing out the story. Most of the story is given through cute cut scenes with over-the-top acting, but the real meat of the story is still lacking. The game feels like it is empty, as players are not given a real reason to keep pushing ahead to defeat this madman. Instead, players will only continue just to get better parts to upgrade their creations. This is a shame. If the story was woven more tightly in this game, the experience would have been much better.

Monster Lab is broken up to into several pieces, creation, exploration, and combat. The majority of the game focuses on the creation of monsters. At the start of the game, players are given a simple monster with that has a few spare parts to complete the mission. In order to build a better monster, gamers will have to complete various puzzles, mini-games, and quests to obtain better parts to upgrade their monsters with. The deeper players get in the game, the better parts are unlocked. If players cannot defeat a certain monster they can go back into creation mode and make their character stronger to ensure the next time players will be victorious. Players also have the option of either upgrading their existing monsters or creating new ones from scratch. There are hundreds of parts available for players to choose from, to create their ultimate monster.

Most of the actual gameplay is done though various mini-games. The problem with this is that eventually players will have played them all and get sick of them. For instance after each battle players have the option to go into the field repair mode. All players have to do is move the Wii-mote in a circular motion and the faster they move it the more damage gets fixed. The problem with this is that this mini-game takes up a lot of time, and obviously gets old since players will want to repair after each battle. It would have been different if this mini-game was changed up periodically, but since this one is central to the game. Gamers will grow more annoyed each time it loads. This is the same with each of the mini-games; they get really stale and redundant after a while.

When players are exploring a level, they will often come face-to-face with another monster which shifts the game into combat mode. The combat in this game is all turn-based, which gives players ample opportunity to create new strategies based on what their enemy is doing. When players get into a battle they will have their monsters information on the left and the enemy's information on the right. There are four key body parts on a monster: head, torso, arms, and legs. When it is the gamers turn, they must select a body part and then choose one of the two actions, then target a body part of their enemy. The problem is that each action requires a certain amount of energy to do. Soon players will be low on energy, so they will have to either choose to recharge (give full battery but might take damage from next attack) or dodge (give partial energy and avoid the next attack) during the enemies next turn. The ultimate objective is to destroy the enemy's torso, but players can be cruel and destroy each key part then finish the monster slowly but surely.

Monster Lab also includes a multiplayer mode where players can log in to the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection to fight against friends or random people. The game still remains turn-based, but now more strategy is involved since players will be fighting a human instead of the computer AI. It is up to players to use their most powerful monsters in each battle to see who has collected the best parts and put them together in the most efficient way.

The various monsters that players will create look great. Players will be amazed when they see their creatures in action. The developers paid a lot of attention to the detail of each of the body parts. This is made apparent when a monster is formed and players see how it animates. Each creature reacts fluidly with its environment no matter what parts are attached to it. The lighting and special effects also make each battle look great! The camera always shows the best angle during a fight, which is always a good thing since players want to see how the latest parts will behave. The only problem with the game's graphics is the actual environments that players will transverse look bare in comparison to the monsters.

The music for this game is really good, and matches whatever players are doing at the moment. The sound effects are also decent. What really takes the cake is the over-the-top voice acting. Even though it can get a little annoying at times, players will find that it really fits in well with the rest of the game. 

Monster Lab is rated Everyone 10+

Gameplay: 7.9
Players will love collecting the various parts and seeing what new creations they will come up while testing them out in battle.

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics are pleasing to the eye but they will not knock players socks off.

Sound: 7.3
The musical selection for this game is pretty good, since each world has its own distinct theme. The voice acting is decent, but not great. The sound effects are cheesy, but get the job done.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 6.3
While the concept for collecting items for battle is not new (Pokémon anyone?) the implantation of the character creation and setting really make this game extremely fun to play.

Multiplayer 7.1
Having the ability to play online against friends really extends the lifespan of this game. The connection speed for the game is very good with little to no lag found.

Overall: 7.8
Monster Lab is a good game that will stay in your Nintendo Wii for a long time. Hopefully Eidos Interactive will create a sequel to this game that fixes its shortcomings as they have a potential blockbuster in their hands.