Bandai - Catcha Beast - Red
From Bandai
4th : BRed or Blue - Catcha Beast is a new kids electronic boys action game from Japan. Your kids have to track Customer Reviews
Much more complex than you'd think from the advert
We got this for our son a couple of weeks ago for his 7th birthday.
The console bleeps at you when a beast is near then you have to swing the console around to find the beast and then reel it in with the little fishing reel on the side.
There are apparently 105 different beasts. They are divided into different levels of difficulty to catch, so you start with the easy ones. Once you have caught something you can either keep it (up to 3 at a time) and train it, or exchange it for a lure or sell it for gold. Some beasts only come out at certain times of day. Other beasts require you to have a certain lure in your arsenal from previous catches or you need a trained beast to help you to fight the beast and tire it out so you can catch it.
To find out more about it I recommend you visit the website (google it, it's a .eu address) where you can see more about how you catch things and what sort of beasts there are. Having said which it sounds terribly complicated when you find out all the different layers of things you can do with it, but you can still get started without loads of that knowledge. My son got going with about 5 minutes of us reading the instructions with him and in the way of kids, then went on to work out loads of the other things as he went along.
What I do like about it is that it requires some perseverance to collect different lures and enough gold to get a better beast radar, and that it can require quite a lot of strategic thinking to plan how to get the more difficult beasts. There is a lot of remembering of statistics and abilities like in something like Pokemon or Top Trumps,my son has started writing down all the stats for the beasts he has caught. The difference with this compared to something like Pokemon is that you only have to buy the console once, and then the beasts come free after that, you don't have to keep shelling out to increase your collection. Although I understand that if a friend has a blue one and you have a red one you can get the maximum number of lures and beasts.
My only irritation with it has been that some of the instructions require the screen to be slid shut while doing them, but there is no backlight and it is quite hard to read without the screen slid up. I have emailed the manufacturer about it and they have said that they have passed it on to the R&D team so that's fair enough.
Overall this is a more complex and better long term buy than I was expecting it to be. It's very new, so i dont know how long I will feel this way about it! but I'm quite pleased so far. Perhaps most importantly (!) my son took it in to show and tell and came out of school with a trail of admirers from his class, so I am definitely in the good books for this purchase!
Editorial Reviews
Manufacturer's Description
Catcha Beast is a new electronic boys action game from Japan. It utilises advanced spacial technology to detect invisible beasts, enabling you to connect and battle against a mysterious world of creatures while getting some exercise. The device incorporates a special digital compass that tracks beasts as you hold the handset and move it around in the air. Spin your body until you locate one, hook it, reel it in until it appears on the black and white screen, then let the battle commence! Once you've caught a creature you can train it, connect with friends and play interactive battles. There are more than 100 beasts to find, catch, train, battle and exchange, so Catcha Beast is enough of a challenge for any budding beast tamer!
