Monster battling games have come and went. You've had Monster Rancher, Pokemon, Digimon, and more! Taito has now come to the plate offering the most innovative feature of any of the monster battle games...the option to *draw your own creation*! Magic Pengel, formally known as Color Quest, is limited to your imagination, which keeps the game fresh for a good long while. The game even supports a decent little story too boot. Is Magic Pengel the right game for you? Read on.

The visuals in Magic Pengel are cel-shaded goodness. This is a wise move on the part of Taito, since your personal creations are drawn by hand. The main characters in the game all have unique likenesses about them. Everyone from the shopkeepers to the battlers you face have a different look and personality. The environments are detailed and drawn fairly well. Your main view in the game is first person, and the game takes full advantage of that fact. Players will bump into you; talk straight into the camera, etc. giving you a sense of looking through the player's eyes. You move about by directing the Pengel character around the town and villages, where it goes, you go. Think of it as an animated cursor. The environments not only look spiffy, but are huge as well! You'll take a good time journeying from one point to another, with little shortage of people to interact with thankfully. Each character also has a good assortment of fine voice actors to move the story along. The game goes to a fight mode point of view, filled with cinematic cameras and focal points, showing off the best moments of the game. Early on the movements and attacks are bland, but once your creation has been developed fully you have a wide variety of special moves to choose from that look even better.

Speaking of your creation, lets talk a little about what is involved here. First off this has to be one of the most impressive technical feats I've seen in a video game in quite some time. The drawings you make, you do in 2D, and watch them magically transform into 3D. This is something that can't really be explained, it must be seen. Unfortunately there's a small learning curve to deal with before you can make whatever you want from the get go. You start off with only so much palette space and paint to make your doodles. Your first creation will more or less be a small blob. You can create arms, legs, and such if you like, but remember that those parts won't correctly animate until you open up the option for each part. It takes a lot of patience to watch your little mite fight over and over again, just to gain experience. Thankfully the reward is great.

Later as you gain more experience by winning fights you can earn more paints, color choices, palette space, parts, and even special animations. These bring more life and life like abilities to your doodle as well as more special moves to perform. Once you've reached a certain point of experience, the creation ideas are virtually limitless. This is where the game becomes even more addicting. What's more you can save 200 doodles to one Memory Card, store them in a house you build, and battle them against other created doodles your friends bring over. Trust me, if drawing is a favorite past time to you, then you'll love what Magic Pengel brings to the table.

Battling your creation is the main play control of the game. Wandering from place to place is simple, but the meat of the game is in the fighting duels themselves. You battle in a rock, paper, scissors manner that is a little too simple, but works. Magic is stronger than attacks, but weaker than a block. Attack is stronger than a block, but weaker than Magic. Two blocks cancel each other out. You get the point. The battles also consist of 1 on 1, 2 on 2, and 3 on 3 matches. Choosing which doodle fights or starts a series is crucial to winning. If you don't win, you don't get experience, but you do get more paint. Experience is the key though, but thankfully you get something for battling for some time in a 3 on 3 battles. The game play itself is elementary, but appealing and fun in the end.

The story itself is the same old story done with a twist. You are the main character, you don't know who you are, but you are asked to help find the King of the Doodlers in town. He will help bring the kingdom to order and bring color back to the world. Only the purist of heart can make doodles, which the evil ones want to obtain all the colors and rule the land.

Corny, yes, but the game really rests on its gimmick. And what a gimmick it is...the ability to draw literally anything your desire and battle. Thankfully it all boils down to a great, hour eating, and life sucking game that you won't put down for some time. If you love to draw, Magic Pengel shouldn't be missed.