is a Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 video game developed by Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

.

Story

The game revolves around a boy named Tao from the island of Bente, who must travel to Mondominio to get a rare monster egg from the monster tower. The seal from the tower has been broken, and monsters have turned all the people of his village into stone. Tao meets a creature named Petcho, who calls himself an "Elite Monster," and follows the main character throughout the game.

The game is a sequel to Azure Dreams

Azure Dreams

Azure Dreams is a PlayStation video game developed by Konami and released on 30 June 1998. The game was later ported onto the Game Boy Color...

, which was released 8 years earlier.

Gameplay

Tao's Adventure follows a very straightforward dungeon-combat system. The majority of the game is spent in the Monster Tower, which consists of 60 floors. Tao ventures through these floors, finding monster eggs and monsters as he goes. While Tao can move free range normally, once an enemy is in sight the game changes its movement system. From here, every action uses 1 turn. For ever step that Tao takes or spell that he casts, the enemy is allowed one move also. Players are able to cast spells using the DS touch screen, by drawing runes. This concept was put to similar use in a later DS game titled LostMagic. As Tao progresses through the tower he is able to find Monster Eggs. He must then return to the town to hatch the eggs and the monster inside will join his party. Partner monsters are not directly controlled by the player but are instead controlled by the AI. Up to two monsters can be in Tao's party at any time. There is also a Coliseum mode, accessed through the game's main town in which the player uses any of Tao's hatched monsters to fight other monsters. This mode can be used over the DS's wireless multiplayer option. Tao and all creatures obtained in the tower can reach a max lvl of 50, but their stats can only reach 99. The exception is Straitser, the Bird Demon.

Critical response

The game was poorly received by IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

, who gave it a 4.0/10.

Game Informer magazine ranked the game as #1 in the Top 10 Worst Games of '06, giving it a 2/10.

The majority of critical comments lie in the poorly designed mechanics and hackneyed ideas, as well as its failure to produce creative, original use of the Nintendo DS touch screen.