14 DAY TRIAL // Compile Heart has confirmed the western release of Monster Monpiece, the PlayStation Vita card battling game, reaching Europe and North America during Spring 2014.
Monster Monpiece is a PS Vita exclusive title, coming from the studio that also created the Hyperdimension Neptunia series and the Record of Agarest War games, as IGN informs.
The game takes place on a 7x3 slots grid, with opponents each using a 3x3 area to place their cards. The cards are the representations of Monster Girls that players meet during their journeys, and follow four main archetypes, melee, ranged, healer and buffer.
Finding the best way to make use of the different abilities and synergies the cards have and then adapting their strategy to their opponents' is the main challenge Monster Monpiece players face.
The game also features a lengthy storyline and numerous exposition custcenes intermingled with the card battling action, and also offers multiplayer support.
The battles themselves have 3D chibi character models animated to play out their abilities, offering a different gameplay dynamic once the cards in a deck are selected.
Publisher Idea Factory opted to ease up on some of the more mature content in the game, still keeping the “rubbing” system used for advancement, similar to the Pokemon petting system, but deciding to cut some of the more provocative Monster Girl images from the western release.
“This decision was made solely due to the intense graphic nature of Monster Girl card images. We'd like to emphasize that the gameplay, game system, and storyline are still fully intact,” Idea Factory stated.
Monster Monpiece came out in Japan in January 2013, and since then developer Compile Heart has been looking for an international publisher for the localization and distribution of the western ports of their games, until recently striking a deal with Idea Factory International.