Although unrelated by all but the producer, Spectrobes has much in common with Kim Possible: Kimmunicator. At once, it provides an excellent game on technical and conceptual levels, but the execution is far too simplistic to bring out all the goodness such a game could provide.

Spectrobes takes place in a universe where space travel is typical, but otherworldly threats are minor to say the least. Of course, within an hour you're presented with the problem (the evil, world-destroying Krawl), the solution (Spectrobes), and a wild-eyed man who is going to try to save this brave new world (Aldous).

After a brief bit of setup and obligatory new gadget introductions, you're thrust into the field with a basic Spectrobe set that can not only fight but also act as a meaty little metal detector. The ones who can fight are classified as Adults (who also lack the ability to find items), whereas the Children can find items but can't fight. Moving Spectrobes up the chain through Adult and Evolved is the way to make your fighting force the best it can be—well, as well as the poor AI allows.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Spectrobes avoids the typical random encounters and capture formula of the monster battling genre with a rather Dragon Quest like encounter system. Tornadoes flow through the worlds you go to, indicating a group of Krawl. Thankfully, you can avoid them. Now as for finding items and new Spectrobes, the game makes use of aforementioned meaty little metal detector. By either tapping him or pressing the R button, your field Spectrobe will emit a ring of light that will detect any mineral, Spectrobe, or cube that is buried. Once you see those, you can tap the gleam of light they display to start digging.

Excavation is a rather major part of Spectrobes, giving a paleontologist-style spin to the production. As you look for goods, you're given a small variety of tools to start out with: drills, an air gun, and sonar to make out the shape of what you're digging up. The object is to carefully drill away the rock around whichever object is in the ground so it can be extracted. The less damage done to said item, the more benefits are available in way of bonus points or other upgrades. After that, it's just a quick jump back to the lab to awaken, raise, and feed the variety of fighting monsters you accumulate.

Hearkening back to a couple of earlier statements, the AI in Spectrobes is hilariously poor, on par with Kim Possible: Kimmunicator. Combat is somewhat real-time, with the main character and two Spectrobes able to freely roam a small combat field with Krawl. The protagonist's offensive capabilities are almost nil, so it's up to a simplistic interface consisting of the shoulder buttons to activate attacks in the two Spectrobes. To make it conform to turn-based standards, the game includes a recharge time between attacks. Now, here's the rub: if your Spectrobes don't have a guided or wide-sweeping attack, it's entirely possible to miss the target. Repeatedly. One of the starter creatures has an attack that leads it in a straight line, and unless it's pointed directly towards an enemy it winds up being completely worthless. Charging a “special attack” bar and running away from enemy attacks soon becomes the most effective tactic, as it can increase the power and range of your Spectrobes' regular attacks as well as making an all-encompassing super attack.

Just like with Kim Possible, Spectrobes is a game that has great promise. The visuals are excellent, the concept is great, the basic design is exemplary. But man oh man, when it comes to executing combat—which is the number one priority in any action/rpg—Spectrobes just doesn't deliver. I do hope Disney continues the franchise though, as the game has excellent potential. If given a bit more time and push towards proper combat and gameplay polish, Spectrobes would go from its current score of a C+ to around an A- or a B+. It's that good, potential-wise, but the execution is just too janky to excuse.