Augmented reality: Take your Lumia outside and fight monsters!

Did you know that there are monsters in your neighborhood? “Monster Buster: World Invasion” superimposes fiendish foes into the real world by enabling the camera lens on your Lumia.

Monster Buster: World Invasion combines the thrill of Pokémon-style fighting games, real-world hidden-object games like geocaching, and a twist on augmented reality by using the camera built in to your Windows Phone.

It might sound complicated, but it really isn’t, and that is part of the beauty of this new game by the Lithuania-based game developers at Tag of Joy.

“We wanted to have augmented reality right from the start,” said Šarūnas Ledas, co-founder and CEO at Tag of Joy. “Looking for monsters in the real world just seemed like an awesome idea!”

This quick video demo shows the game in action:

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/kX1sE1951Xk” width=”900″]

If you’re a fan of fighting monster-style games, Monster Buster could quickly become your new favorite. This Windows Phone-exclusive game includes more than 30 different monsters—all rendered with meticulous, handcrafted detail. You can see all of the different monsters in their Monstropedia.

To play the game, you need to go outside–yes, into the real world! That’s where you will discover monsters that you can both collect and fight. When you find a monster and you’re ready for action, enter game mode and let the battle commence.

As you progress, you will gain experience and grow your monster so you can take on even tougher challenges.

A game with ulterior motives

One unexpected benefit of this game is that it might actually be a covert form of exercise since it requires you to go outside and find more monsters.

“We wanted to show that playing a game does not necessarily mean that you have to sit on your sofa. You can do it outside!” said Ledas. “We actually noticed that Monster Buster is a great way for parents to spend quality time with their kids [and] it’s also a fun attraction while taking a stroll.”

If you don’t want to go outside to play–maybe it is cold and snowy—there’s also a “quick fight” option where you can do battle with other players. Trying it out this way is a good way to learn the mechanics of the game.

Monster Buster is free to download, but it does offer in-app purchase options to buy coins, which can be used to “hire” other monsters more quickly. You will also earn coins as a result of your battles, so the in-app purchases are truly optional.

What’s next for Tag of Joy?

Ledas says he and the other developers at Tag of Joy will expand Monster Buster and port it to other platforms. But he has even larger plans.

“We are also thinking of Monster Buster spin-offs, including a battle arena type of game for Xbox, where you can play for the same monsters,” said Ledas. “We also have a couple of puzzle game prototypes ready to be developed further. We’ll surely release them on Windows Phone one day.”

Monster Buster: World Invasion is exclusive in the Windows Phone Store. You can learn more about the game from the Monster Buster website, or via their Facebook page.

Are you playing Monster Buster on your Lumia? Share your best monster in the comments below.