Review: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
REVIEW
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red and Blue
Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance
Nintendo
Pokemon is one of the most popular and well-known series in the world. As you know, the object is to beat all of the Gym trainers by leveling up your Pokemon and gaining new ones. The latest Pokemon game, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red and Blue, Red for Game Boy Advance and Blue for the Nintendo DS, strays a little bit from the Pokemon franchise.
The story starts out with a kid who is somehow turned into a Pokemon and is thrust into a new world only inhabited by Pokemon. Another Pokemon comes up to you and helps you out by becoming your friend. Then you hear of some disturbances from a mother Butterfree saying that her child fell down a hole. You and your friend go to save the child. You find out that ever since you have been here, there have been some reports of Pokemon getting trapped in caves. You and your partner decide to become a Rescue Team, to help other Pokemon in need.
The game play is much different than the real Pokemon games. At the beginning of the game, the game asks you questions that will lead to a Pokemon. If you don’t like it, then you can go back to see if you can get the Pokemon that you want. You can choose from Bulbasaur, Charmander, Chikorita, Cubone, Cyndaquil, Eevee, Machop, Meowth, Mudkip, Pikachu, Psyduck, Skitty, Squirtle, Torchic, Totodile and Treecko. For your partner, the list differs, but the characters are still well-rounded. If you work hard, you can get all of the Pokemon in the world, all 386 of them.
Of course, by the side of story Rescues, there are also Jobs. Jobs are rescue missions that will give you stuff like gummies and Poke Dollars and other prizes. The places where the Pokemon that have joined your Rescue Team, either from winning a boss battle, or defeating them in a dungeon, reside in areas called Friend Areas. Depending on where the Pokemon is from, they will go to their own Friend Area, with other Pokemon from that area. The dungeon are also scattered in the Pokemon world, each different from another and each time you go into one. Only rarely does the same dungeon repeat itself. There is also a place called Pokemon Square, where you can buy or deposit items, store items, buy Friend Areas, re-learn moves and deposit and retrieve money. Also there is a place for evolution, but you have to beat the main game for that to happen.
In dungeons, there are basically tunnels that lead to stairs that either get you to the top or bottom of the dungeon, it depends on which dungeon it is. Lots of Pokemon reside in these catacombs. The battling mechanism is very different from other Pokemon games, because you can battle in real time. The main attack is basically a Tackle move. In addition, you have Moves and PP, and also items. In most dungeons there are boss battle, which are mostly Major Pokemon, like Rayquaza and Groudon and Kyogre.
Of course, you can also faint in a dungeon. Well, what do you do? Whenever you faint, you lose most of the items that you have collected! And what if you are at a high level of the dungeon that can go up to 99 floors? Well, since you can link up the GBA and the DS, or GBA to GBA and so forth, you can rescue someone from the dungeon! For the GBA, you have to use passwords, but with GBA to DS, you just load the GBA into the 2nd slot on the DS, and you can go save them. This is very cool and easy to use, although typing in passwords can be a lengthy process, especially if you mess up, and have to re-type it all over again.
The replay value is not very good, especially when you have beaten the game. Once you get all the Pokemon, all you can do is run around the dungeons and battle enemies and get stronger. It is pretty cool playing as one of the Legendaries, but that effect wears off pretty fast.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is a good game, with some room for improvement. It can provide hours of fun, and is very colourful and lengthy.
Gameplay: 8.5
Story: 7
Graphics: 7
Controls: 6
Re-playability: 8
Tilt: 7
Spikes17's Score: 7.5/10
Labels: Game Boy Advance, March, News by Sorixas, Nintendo DS, review
posted by Sorixas @ 9:31 p.m.
