Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team

"Definitely a Boredom Buster"

Hmm-ok first review writer here. So the spelling is going to be bad along with everything else. Ok Let's start with the over view of the game. You wake up as a pokemon. You're then met by a pokemon whom you will have already picked to be your "partner" for the main story and you form a rescue team. The whole game is designed around you walking around a 'dungeon' with your partner getting to the end to rescue someone or battle a 'boss'. I've not played one of these types of set outs before so this is all coming from a beginners point.

GAME PLAY (7/10)

Ok well, some people might disagree with me here, but I found that the game play runs quite smoothly. Once you learn how to change the direction your facing without moving (Which is handy when you don't want to walk into a pokemon who's about to attack) and how to move just diagonally. The only thing I found somewhat annoying was there was basically no tutorial. It starts you off pretty much straight away and it took me a few damage points later to work out how to do a move other than my standard A move (which doesn't have PP) Apart from that everything else is good. For people new to pokemon this would be even more confusing because you might not know that pokemon can do something other than stick their head against the other one to kill it.

I'd like to point out though that this isn't a "real time" battle game (Like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles). It looks like it is because you don't have to wait ten minutes while the game flashes and slides the pokemon onto the screen in it's own battle screen. Which as you progress through them game you become thankfully for because I think it would drive me insane to the point of finding a hammer and a vice. (The cheaper way of course is just to play another game) Taking a step is equal to a "move" or "turn" and you'll find that none of the temperamental pokemon will move until you do. So ultimately it's like a big game of monopoly except you're a pokemon and your not trying to cheat someone out of Mayfair. All in all though this also gives you time to think. Which is highly appreciated later on in the game when you can enter a room and have ten to fifteen pokemon swarming you at once and you don't have earthquake (Or you do but your pokemon team aren't levitators.... all the pokemon nuts will understand...)

SOUND (7/10)

Well it's not Final Fantasy X quality. Not that anyone is expecting that on a pokemon game. Still I found that most of the music was good and the sound effects suited the moves they were given to. I make a point of having the music on because it's part of the game's character (It sounds like I'm talking about a fish...) and even though some are really short and repetitive you get used to them and before you know it, your whistling the tunes as you play. On the bright side they're not so annoying that you whistle them in the shower and then it's stuck in your head all day.

The sound quality is good. One thing you'll notice is that there's no high pitched hissing noise like there was on the advance games. (Although that's probably my piano player in me coming out) You can pick out the instruments (like the steel drums for the town's music) but compared to the progress the sound quality made from colour games to advance games, it's somewhat disappointing. Let me put it this way, if someone played music from the game boy advance games and then the DS I wouldn't be able to tell you which was which. Apart from that telling you how much I like the music is like trying to tell people how good opera is. You either like it or you don't. Either way at least with the sound if you don't like it, mute it and listen to your own music.

GRAPHICS (8/10)

Ok so they're not anything like Mario Karts' graphics Boo Hoo. This seems to be something I've heard allot of gripe about, but when I bought the game I saw nothing wrong. Yes the makers of this game went for the cartoon look, which left up so much more room for more game play ect ect. The colours are smooth, with appropriate shading on the pokemon and scenery. Every pokemon sprite is doing some sort of movement at all times, even when you're standing still. Most are pretty basic, but all are cute in their own way. Except for the Machop line...I don't think it's possible to make any of the machop line cute.

There really isn't much for me to say on this section because I liked the graphics I thought they suited the game really well. They're a very similar quality to Ruby and Fire Red pokemon versions on the game boy advance. Some areas look better than others, but you get that with all games. The graphics remind me allot of bomber man on the game boy advance. For a cartoon 2D game the graphics are still a good quality. But if you were looking forward to your pokemon in almost 3D quality (Like Mario Kart) then you'll be sorely disappointed which I think allot of people were.

STORY (8/10)

Most people thought that this story was amazing and well done. I said most people. There's always one lemon in the apple bowl. I'm not the lemon. I only gave this an 8 out of 10 because I'm sure I've seen this done before.... Still the story still had me wanting to know more, and I found that I would put the game down for about ten minutes and next thing I know I'm playing it again. But for someone as OCD as me I find that when a story that jumps from one conclusion to another as it tries to build suspense, tends to leave unexplained or poorly covered threads. I would like to explain what I mean, but then I'd be giving away the plot and you wouldn't need to buy the game. But that last comment brings me to my next point.

Whether or not you thought the story was good or not doesn't make an iota of difference. The game doesn't end after the story. Most vintage pokemon players like myself would say; "so what every pokemon game is like that." Well not like this one. All the other pokemon games once you defeat the pokemon league you can go get one last legendary and then all that's left is the pokedex...whoo hoo...I'm not going to start a new game any time soon *starts new game* oops oh well. This one there's allot more to do, including finding and meeting some very rare pokemon that in every other pokemon game you've had to wait until your lucky enough to have some Nintendo special event come around to get them. And if you live in Australia (Like me) then you never see them on your game. Ever. I completed the main story not long after I bought the game, but I'm still going strong because of all the pokemon I want to meet and have join me. It's not as fulfilling as the pokedex because when you've met everyone you don't get a certificate that you can print out if your one of the minority that own a game boy printer. Which I don't, so the certificate can get lost.

GRIPES (4/10)

A tutorial would be nice. I'm not a very good loser, especially to a sunkern (that's what happens when your a water pokemon...) and I wouldn't have died if I had known that I could use moves other than my standard A from the word go.

Another thing is the touch screen. Don't bother with it. It's so much easier and smoother just to use the buttons. If you want a game where you get to use your stylus frequently go buy "Yoshi Touch and Go" this isn't a major gripe actually because the less things I need my stylus for the longer it is before I lose it. Again.

Evolving. It would be nice, and make more sense (especially when you see some of the bosses you go against and you've got this tiny pikachu or charmander...or whatever you start out as against these huge poke' bosses...) to be allowed to evolve before you have to finish the main story.... I'm still trying to work out how I won against them.... You'd have no hope doing it on the other games...yes well I'm giving too much away (as if you haven't looked it all up on the internet anyway)

Variety. Even though all the dungeons look different when you play if for a while you start to feel that they're all the same. And exploring them becomes tedious and your favourite part becomes the room with the stairs. And speaking of stairs it would be nice if you could go backwards. There are many times where I've meant to get someone or an item on a specific floor and in my excitement at being placed in a room with the stairs, run on to the next level. Then swear. Allot. And loudly.

I'm sure that if I thought about it I could come up with more, but the gripes generally are affected by how well your going and how often you're dieing. And if they took out all the things that I griped about then the game wouldn't be very challenging because I'd be wiping the dungeon floors with anyone I came across.

WHAT EVER THE OPPOSITE OF GRIPES IS (8/10)

(The scores on the last two topics are there to make it look even and consistent...again with the OCD...)

I like the pokemon sprites. Some of them make me laugh and others I seriously think about whether or not I really want to evolve them. But either way it's definitely a positive and motivates you to go looking for everyone. Very few look like truck wreck survivors.

Most of the music is good.

The game play and graphics are good, the moves all have their own sprites...or most of them, a few like flamethrower and dragon breath are the same.... but still all exciting to watch...the first fifty times.... then like everything else that you've seen fifty times, your over it and it's just a standard move.

Game play is excellent. There's allot of replay value, even if you decide to start again immediately after the main story. I've got 55 hours of game play in less than a week and still have allot of things to find and do ect ect.

CONCLUSION

Well I think I've waffled on for long enough. Congrats if you've made it this far. And if you haven't skipped anything then you deserve a medal. (I can't give you one so don't ask me...) So the final words are buy it. Or buy it if you like pokemon. Especially if you bought pokemon Trozei or pokemon Dash, this will re-spark your pokemon fire until Pokemon Pearl comes out, because the others were crap. (Which is doing *very* well in Japan at the moment.... very excited...) I wasn't too keen on getting this game at first and I read allot of different reviews. Unfortunately this is a like it or hate it game, there's no in between. So over all I think that they've nearly made up for the other crap DS titles thus far and if they put as much effort into pearl as they did with this then Pearl is going to be spectacular. My review probably didn't help with the choice of whether to buy the game, but there's nothing I can do about that, because everyone is different and what I like isn't going to agree with what others think. Either way I don't feel like I've wasted my money and it's definitely a keeper.

So there you go, my fist review (as if you couldn't tell ^_^) cheers.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/06