Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team

"This game is addicting and I don't know why."

Introduction
Pokemon spin-offs, haven't we seen loads of them. This is just another for the never ending pile. I will admit a lot of them have sucked and a lot of them have been great. This game is in between to me.

In all truth though everything about this game sucks. Graphics could have been better, sound lacked a bit, and gameplay was not the best. But for some reason I can not explain I kept playing and did most of everything in the game. It was a short game even with all the side quests but it still kept me entertained for some reason.

Story - 7/10
The main story for the game is actually quite decent, this surprised me. We all know the Pokemon games are not known for their amazing or groundbreaking stories. Now this game's story is not exactly amazing or epic but it can keep you entertained and the ending was quite sad.

You start the game on a myspace poll, really. You get a personality quiz you must answer that determines which Pokemon you are. There are some guides out there to help you answer the correct questions to start as the Pokemon you want to, as it is really annoying starting as who you want. After this you are thrown into the Pokemon universe. You awake in a forest confused as to how you got there. For some reason you a human, is now a Pokemon.

At this point your Pokemon companion (who you pick after the myspace poll) finds you. After a short talk between the two a Butterfree comes your way begging for help. Apparently she lost her Caterpie baby in the forest. So you and are your partner decide to go rescue it. Eventually this leads to you starting your own rescue team. Rescue teams are exactly what you may think. A team of Pokemon that work together to rescue other Pokemon and take care of problems.

Along with you trying to discover why you're a Pokemon the world seems to be in trouble. Natural disasters are occurring everywhere and Pokemon are in trouble. You and your companion decide to start a rescue team of your own, which leads the rest of the story on to cliche RPG world with you saving the world.

The main story line is not very long or very challenging but will take you a few days to beat unless you play it in a very hardcore manner. Overall it is just average but still entertaining.

Graphics - 5/10
They lack a lot. Granted this is just a Gameboy Advance game on the DS the graphics still are very unimpressive. The sprites are very bad at some points and the landscapes for each dungeon are very repetitive. Pokemon attacks are equally weak. There is nothing that stands out or shows even GBA power. For example Pokemon do not even walk in this game, the sprites make them all look like they are skipping happily along through each dungeon. The graphics in the game are a huge letdown to me seeing as I bought this and Pokemon Ranger on the same day, maybe I was expecting more.

Sound - 7/10
The sound also receives an average score. Some of the music in the game is really bad, while some of it is really good. During cut scenes which are abundant the music can be very depressing or give a sense of confusion which adds to the game's atmosphere nicely. The dungeon music however can be a letdown. Some of the tunes are really bland and annoying; I kept my sound off quite a bit at some points to listen to iTunes.

Gameplay - 6/10
The gameplay gets a slightly below average score. While the game overall kept me entertained, the actual gameplay was pretty sad.

The game is simple, you start from your rescue base each morning, select your team from the Pokemon that have joined you and then you can walk around town for various things such as shop and visit your bank. From here if you have beaten the game you can evolve your Pokemon. After you are through with your daily things you can head to the post office and take on various jobs. The jobs are really simple, save someone or escort someone through a dungeon.

After taking on the jobs you get into the nitty gritty of the game. You head out of town and go to the dungeon you wish... Now the game turns into your typical dungeon crawler, except worse. Basically each dungeon is a set amount of floors. Those floors however are random each time you go in so it expands the content of the game so to speak. There are no puzzles or challenges in the dungeons whatsoever. Your one goal each floor is to make it to the next floor. If you are on the 'destination floor' of the current mission you are on you search for the Pokemon you need... which is harder then it sounds because for whatever reason the Pokemon do not want to hold still so you can talk to them...

Anyway, that is IT, in the main story line you will fight bosses at the end of some dungeons but there is nothing else to it. It is completely cheap sometimes because you can just skip all the combat (which is equally stale and boring) on one floor and rush to the stairs to the next floor.

Now something that bugs the crap out of me is party makeup. You can bring up to 4 Pokemon with you to help fight most of the time but their AI is beyond horrible and walls limit them. There are a lot of hallways in this game. You encounter Pokemon to fight in these halls often. Unless your Pokemon have some sort of ranged item to chuck at the enemy you are going to be standing there alone killing the random Pokemon. Then comes the few boss fights of the game. You have to move yourself to position your party to attack. It is quite annoying and basically makes your party Pokemon useless.

I have to admit there is one thing I like a lot. The game's wireless play is pretty cool. If someone is in trouble or you are in trouble with can get someone else over wifi to save them or be saved. It is a neat feature but the only down part is you sit around doing nothing while they save you which can take a while if you are in a long dungeon. More realistic I guess!

Conclusion
As bad as this game is designed it is addicting and I don't know why. There is a decent amount of content in it to keep you busy for a while. I wouldn't exactly say your average Pokemon fan grab this game unless you are a hardcore fanboy. But for someone looking to pass some time in a dungeon crawler go ahead and pick this up it can keep you hooked for a while.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07