Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness

"Target Locked...Still Hit or Misss: PMD Explorers of Time and Darkness"

There are very few games that can recycle the same formula over and over again throughout the series and still sell more than tickets to the next big Hollywood movie (I'm looking at you Grand Theft Auto IV). The Mario series, which consistently features Mario's abusive head-stomping almost every game, still sits at one of the most popular franchises in gaming industry. Pokemon seems to be no different. The developers seem to be extremely satisfied with their first games and decide to remake them over and over again with different names and a few new Pokemon to beat other Pokemon's (sorry, I've never needed to use a possessive plural usage of the work “Pokemon”) crap out of. Not to say that's entirely bad, as Diamond and Pearl still keeps me going, but still. Then, we finally do get some diverse games now and again, but it's really unclear if they are worth popping into your DS at all. Meh, I guess it's worth a shot.

Continuing the decimal-sized spinoff collection of Pokemon games is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Dartness. Just like the Red and Blue versions from the first set, Explorers focuses on a world only of Pokemon, where you actually play as one of the Pokemon and not the human idiot barking commands at them (who, by the way, are completely absent from the games). In Time and Darkness, you follow the footsteps of a Pokemon who has suffered amnesia, landed on a beach and is supposedly a human turned into a Pokemon (wow, how freakin' original). Unlike the last game, which relied on the Pokemon's past as a human to drive the plot, leeching on it like a parasitic toddler that is lacking juice or whatever, the plot is driven more on exploration. Don't kid yourself, you'll still be going through the same motions; dungeon-based gameplay filled with quests of rescue and adventure. The first games were solely focused on jobs that required saving a dimwitted client or retrieving an item. While these missions are still present, Time and Darkness now seem to really drive on the idea of finding treasure like an obsessive band of pirates. That's not to say that the two sets of games are different, as you will barely notice the difference of collecting lost items and collection treasure.

While you'll be constantly traveling through areas outside caves and the like, the dungeons are where it's at. That's were the core gameplay takes place. Everything works almost identical to the canon Pokemon RPG games, minus the fact that everything occurs in the over-world (there is no cut-scene for battles and such).Everything you do costs you a turn and allows opposing Pokemon to get closer and closer to you. In theory, it seems to work, but it is extremely bogged down by other issues. Your partner, I believe, was created by some 10 year-old lacking any common sense at all. He constantly wanders off, no matter how many times you change his personal settings to stay with you. With that said, don't recruit other members. It's pointless. They run off, die, use precious items you may have been saving for bosses and die some more. You'd be better off being a one-man wrecking crew than to be a babysitter to your illiterate team members.

Sadly, none of this is really the cat's meow. Sure, in the beginning, it's a fun, fresh experience. But after the 20th or 30th time of entering a dungeon (which could quite possibly still be in the beginning of the game chronologically), you start to wonder why you are still playing, especially if you own one of the first two games, as you'll notice they are almost exactly the same. Maybe you are still playing to finish it so you can get it out of you're life and get ready for something more amusing than hitting tennis balls with a broken racquet.

Still, the game isn't necessarily bad, if you are into that kind of thing. Hardcore RPGs will get something out of it, and will certainly be used to the horrible dialogue (if I here the word “brave” one more time, I may have to hurt someone) present in other RPGs. Though, fans of the traditional Pokemon series may just not like how the games present themselves. It's a sort of hit or miss game.

Time and Darkness, however, do shine when it comes to looking and sounding good. Time and Darkness continues the colorful graphical layout found in the Red and Blue games and the extremes of the tracks that play throughout the game, from cave themes to over-world ballads, are certainly eye-catching. However, the list of themes in these games don't live up to the bar set by the first two, which isn't surprising, since Red and Blue really had some surprisingly awesome tracks.

If you look at it, there isn't much past the single-player experience. The most interaction you can get with other people is the trading of items, fighting their teams (with CPU controlling them, of course) and getting their help when you've royally screwed up in a dungeon. Past that, there isn't much else, which leaves you at an awkward position once you've beaten the game. At least you can use Wi-Fi instead of generated codes (though are still an option) to get help, which is nice.

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series is hit or miss put simply. Either you like it or you don't. Some may love it and have dreams about it all night, while many will rent it and not get past the first dungeon because they are bored out of their minds. They have everything that could potentially make a good set of games, but are sadly brought down by annoying issues that make the experience more negative than positive, to say the least. Too bad, as Mystery Dungeon could have become a truly great outer-canon series. Still, it'll probably sell well because, heck, it is a Pokemon game, of course.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/05/08

Game Release: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (US, 04/20/08)