Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but PMD is pretty addictive."

Introduction
Game Freak and Nintendo have been sitting on an oil field, gold mine and the largest bank in the world. Well maybe not, but their Pokemon series have made them both a fortune. With its slowly waning popularity, they have tried numerous gimmicks and ways of sucking in their long time followers as well as attracting new customers. PMD introduced a dungeon crawling gimmick in the vein of Azure Dreams, but is it any good?

Story ??/10
I didn't play the game for the story, but it was something about a human turning into a Pokemon. You join/create a rescue team and after a while are on the run after an evil Gengar sets you up. Your aim is to become human again.

Gameplay
This is a random dungeon crawler RPG. Each of the generically bland dungeons are masked by fog and you have to find your way through the floors unveiling more of the map as you do so. Scattered throughout each floor are numerous Pokemon and each dungeon has different Pokemon to collect. There are about 350 in all, including the very elusive Mew, the cute psychic Pokemon. Pokemon that you collect will join you and battle alongside you in dungeons if you choose to use them. You can take two Pokemon into each dungeon at the same time; three Pokemon if you include yourself. The town you start in acts as a Hub and dungeons can be accessed from different areas of that hub.

In dungeons, battles are still turned based but you don't go to a battle scene, you just battle it out in the dungeon itself. Characters take it in turns to use their lame attacks (it plays very much like Azure Dreams on the playstation) which takes forever by the way, and you move on through the dungeon to the next battle and then to the next floor just start the same process again until you've completed said dungeon. PMD is very repetitive.

There was one unique gameplay element. When you catch a Pokemon they will go to special Pokemon habitats, most of which you have to purchase. If you go to a habitat where a capture Pokemon resides you will see them there and you can invite them on adventures. This was fun and you'll just end up wanting to collect every Pokemon just so that you can see them living in their habitats. Soon your Pokemon habitats will be flourishing and you get this smug satisfaction before realising you've ust wasted 100 hours of your life trying to Catch 'em' all.

Though PMD has so many things wrong with it, it still manages to be very addictive. In fact, PMD is too addictive and you'll be playing if for ages despite terrible game play.

Visuals
The thing is, all Game Freak did with PMD's dungeons were change their colour a little and add a few rubbish textures. They all look the same, play the same and pretty much are the same. This is a lazy and unforgivable presentational floor. Pokemon sprites are cool and there are a lot of them. I really liked coming across them and as I did I'd be like "Oh my god. There's a Ratata" or later on "Oh my god, a Charmander" or even later "Oh my god. I can't believe what I'm seeing. It's a Mew" The sad thing is that Mew is so hard to catch and so rare to find that your most likely to just say "I saw Mew once, but he was gone within a blink of an eye"

The dungeons visuals are some of the worst visuals on the GBA. They're bland, weak and poorly designed. Though the dungeons maybe poorly made, the sprites are somewhat cute and respectably produced. PMD over all though is a real let down.

Audio
Not very good as with all aspects of the game. In fact, I can't actually remember a single tune and I had played the game for over 100 hours. That doesn't bode to well.

Replay Value
PMD has you collecting more than 350 Pokemon. Although there are loads of dungeons, they all look very similar. The problem is though is that PMD is very addictive. You will want to catch them all.

Conclusion
PMD is a poor game. It has many flaws and is ugly to look at. The battle system isn't very much fun and collecting Pokemon is a mundane task after the novelty wares off. PMD though is fun to an extent. I know its sounds ridiculous, but for all of its problems (and there are a lot) PMD manages to interest me on some level. In two words:- Fun and Addictive.

Pro and Cons

+ Loads of Pokemon to collect
+ It's fun in an addictive kind of way.
+ The sprites are cute.

- Visuals are dated and bland
- Dungeons are a disgrace, lazy, sloppy and very poorly designed.
- Dungeons all look the same
- PMD is TOO addictive.
- Percentage rates for catching certain Pokemon is quite poor.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/09, Updated 11/23/09

Game Release: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (EU, 11/10/06)