The Pokémon series took a new twist with the release of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games (Blue Rescue Team for DS, Red Rescue Team for GBA; Blue is reviewed here). The series, for the first time, puts you into the body of a Pokémon, and lets you understand what Pokémon are saying. Besides the story changes, the gameplay is different as well. This is a strategy game with RPG elements; you control characters on a grid, much like something you’d see in a strategy game like Fire Emblem. When it comes to battling, the format is pretty similar to the games, though much faster (and you have a generic tackle attack that never runs out of PP). Your goal is to get your character or team of characters through a dungeon, which is made up of quite a few floors. Each floor has stairs to the next floor, and your goal is to find those stairs. Simple enough, right? Just defeat all your enemies, find the stairs, and repeat. Well, not exactly… I’ll explain more later.

But first, I’ll explain that this Review is on a 0-4 star scale, with four stars being excellent and zero stars being not so good.

Graphics: *
Plain and simple, this game does not show off any of the graphics capabilities of either system, the DS or the GBA. Not that it’s really a game where it’s supposed to be good with graphics, but all you’ll get in this game is sprites.

Sound: *
The music in this game is usually very forgettable. I guess the music in the main areas isn’t that bad, but most of it isn’t very good. Pretty strange for a Pokémon game, I’d have to say, because the Pokémon franchise usually has great music.

Difficulty: **
The difficulty level is just about average. There are some things in this game that are very difficult, some that are far too easy, and some that fall right in the middle. I’d say this game hits the difficulty level just about right.

Controls: ***
After playing this game on the DS, I don’t see how someone would be able to stand playing it on the GBA. The DS allows you to use touch screen controls to open up menus, which is very easy by comparison to having to open up one menu, then another, then make a choice. I know I would be upset with the controls if I were playing the GBA version of this game (which I have played demos of). However, being the DS, I think that the controls work quite well, with a mixture of button-pressing as well as the touch screen making things easier on you. Obviously I can’t go into all the controls here, because it would bore you to death, but rest assured that they work well, at least for the most part.

Story: *
Let me try to explain this: I greatly dislike the way the story turned out, yet the story is very interesting. Maybe you’d give this a higher score for it being an interesting story, but I disliked the story enough to give it a poor score. Basically, it goes like this: you’re a human that’s turned into a Pokémon, and you don’t know why. You meet another Pokémon, who becomes unbelievably friendly with you. I mean, this other Pokémon, who didn’t even know you, falls head-over-heels for you. I don’t know if it’s love, though in my case I was the often-male Cyndaquil and my partner was the often-female Chikorita, so who knows.

This “relationship” ends up being quite annoying, because this partner keeps on getting your character in trouble. “There’s a mission that can get both of us killed, and even the best teams are struggling at it? Oh boy, let’s go!” That’s basically your partner’s response at one point, about the point where I started attacking my partner on purpose in hopeless situations in dungeons. Your partner’s like a dog: overly friendly, and overly willing to do something stupid.

You are given choices of something to say along the way, and I always chose something that would make my partner shocked, but my partner would always forgive me. I even said at one point that we shouldn’t be partners anymore. The response was something like this: “You don’t really mean that.” No, really, I do.

Why does this partner irk me so much? When you reach the “End” of the game, which is really about the midpoint of the game, after all this work to finally get changed back into a human, you have the opportunity to become a human again. But without any of your input, your character starts wishing and begging to stay with your partner. That’s right, my Cyndaquil was begging to stay with Chikorita. I couldn’t stand it. And sure enough, my character got its way, forfeiting a life as a human and remaining as a Pokémon. Yes, it’s so much fun eating apples and sleeping on the ground. It reminded me of a Mario cartoon episode, where Mario and Luigi had a chance to go back to Brooklyn, but decided to remain with the princess… you knew they couldn’t go back, but you almost wanted them to. Or maybe you didn’t, but I did. Anyway, this frustrated me.

The story doesn’t stop there, but your character becomes less important the rest of the way, as your entire team of Pokémon can be the hero from then on. So basically, you just become another Pokémon. A far cry from becoming a Pokémon Master, as you become in normal Pokémon games.

Oh yes, you go through dungeons, trying to save one Pokémon who’s offering you a reward, while wiping out dozens of others along the way. Sounds like the Pokémon mafia more than anything else. And you never thought Pokémon and the Sopranos could mix!

So it’s an intriguing story, intriguing enough that I just ranted about it. But it’s also incredibly irritating. You choose whether that’s good or bad.

Gameplay: ***½
Ah, but just when you thought I was slamming this game to pieces, I pull out this rating to prove… I don’t know, maybe that I’m going soft? This game is a brilliant strategy game. It’s been criticized by reviewing sites (*cough* IGN *cough*), but I think it’s really a great game. You go through dungeons, defeating other Pokémon with your team, trying to find the stairs to the next level, and repeat until you reach the top (or bottom) of the dungeon, or the Pokémon you’re trying to save. Your partner is with you for the first half of the game, and if either your character or your partner faints, you lose. (After the point at which your character decides to remain a Pokémon, only the character you are controlling, the “leader”, is necessary to keep alive.) Now you do regain HP as you walk, so it isn’t as easy to faint as you may think.

Also, you can gain new teammates occasionally if you buy their “Friend Area” at Wigglytuff’s store and defeat them. They can then join your team, but if they are knocked out along the way, they leave you for good. They are expendable partners: you can bring them along for missions optionally to help out, but if they are knocked out, they just go back to their Friend Area and do not force you to start the mission over.

Sometimes you have to escort a level-1 Pokémon to another Pokémon. This is often incredibly difficult, because one or two hits will take out your escort. You have to be really careful and protective of this Pokémon the whole way. It may be frustrating, but I think it’s a fun challenge at the same time.

Sometimes, there’s a boss you have to battle at the end of a dungeon, like a legendary Pokémon. These are usually much more difficult than most other Pokémon you face. It will most of the time take some sort of strategy to win these battles. That’s the point of the game, though, so I like these battles (but not when I lose).

In short, the gameplay to this game is superb. It’s better than the last strategy/RPG I played, Fire Emblem, and that’s pretty impressive. It’s really shocking how well Pokémon plays in the strategy form, given it’s usually only seen in the RPG form. Of course there are lots of RPG elements in the game anyway, but it’s a strategy game on the face of it.

Replayability: ***
This game will take a while for you to finish the storyline, which involves your character releasing Gardevoir from its curse. That’s the point where I stopped playing the game, because I didn’t feel like going and recruiting all 386 Pokémon, which is apparently possible. It’s also possible to keep on improving your team’s rescue rank. Mine was pretty high, but it could have been higher. The game never really ends, either, so you can keep on playing and playing as long as you still enjoy it.

Fun Factor!: ***½
The gameplay makes this game a whole lot of fun to play. It’s really surprising how fun it really is, given it’s not a normal Pokémon game. I think I still prefer normal Pokémon games over this game, but this one comes awfully close in the fun level, and that’s awfully important.

OVERALL: ***
This game is highly underrated by most people, in my opinion, and it is a surprising gem. It’s definitely worth buying for any Pokémon fan, though I definitely suggest the DS version (and who doesn’t have a DS these days?). This is a fantastic strategy/RPG game, and if you can stand the storyline, you’ll really be able to enjoy it (and I guess even if you dislike the story, too). I really liked it, that’s for sure, and I’ve got to recommend it. (Call me soft, but I’ve been giving lots of positive scores these days, and here’s yet another one.)