Full Review for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team by XxFiragaxX

Introduction

This game has recieved a lot of criticism due to it's straying from the traditional Pokemon formula. In this game you assume the form of a Pokemon, determined by your personality type, obtained by answering a series of questions, and fight your way through many different "dungeons" where you help out fellow Pokemon as well as recruit new friends. The main storyline follows the story of a Pokemon (you) and your selected partner, who do everything they can to become the best rescue team they can be. You start off by completing simple missions in 5-10 floor dungeons, to earn rescue points and trigger key events, but as time goes on, the storyline gets much more complex and you go on much longer trips (Some dungeons as long as 99 floors). You level up in the traditional Pokemon way, learning new moves and gaining experience upon defeating enemies. Instead of capturing Pokemon using pokeballs though, as seen in previous games in the series, you recruit them. If you show a Pokemon a particularly strong force, they may ask to join your rescue team. They then go to their friend areas where they can be called upon to go on missions with you. Aside from the main storyline, there is an endless number of side missions you can go on to get rescue points, new items, TM's, poke (money), and even new recruits. All 386 Pokemon are represented in this game and all can be obtained either through recruiting or evolution (including ALL legendaries). One new twist as well is the fact that until you beat the main storyline (will take you around 15 hrs probably) you cannot evolve your pokemon. This may sound daunting, but the fact is that after the main game is over, there is easily 40-50 hours of bonus dungeons you can unlock and enter to gain extremely strong pokemon. Most of these end game dungeons are 99 floors long (as opposed to the main games longest of 30) and some reduce your pokemons level to 1 and destroy your items level upon entering (these are remedied upon leaving the dungeon though) and truly add an amazing element of strategy to the game. All in all this is a truly amazing game that should not be overlooked by Pokemon enthusiasts or people who know nothing of the series. There has never been a better jumping on point for non Pokemon fans in my opinion. You don't need to know anything really about the Pokemon universe to be sucked right into this one!! Good luck getting all 386 (Mew is the hardest recruit in my opinion)

Graphics

The graphics, although Cartoony, still manage to impress. They make full use of the DS' color pallette, and, especially when played on the brighter settings of the DS lite, the colors really pop. There is so much detail in every dungeon, every Pokemon is flawlessly renditioned, and each attack manages to visually impress. The only downside to the graphics is that, although there are 3D elements, they may not appeal to some people due to the top-view 2Dish appearance. All in all though, very reasonable graphics!

Sound

The music, althogh not terrible, ceases to fully impress me. Music however is one of the most unimportant things to me when choosing a game. I figure you can always turn the sound off, but you can't ever get rid of bad gameplay. The tunes get repetitive after hearing them for long periods of time, and although you may find yourself humming them throughout the day, they still get old very fast.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this is absolutely amazing. It never gets old trying to recruit a Pokemon that you really want to get, or trying to level up one more time to be able to beat that boss. Although the true fun is in the dungeon crawling, there is an incredibly deep item system, searching for valuable TM's or gummies that boost your pokemons IQ and stats (stats only increase when gummis are given to the Pokemon in their friend areas) Customizing your movesets and linking moves (using more than one move per turn, but buring PP for both) is always fun, and the ability to learn forgotten moves in town is always a plus too. The items and vastly different dungeons and the Pokemon seen in them keeps the gameplay always fresh!

Lastability

This game has an incredible replay value due to the neverending series of missions you can complete. Even if you've played all of them, there are things called rescue codes, you can get them from a friend (there is an entire forum for them on this website), and if they have died on a mission in the game you can "rescue them" and get rewards for doing so. Although this in itself creates infinite lastability, there is even more. All of the dungeons are random. This means that everytime you enter a dungeon, it's entire layout will be different from the last time. Different items, different stair locations, and different shape and size. Pokemon however remain the same floor to floor. This truly creates a everending experience. As if that weren't enough, you always have the job of truly "catching em all" and recruiting all 386 pokemon. Even without completing that last task, one can easily find themself playing this game for over 100 hours without boredom setting in too much. I have 143 hours in my game and still continue playing rescue missions recieved on this website and recruiting even more pokemon. (Im up to 332 now by the way)

Overall

Although the sound of this game is lacking, it is MORE than made up for in every other aspect. This game has a neverending replay value. Easy to pick up and play for a few minues or a few hours. Endless customization and recruitment possibilities, Loads of moves to teach your Pokemon, and an immersive storyline with many endgame goodies. I give this an overall score of 9 out of 10! I HIGHLY reccomend this game to both pokemaniacs and non Pokemon gamers alike!

Final Score: 82%