Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon,2005's only not-completely-recycled Pokemon game,gets a pair of sequels on the Nintendo DS,let's cut to the chase,hm?

Overview:The game is a top-down dungeon crawler featuring most of the current pokemon cast,if any of you have played the mostly Japan only fushigi no Dungeon (Mysterious dungeon) games,this should be a bit familiar.

Gameplay:As stated before,it is a top-down dungeon crawler.The game,while at first seems to be real time,is in reality turn-based,much like the main pokemon series.The battle engine is basically a 3D version of the original one,with a few modifications.Things that are added include hunger.(Basically a stamina bar,which when empties causes your party leader to lose health until death.)IQ (Which if high enough,gives pokemon special abilities.) movement through a 3-Dimensional plane (So moves are given the new quality of range.) However,only IQ is pulled off well.Hunger is more of a distraction than a legitimate gameplay element,and Some moves seem to have a broken range,and the fact that you can be surrounded quickly is frustrating.Speaking of that...

Difficulty:9/10 The game is astoundingly hard,with invisible and crippling traps,enormous mazelike floors that chew through stamina,and unforgiving hordes of pokemon.The game seems easy at first,but there's a steep incline after a few dungeons.And while pokemon will offer to join your team,they're not much help due to dull-witted AI,you'll have to severely restrict them if you want to work well with them.

Visual:The game does decently,but not much to write home about,cutscenes are fairly well done,however sparse,and sprites keep most of the details of the original monsters.

Sound:Decent,there isn't a lot of noise,but the attack effects are nice touches to the harsh worlds.

Music:Decent,but sometimes the music seems incongruous with the dungeons,and a lot of music is recycled from B/RRT in some form.

Conclusion:If you can withstand it's harsh trials and slight repetitiveness,this can be a fun game.Otherwise,just leave it be.:/