REVIEW
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
By Shaun Hatton - June 11th, 2008
Like Bugsy (real name: Mike Pugliese), I have always had a soft spot in my cold, dark heart for the fun world of Pokemon. In fact, it was the original Pokemon title that made me dig out my original brick Game Boy back in the late ’90s. I was just starting out in college, and there I was, painfully addicted to a game marketed exclusively to kids. In one of my weaker moments, I actually played Pokemon Blue while driving, at red lights, just to level up.
This same game was what made me upgrade to the Game Boy Color. As a poor student, I could either choose to eat or spend money on other things. It was a rough week for my hunger, but I was satiated with the new lime green GBC and I was immediately amazing by how awesome the new colour screen was. Within a year, I picked up Pokemon Yellow, and played through that, too.
As a relative novice to the world or role-playing games but a fan of Phantasy Star, easing into the Pokemon universe was very natural for me. Adam Russell was actually responsible for getting me into the series, as he said something along the lines of “You know how in Phantasy Star, you’ll meet someone who joins your party and then you’re with that person for the rest of the game? Well, in Pokemon, there’s 150 of those people. Except they’re animals, and you can swap them out anytime and they all have their own unique powers.”
Well that was all a very long time ago. Since then, I’ve bought a Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Diamond, and they’re both excellent games in the series. They both add extra dimensions to the already-established premise: You’re a trainer trying to be the best in the world, so for some perverse reason you essentially go about kidnapping Pokemon and making them fight other Pokemon to the near-death and they, in turn, somehow learn to love you. Is it Stockholm Syndrome? Perhaps it’s best not to dwell on that.
The Mystery Dungeon series uses another premise. Instead of being a Pokemon trainer, you are the Pokemon. After a series of questions, the game tells you which of the cute creatures you identify most with. I’m apparently a Bulbasaur. You then choose which kind of Pokemon you want to be your companion during the trip. I decided Charmander would be a good match for me. Yes, a companion who could kick my butt, keep me in line, and otherwise be good for a few fun arson jaunts.
Only it didn’t go down like that. I awoke on a beach and found that Charmander is a bit of a wimp. No, scratch that. He’s a huge wimp. I had to help get his most treasured… treasure back from a group of baddies. After that, he seemed to take to me, like that kid in the cafeteria you accidentally make eye contact with one morning and he ends up thinking you’re best friends for the rest of high school.
I swear, all I wanted to do was lose Charmander.
That obviously didn’t happen. At first, I’ll admit, I was super into this game. It was cute, the characters were funny, and there was a lot going on. Charmander and I, Bulbasaur, joined an exploration guild and were given missions. We were also sidetracked by our desire to do good deeds for those in need. The good deeds and missions are all fetch quests, however. And as the game title implies, these tend to take place in dungeons.
Another major difference between this game and the proper Pokemon titles is that the battle system is sort of real-time rather than turn based. Instead of selecting which attacks to use and when, you preset your main attack (Tackle, Growl, Leech Seed, etc.) and that is what you will attack with when you come across enemies. I didn’t find there to be a difference in battle outcome whether I chose to pump the attack button or not.
While engaged in battle, the controls get a little sticky. Rather than being able to move around, once an enemy has its sights on you, you’re essentially frozen in place until it is your “turn” to move. So yeah, it is still turn-based. You just don’t have time to choose your attacks or even aim them. To this end, the game is very frustrating. As Bugsy has mentioned in his review of Explorers of Darkness, while the game does have some great visual and audio presentation, the gameplay department is where it’s sorely lacking.
In between dungeons, you go back to guild headquarters where the big boss takes a huge cut of your earnings during the quest. Nothing dampens your spirits like losing a tonne of video game money in a second for no reason at all. I didn’t even want to be part of that guild, but the game gave me no choice! I just wanted to run around as a Pokemon and do what it is that Pokemon do. Unfortunately, it looks like they need kids to make them fight each other as a cure for boredom. Maybe that’s why they like having masters so much.
I doubt that both Bugsy and I have happened to grow out of Pokemon at the same time. In fact, that’s highly impossible since I played and thoroughly enjoyed Pokemon Diamond just last year. Perhaps the real reason why this title falls flat for me is because it isn’t the big flagship Pokemon title for the DS. It may be an interesting diversion at times, but its repetitiveness offers little to gamers used to the more in-depth gameplay of its bigger cousin.
