"Rinse & Repeat"

You ever play a game that seems like it should be one of the most fun games you have ever played? No matter how much you want, and try, for it to be it just doesn't measure up. This is one of those games.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness is a rare breed in that your main character is a pokemon. In this world, pokemon are the main characters. You start the game by answering some questions. After being psychoanalyzed the game will choose a starter pokemon for you based of your personality. Then you select your partner which is partially based off your main pokemon.

Story: 8/10

You wake up on a beach with no memory of how you got there or your past. Only your name. Shortly after, the pokemon that you selected as your partner will find you. It turns out, he's kind of a wimp. But he gets better, but he loves to whine.

The story line is actually pretty solid. You start by joining the Explorer's Guild. The game progresses until you save the world. Same ole', same ole'. The story is filled with humor, fear, betrayal and all kinds of twists. The two major downfalls are all of the flashbacks, sometimes to something that happened five minutes ago and your partner's whining.

Gameplay: 6/10

This is where the game gets repetitive. Almost everyday you choose some missions to go on. After a couple of missions the story will progress. As you get further into the game, the missions become less important and the story will advance when you want it to.

Your typical day in this game consists of: Wake up, go through some boring routine that you have to go through every single day, go to the bank, take your money out (if you die in a dungeon you lose all money you have on you, so store it in the bank), go to the store and buy the items of the day that may be useful, go to the item storage, deposit and withdraw what you need then go on your mission.

Missions are irrelevant, they follow a few simple formulas, hunt down a baddie, rescue someone or escort someone are the main ones. Once in the dungeon you will walk around battling pokemon that you can see. Enemies move only when you do, so you're in no hurry. Kill the baddie, gain XP, level up. RINSE & REPEAT FOR 25 HOURS!!

The dungeons are randomly generated to give some variety, but it doesn't matter. It all feels the same. Each dungeon does house different kinds of pokemon that you can recruit. To do so, the main character has to get the final kill. It's a lot easier than the pokeballs. The pokemon you recruit can join you on missions, but usually not on story line missions.

Controls: 6/10

The controls are unresponsive, slow and a jumble. Sometimes you'll attack when you're just trying to progress the info on the screen. Sometimes the menu will pop up when trying to run. It's all a pain. Nuff' said.

Replay Value: 4/10

Frankly, there is none. I only gave it the score I did because after you beat the game, like most pokemon games, there is still a lot that you can do. The one draw back to this is, after the first mission after beating the game they give you too much of a sense of accomplishment and you'll be hard pressed to finish the rest of the post-game missions.

Overview

Get this game if you like dungeon crawlers. That's exactly what this is, just a little more tedious, IMHO. If you like pokemon, you'll like this. If you don't have patience, run away, fast.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/13/08

Game Release: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (US, 04/20/08)