Pokemon Ranger

Pokemon Ranger is another spinoff for the Pokemon Franchise. This might be good for hardcore Pokemon fans but for many gamers, spin offs are usually not a good thing (as we saw with the Mystery Dungeon games) but every now and then they do turn out to be pretty well done (as we saw with Final Fantasy Tactics). Pokemon Ranger falls somewhere in between. The gameplay is certainly interesting, but it feels as though its missing something.

The story involves you becoming a Pokemon Ranger and going up against Team Go-Go. As usual for every Pokemon Game the story is simple, and in many ways very charming. This is something that as a whole I've always admired about Pokemon's kid friendly approach. There's nothing about the story so complex a kid couldn't understand it. It's simple, and that's how the story of a Pokemon game should be.

Pokemon Ranger puts a different spin on Pokemon alright. No big trainer battles, or catching pokemon in the wild (at least by traditional means). Instead, your character, whether you chose male or female, has something called a Styler which is used to capture Pokemon and utilize their abilities. You'll use your stylus in battle to draw circles around the Pokemon in questin. The stronger the pokemon, the longer it'll take for you to capture it. When you do you'll have access to their unique abilities. Once you've used a Pokemon however, that's it. They're released back into the wild. At first this wasn't so bad, but it made the game become repetative. Almost to the point of boredom.

Mostly, though, there are puzzles you'll have to solve by capturing a certain Pokemon and then making him do a certain task. Most puzzles are no challenge at all, and in most cases, the Pokemon is right there for you to capture. A lot of the puzzles are overly simplistic with obvious solutions, however. So don't expect a vast amount of challenge to these puzzles.

What hurts the game the most however is that it's entirely too linear. You just about can't stray off the beaten path at all. There's little or no time to do so in most spots. The game also isn't very long. It'll definitely take you less than 20 hours to complete. Also to the games demise is how long the intro takes. The tutorial is just too long. It'll take a couple of hours just to get through the tutorial alone.

As far as the game looks, it's not up to DS standards at all. Much like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, it looks like a late generation GBA game. It's really colorful, though, but it just doesn't look all that great when stacked up against other DS games out there. The music and sound effects are worse. The music isn't all that great, and the sound effects are all straight from the original Gameboy Pokemon Red and Blue that were released years ago.

Pokemon Ranger isn't bad, it just feels incomplete. The gameplay mechanics are interesting, but they wear thin all too soon. Huge Pokemon fans might love this game, but it could've been so much better.

The Good

+The simple charming storyline that Pokemon has been known for

+Gameplay is very interesting

The Bad

-The story is really linear

-Long LONG Introduction

-The game becomes repetative... fast

OK, just ignore the fact that this game is Pokemon-based for a moment. DS games are fun because the stylus allows for new types of gameplay and games that use this feature in novel ways are fast becoming a trademark for Nintendo, who can sell truckloads of DS units for each PSP that is sold. Why? Well, rather than try to make PS2 games work on a tiny unit that can't process the polygons or duplicate the controls, Nintendo wisely decided to make new, fun games for the DS and leave direct ports to GBA carts that DS owners could also pick up if they want some old-school action. This concept of fun leads into the review of Pokemon Rangers.

The premise is fairly easy, since Pokemon products are targeted at kids. You're a male or female Pokemon Ranger neophyte, fresh in from the sticks and ready for training. Your job is to basically assist people and Pokemon whenever they need it and defend Pokemon from greedy and neglectful individuals. The intro is a bit long, but it's good to get the basics and story down. You have a special Ranger tool called the "Capture Styler" that can, with your effort and goodwill, impart a calming emotion to wild or upset Pokemon and calm them down. This is the entire capturing concept. Once you've captured the Pokemon, its info is registered in the browser on the top screen and you can have the Pokemon follow you around. Captured Pokemon can be used in several ways: certain Pokemon have "field moves" that can break rocks, cut fences, grapple posts to pull you across water and so on. Most Pokemon can also assist you in capturing by enhancing your styler with powers (e.g., grass assist makes your styler trail into grass, which stops Pokemon that touch it) and the electric Pokemon can recharge your styler. This recharge capability becomes critical later on, as there is no real violence, but Pokemon can attack your styler line and damage it (0 styler energy=game over) and having a refill is always handy. The kicker to this entire concept of using Pokemon is that, in the interest of not exploiting the Pokemon unfairly, you can only use their power once. The only exception is your personal Pokemon, which you can charge up and use over and over. Additionally, you may only have a limited number of captured Pokemon at one time and you have to let them free whenever you leave their native area. This makes for some serious strategy, as you have to balance their usefulness in capturing with the necessity to clear obstacles with their field moves. Also, do you carry a bunch of recharge Pokemon and only one field move one or do you balance out your herd with a battle-useful one, a recharge one and maybe a couple of field-useful ones? This element is a welcome change of pace from the usual "your gun can always fire unlimited bullets, just go get this one key and run across the map to unlock the door." In this game, if you choose wisely, you can have a herd assembled and just blaze through obstacles.

This game offers no real violence, as said before. The "battles" are just capture sessions with no real time limit. The Pokemon (one or more) appear in the bottom screen and immediately begin to amble, fly or ooze about. Most of them have attacks that randomly go off and some can respond to seeing the styler capture loop...the trick is to time the capture correctly and avoid damage to the styler. It gets progressively harder, forcing you to not just draw stupid circles all day, but wait and figure out patterns, try new strategies and take risks. I'm sure it can get old after 4 or 5 hours straight, but in short doses, this is a welcome change of pace.

The only real downside to the game is the sound. The music is lame and the Pokemon make generic-sounding shrieks or cries instead of saying their name like they do in the cartoons. The graphics are cartoonish, but fairly sharp and you can interact with a lot of objects. The bottom screen holds all of the interaction and the top is taken up by the Stylus radar screen, so it's good use of the DS real estate.

This game is good for kids because it teaches them resource management, hand-eye coordination and risk taking and does so in a very kid-friendly manner that doesn't involve blood, gore and foul language. For adults, the premise and graphics might seem puerile, but the game IS fun in doses and is great for a breaktime distraction.

This game is worth getting, in my opinion. There's just too much fun and strategy to be had in such a small package.

Ranger isn't your typical Pokemon game. Yes, you go around and capture Pokemon as usual, but you don't 'battle' like in games past. Instead you use your stylus to 'capture' your Pokemon friends. You don't keep them for the whole game either, you'll only use them to help you on missions and then they are released. It's a totally different Pokemon game than in the past, but it's still lots of fun! It's a little short though, only about 10 hours for the main story. You can still go back once you beat the game and do a few special missions or try to 'catch em all' and fill your browser if you're so inclined. There's also a special mission to unlock and capture a Manaphy egg once you beat the game. Once you have the egg, you'll be able to transfer it over to the new Pokemon Pearl or Diamond and hatch your very own Manaphy. It's going to be the only way to 'catch' Manaphy in Diamond and Pearl.

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