Monday 12 July 2010

Pokemon ranger

Gamespot score:7.5(good)

my score:8.0

(+)pros:- fast paced fun when capturing pokemon,- lenghty story with a rather good plot, - good challenge during boss fights,- drawing circles around pokemon for capturing is damn innovative, -poke assist during battle is creative too,-poke field assists add variety to field exploration.

(-)cons:- my touch screen fked up cause of this game(most probably yours too),- poke field assits dont do enough to spice up the boring field exploration.

gameplay time:20-30 hours(average)





Sorry for the delay, been real busy these few days. Dammit. Okay, heres pokemon ranger. The very 1st one. Yeah I know its old and all but I did this cause I just remembered that gurdian sign was coming out later this year. Yeah Im a huge pokemon ranger fan, I think its far more fun compared to the original pokemon games. In this game its less RPG and turn by turn, and more fast reactions and intuition.



Plot is pretty okay, altough its far better than the basic old formula of defeating all gym leaders and the elite four. You are a new pokemon ranger, new to the job, and are accepted to a ranger base. You do what is needed to help the pokemon environment, and eventually get to meet the bad guys, those rock and roll band guys (dont remember their name). There things start getting nicer. Also, your pokemon ranger bae mates are rather likable, and you have a rival, just like other pokemon games. But you cant fight your rival, since theres actually no way to pokemon battle in this game.




Though it IS a pokemon game, this plays VERY differently from the original pokemon games and the escape dungeon series. You walk around forests and natural environments and there are NO random encounters, though wild pokemon are everywhere, they wont attack you, except for the aggressive ones. The game mainly consists of you manuerving through various dungeons, until you get to the exit. But of course in the process of doing that isnt so easy. Obstacles like rocks, trees or objects on fire constantly block your path. To get those out of the way, you have to get yourself partner pokemon to clear the way with thier elemental abilities. This is easy, an object on fire requires a water pokemon to clear it, a rock requires a pokemon who can crush things easily, lets say a rhydon. Each obstacle has a pokemon that has the corresponding counter. This though is repititive, since all you do is the same thing. Meet a obstacle, catch a pokemon, clear it, rinse and repeat. Plus, the areas are bland and arent too fun to explore.




Now to the fun part, capturing the pokemon. This is what makes the game fun. During these "battles", you have to use your stylus, and draw a quick circle around the target pokemon. Doing so will reduce its HP by 1. Do it until the pokemon's HP drops to 0 to successfully capture it. Its that simple. But when your line collides into the pokemon, it will break and the circling will cease, plus the pokemon's HP will reset to its original value. So be careful with that stylus. The game starts out easy early on, with pokemon not having a lot of HP. However later pokemons have a LOT of HP, like over 20. That means you have to circle around it like a mad fool, and be careful not to touch it. Plus, later on most pokemon have attacks, projectiles or body tackles, either one they hurt. If these attacks connect to your circle, it breaks too, and this way you will lose HP. When your HP reaches 0, yeap game over. This will give you tons of frustration, you will probably scratch your touch screen, like I did with mine. The bosses are challenging, with over 20-30 HP and having painful attacks. Of course poke assits during battle help too, each element having thier own assist style.




With the core gameplay basics in mind, its easyo to say that this is one game to easily understand and play. Plus its damn creative. Also the story is lenghty enough to keep you playing for over 30 hours, less if you rush through certain parts, like skipping side quests and avoiding enemy encounters on purpose. But the evolving plot and discovering of new pokemon to challenge and tackle will stay with you and keep you playing.
.
Pokemon ranger is a new take to the pokemon franchise, but its a good one. Its innovative and fast pace gameplay may not appeal to those hardcore fans to the original series, but its definetely worth a try. A great game overall.





Happy gaming.