Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky for Nintendo DS Reviews & Ratings by IGN

Pokemon fans know that when a new game comes out they can expect two versions, followed by an expanded, almost special edition, third version a year or two later. Pokemon Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald all took their original games and added significant new features. Most recently Pokemon Platinum expanded upon Diamond and Pearl with new plot elements, new mini-games, and new connectivity features. So with the release of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, one would expect a significant change in the game, instead of the same old crap from before.



For those of you that aren't in either the love it or hate it camps for the Mystery Dungeon series, let me explain. Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon is a series of roleplaying games that focus largely on randomly generated dungeons. Players move through the dungeons in a a simultaneous turn-based system on a grid (everyone moves at once, like a crazy version of chess). It's more strategy than action, with a dose of serendipity since everything in the game is random. Sometimes you luck out, and sometimes you get screwed and there's nothing you can do.



Explorers of Sky is packaged like it's a bigger, better version of the previous two Mystery Dungeon games. The back of the case boasts its new items, adventures and expanded communication. Trouble is, it has the same plot, the same characters, and the same dungeons. We already reviewed Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness last year, and everything said then is true now because this is the same game. The gist of it is that the game is pretty ho hum, even in terms of roguelikes. It looks like a Game Boy Advance game, and plays like one, too.



The plot remains the same. You get mysteriously turned into a Pokemon, and instead of trying to immediately figure out what happened you join an exploration club. Also you have psychic powers which make you essentially the Pokemon equivalent of Bruce Willis from Unbreakable. There's Shaymin on the cover of the game, so, you guessed it, Shaymin is also in here, at the end, but the plot doesn't change. But chances are if you're interested in this game, then you just want to know what's new and different, not what's the same.





First off there are two new starter characters: Riolu and Phanpy. Former cast members Meowth and Munchlax got demoted to Partner-only to make room. Unless your dream was to be a Phanpy, this is not anything to get excited about. The game plays the same no matter who you get. Plus you're probably going to need to wait for a FAQ on how to cheat the personality quiz at the beginning to get these characters anyway. Note that these Pokemon were available in the previous games, just not as starters.



There are eight new dungeons, bringing the total to 69. The problem is the dungeons are uninspired. One of the new additions, Star Cave, may as well be any other cave in the game. This cave just happens to have some Lunatones and Bronzongs floating around.



Most of these new dungeons are played in the Special Episodes, a new side game. The five episodes expand on the story, giving back stories to some of the characters in the game, like Wigglytuff and Sunflora. This is really the only truly new content. Unfortunately players have to earn the episodes by playing through the game. And while the later special episodes are kind of interesting, the early ones are more of the same terrible dialogue and asinine story. Bidoof's Wish reads like a bad Pokemon fan fiction. If these episodes had been incorporated into the main game, instead of only accessible through the main menu, then the game could have added some new story elements to lead into them and it would actually feel like a different game. Instead I have to quit playing to go play a short side quest that is mostly text boxes.



ChunSoft could have used the opportunity to fix some of the flaws in the previous game, but didn't. Seems like it'd be easy to make my character not appear right next to the exit. The touch screen controls are still terrible. Oh and I still can't trade items over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, even though I can do the game's other local multiplayer features over it.



Probably the biggest kick in the pants to fans of the series is the Wonder Mail S system. Wonder Mail is the most used Wi-Fi feature in the game, aside from maybe rescuing, though I used Wonder Mail way more. While every other feature is compatible with Darkness/Time, Wondermail S is a new format, and only compatible with other copies of Explorers of Sky. I could maybe understand only being able to send missions to other copies of Sky, but why can't I receive missions from what is essentially the same damn game?

©2009-10-13, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved