Pokemon fans that have a Nintendo DS will no doubt get excited about this week's release of the latest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. Granted, the games accomplish most of the same goals as the previous Dungeon games, Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team. You take control of specifically chosen Pokemon characters (based upon your personality) to help your amnesia-stricken owner and fellow Pokemon in distress by doing some serious dungeon crawling. Unfortunately, both fail to satisfy anyone outside of the rabid fan community.

One of the main problems with both Explorers games is your inability to choose your favorite Pokemon to play as. Instead, you must fill out a small personality profile, and then you're automatically given a Pokemon that suits you best. You can choose your partner-in-crime at the beginning of your quest, and make some new friends along the way as you save them from peril, but the fact that you can't even choose your favorite from the get-go is annoying.

There's also very little innovation in the dungeon crawling. Exploring towns can be fun, and buying items (such as precious food) from the Marketplace is a good way to waste time. However, roaming around through dungeons and constantly attacking enemies gets somewhat boring, even if you manage to mix up your Pokemon. Casual players will probably find themselves wondering what the point is after an hour of play. The game does cater to Pokemon and Mystery Dungeon fans, however, by including hundreds of the little creatures to interact with and plenty of dungeons.

The presentation is somewhat cute, up to the usual Pokemon standard, but it fails to push the Nintendo DS hardware. In general, the animations are cute, but minimal. Pokemon still scamper around as they should, but the towns don't explode with a whole lot of detail. The sound is also average, made up of the usual effects and pleasant but repetitive background music.

Explorers' quest will take hours at a time, but only die-hard Pokemon fans will see them all the way through. Chunsoft includes a touch of innovation by including a Wi-Fi supported SOS email system. This allows you to send out a "help" email to fellow players in case you're in need of a little back-up support. However, that's all you can do. There's no direct online connecting play to battle against other Pokemon, nor any leader boards.

No matter what we say, Pokemon fans will surely take delight in both Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Time. However, it just feels like the same go-around we went through with the previous Mystery Dungeon games, rather than something groundbreaking.

Related Links

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness Game Guide

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time Game Guide

Nintendo

Our Final ScoreMediocre

What did you think of this game? Post Your Own Review