Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team

It’s a shame there aren’t more Rogue-likes for handheld systems. The hallmarks of the genre – including simple 2D graphics, random dungeons, random loot, and turn-based movement and combat – make them perfect for pick-up-and-go gaming on platforms such as the DS and PSP, but it seems like only the PC and big-boy consoles ever get any decent ones.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team is a Rogue-like, and despite its cutesy theme and uneven difficulty level, it is a pretty good one. Gameplay revolves around missions where players assume the role of a Pokemon and assemble a team of one to three other Pokemon to delve into a series of dungeons to deliver items, escort other Pokemon to their friends, and rescue trapped Pokemon. It is possible to dive into any unlocked dungeon without an associated mission to scout for loot, gain experience, and recruit Pokemon, but the rewards are much greater when missions are involved and completing them is the only way to further the storyline. Finishing the story is important because it unlocks end-game content such as a 100-level dungeon and Pokemon evolution abilities that provide the bulk of the replay value.

As with most Rogue-likes, each time you take a step, use an inventory item, or perform a combat move, the rest of the creatures in the dungeon do the same. However, if you hold still, nothing happens---making it very easy to manage inventory, plan attacks, and adjust the behavior of your teammates. Each team member has an IQ level that can be raised by feeding them gummies collected while exploring with new AI behaviors and combat abilities becoming available as their IQ increases. Since you never have direct control over your teammates, it is important to smarten them up so they know how to avoid traps, use special abilities when needed, or otherwise help you out.

In most games of this type, the only way to survive is to comb every square inch of every level of every dungeon to find powerful items and suck up as much experience as possible---but this game is much more relaxed. Money is rarely a problem and the best abilities in the game are unlocked by gaining experience instead of via items, so there is really no need to fully explore each level.

One aspect of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team is that if your rescue team loses all their hit points and “faints” inside the dungeon, you can generate a rescue code. With this code, you can call upon someone with another copy of the game (or use a copy of Red Rescue Team in the GBA slot of the DS) to enter the dungeon, rescue your team, and send you a code that revives everyone with all of their stuff intact. I have found that while this feature is not essential for gameplay, it can come in very handy for some of the game’s lengthier dungeons. Refusing rescue makes you lose all of the money and items you are carrying (which can be stored between missions and are easily replaced), but lets you keep all experience gained so far in the dungeon---which is what you were really there for in the first place.

The game takes advantage of the DS touch screen but is arguably easier to play using the buttons and the D-pad. The best reason to buy the DS version is that you can throw the map, team member stats, and other content up on the second screen to keep the main screen as uncluttered as possible. The graphics do not live up to the best DS standards – this is obviously a GameBoy Advance port – but they are very clear. The music fits the theme very well without becoming grating, and sound effects are basic but elements such as the chime alerts you when the rescue team is starving to help smooth the gameplay.

The game’s biggest fault is that it never really hits a sweet spot in terms of the level of difficulty. Things are challenging early on when your team has a few abilities and a handful of hit points, but because no experience is lost when missions fail, it is very easy to outlevel the current line of missions and breeze through major chunks of the storyline. Then, quite suddenly, you hit a dungeon where the monsters hit hard and possess a ton of special abilities and, just as suddenly, you are back to grinding the easy levels for a while.

A more graduated difficulty curve would have been better than these long plateaus and sudden peaks, but ironically, this design decision makes the game one of the greatest time-wasters available on the DS. During the easy parts, it is very easy to play while distracted with other things, such as collecting the items, levels, and abilities you will need to tackle the tougher missions that inevitably crop up. As Rogue-likes go this one is extremely forgiving, so blowing a mission is never much of a setback, and the randomness of the dungeons means there are always surprises awaiting when you go back to complete a failed dungeon. You can put in several hours plowing through the storyline and exploring the late-game content, or pop in for a few minutes and knock off a few quick rescue missions.