Review No. 47 Pokémon Ranger - DS (3+)

Strong Points:
Nice gameplay mechanics
Brilliant music.
Nice art style
Good story
Fun missions
Challenging
Need to get Manaphy in Diamond and Pearl

Weak Points:
Can't use Pokémon in battle only their powers
Capturing is frustrating
Not that much to do post-story

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
Japan: March 23, 2006
North America: October 30, 2006
Australia: December 7, 2006
Europe: April 13, 2007

Controls:
Touch Screen: move/talk/check
X or Y Button: indicate which Pokémon are accompanying the player
D-Pad: move the player
A Button: choose yes/check something/talk/advance text
B Button: choose no/previous screen
Start Button: access capture styler menu/return to field screen

This game is a worthy edition to the Pokémon spin-off series as it finally offers something completely different to the normal Pokémon games but still retains some fun and enjoyment. It is a good add-on to Diamond and Pearl as it is needed to get the Pokémon Manaphy for the games.

The art style is gorgeous as is the music although the sound effects while nostalgic to some, sound a bit 8-bit. The animations are detailed and the towns look awesome with the characters following your movements and your entire party following you.

The idea of the game is to stop the Go-Rock Squad (the games antagonists) from getting the Super Stylus and capturing the legendary Pokémon Entei, Suicuine and Raikou. You can control either Lunick or Solana and get Minun or Plusle as a partner depending on who you choose. These are the only Pokémon which are yours due to when you capture other Pokémon they are automatically released after you have used them once.

To capture Pokémon, you have to draw circles around them a certain amount of times before they attack. If you stop or your Capture Line is broken, you have to start again leading to some incredibly frustrating moments. You also have HP which can be recharged in a Pokémon Centre. You can only use the Pokémon you capture in the overworld to capture tasks otherwise you can use their powers (water) to help capture Pokémon. The exception to this is your partner Pokémon which can be used.

Overall: this game is good although suffers from a bad control system but excels in gameplay and fun.

Rating: 84%

Thanks for reading, Satamer.