I brought a 3DS-XL yesterday! Yes, I can hear you already "OMG BRA, 3D IS SHIT BRO" And yes, illiterate reader (that really doesn't make sense, does it?) 9 times out of 10 I'll agree with you that 3D tech is the latest in cash cows in video gaming. It's a mixed back, a wild west if you will, of a very very wide range of quality implementations. As for me, I enjoy 3D, I'm one of those strange and wacky people, who feel that 3D enhances the viewing experience (as long as making it 3D doesn't LIMIT the experience, an odd concept I know, but ill be getting to it) and as for the 3DS, I do enjoy most of it's little gimmicks it tosses around like a midget stuffed into a basket ball! For me and my current experience with the 3DS so far is that I love it. No need for glasses, it's all on the screen... but... well... I'll get to that later too.
But anyway, One of the things I got with my little "per-chase" (as it was the Monster Hunter Limited addition) was that I would chose from a selection of games what I would like to have for the simple sum of £5. Me being Me, I wanted to get something that, I was familiar with, however demonstrated what my new 3DS could do. And, out of the choice I picked.... Poke-mans Mystery Dungeon - Gates to Infinity. (which I'll be referring to as GoI, during this post)
And yes, illiterate reader "OMG BRO, BUT VESP! YOU SAID YOU DISLIKED POKEMON AS A CASHCOW! YOU HIPERCRIT BLAD" .. Yes, Yes, But reader as an uncle said to me long ago "You don't complain about the milk when you sucking it from a tit!"But yes, as cash-cows go, Pokemon is the biggest of them all, all is missing is a Pokemon-vile and I'm sure gaming journalists will be referring to the franchise as "sin amongst sin". But, as you may recall... I do actually like the franchise. And I wouldn't have got this game if I didn't! I especially like Mystery Dungeon Games.
An odd hybrid of rouge like "turn based" game play, with JRPG elements and team management, mixed in with a little bit more "kid friendly" entertainment.
And just under 10 hours in... OH MY is it aimed at kids (not that I mind, one of my biggest guilty pleasures is Viva-Piñata, a game easy to play, degree needed to be master! Those who have played it will know what I mean) it's clear in it's presentation, how it's story progresses and in it's character OH MY is it in it's characters.
As the game starts, you're a human, who "is in a deep dream" turned into a Pokemon, haunted with nightmares every night, and told "you must save the Pokemon World" You then pick which Pokemon "you look like" and then you pick what Pokemon is looking over you as you wake up in the middle of no where. So it began, I was a Pikachu and my best buddy in the Pokemon world was "Ajax" the Axew. You set off together putting together a team to save other Pokemon and uncover a bunch of mysteries.
From there you defeat nasty Pokemon, build up a Paradise for Pokemon, meet new friends and eat a fuck ton of berries. And that's the premise!
Now, why is this post called "ThespianHunter defends" well, whilst I was looking through guides on what to do during a brake in the story progression (which was needed, cause the story just keeps on progressing like a train on heavy tracks!) when I came across different reviews... negative ones. After reading through them I started noticing the review scores... at their lowest.. 3/10 at their highest 4/10 Even IGN, the worst reviewers on the internet for giving games too higher scores gave it a 4.5/10 and thus calling the game "bad".
Now, as you may know, I only give a score if I feel like I really have to, to express a point, I personally think meta-critic is a retched hive of scum and villainy being more corrupted than the Blight! but that's besides the point... What does a 3/10 imply... You know what it implies? .... Go on... guess!... I'll tell you what.... it's JUST AS GOOD.. as Steel battalion for the Kinect... a game.. that DOESN'T EVEN WORK! And what do I mean by "doesn't even work?" I mean "IT'S UNPLAYABLE!" ... So, this raises a question... "why the low review scores... Am I missing something?"
I don't think I am!
Thus, I present to you ... why I think Pokemon GoI deserves AT THE VERY LEAST a 6/10. I'm defending it!
Firstly, My points against, because I can understand some criticism aimed at the game.
1. The 3D Tech I do like the 3D tech, honestly, I think it's rather nifty! There's great depth perception with clear levels of foreground midground and background. It's actually quite cool, it's also way better implemented than Monster Hunter 3. (yeah, bet that shocked you!) In Monster Hunter with 3D on highest, the text appears really blurry and the the 3D tech is only really noticeable in this fashion. (unless it's a cut-scene) In GoI Text appears nice and crisp. But.... That's when the screen isn't making your eyes bleed.
I can sum this up perfectly with a quote. My father, bless his bald head, is starting to lose his eye sight (as we all do when we become senile!) and He wanted to to see how I was getting on, so I handed the 3DS to him.... I saw tears.... Literally, the screen hurt his eyes so badly they started watering. his response "Ah well... It sounds good. Just a shame I have to look at it upside down from a mile away with my joke glasses on" And that's the main problem. You have to find that sweet spot where your eyes pick up the 3D and KEEP IT THERE at all times, alittle too much to the left and you'll go double vision. After about an hour of play your eyes hurt. Yeah... It does it better than Monster Hunter... but it still makes your eyes water. so abit of a mixed bag. (but when it works it's awesome!)
2. It's Clearly a Kids Game MD games are normally aimed at children. or at least Japanese teens and more so than other Pokemon games. kiddy themes, no one "dies", everyone want's to be a friend and there are nasty people who don't believe in friendship. There are some more, "adolescent" themes here and there, like rejection and how to take criticism etc but these are few and far between (at least 60% through the game) and you can tell that the game is even meant to be played by a kid, as you're reminded what you're meant to be doing every other minute via cheesy grins and dialogue to match. This for me, at times, feel a little too much, it goes overboard at times.
3. Repetitive nature Although the "mystery dungeons" are completely random every time you enter one, even if you enter the same one, how they're structured, how they look and a lot of the enemies you'll be facing are the same. There are different tile textures and some dungeons have some open areas which are cool to look at the first time round, but you'll be going into each mystery dungeon at least 7 times each to do different missions. Said missions only have a handful of different variations, you'll ether go in to find someone, something or take someone out. Furthermore although there are almost 150+ Pokemon in this game, you won't encounter even 90 of them until you've completed the game.
As an extension point of Pokemon variety, You can't evolve your partner Pokemon until you've completed the game. (bit of the bummer, but that's how it's always been)
Honestly, with this much repetition, unless there are some awesome things in post-game, I won't be replaying it.
4. Paradise building sucks! Meant to be a way in which the player can further-customise his/her game the edition of building Dojo's to train and berry farms (LOL POKEMON-VILE) to grow crops for missions is utterly redundant maybe if it was a little more fleshed out MAYBE it would be good, but alas it just sucks.
Time for the good then, can it redeem itself?
1. The story It's rather charming and seeps with the charm that Pokemon does all the time. It does get away with a lot of plot holes because, dude, it's talking Pokemon. But it's pretty good for what it is. I would have been good if it's "companion mode" (a free-play mode where you play as one of the Pokemon you've recruited as a team leader.) had some form of story mode for itself, but it's not here. There's no real choice within the story line ether, but in all fairness, if you wanted a Pokemon story, go read the Manga! or watch the TV series or...or... play one of the other thousand of games!
2. Augmented reality There's not much of it, but it is kinda fun to use ... kinda, (it's a half good point) You go around with the camera, find something circular and turn it into a portal to a mystery dungeon for you to explore. You can't explore it with your single player story team, but you can pick a little team and the rewards you earn are sent to your current character. These are however FUCKING DIFFICULT! and you will require to know your way around the game before jumping into this game mode. But it's pretty cool.
As an addition to this point, there are also some balance sensor mini-games here and there which are a fun little distraction, but they're not something which will keep your attention for more than a couple of minutes every now n then.
3. Rogue a-like Aye. Indeed, rogue a-like... another one, right? A completely random chance of things happening, you can open a door and you can NEVER predict what's going to be behind it (some also have Permadeath, although this game does not) Seems the genre has had a huge resurgence lately... not that it's a bad thing! However I'm two sides about the genre to be honest, I like the random element, keeps the game fresh and exciting to experience. However there's always the annoying factor of it, and I can understand those who feel like they get dicked over. An example from the game, certain mission I was on I had to get to some stairs in this certain mystery dungeon, only to find 3 high level pokemon right next to their stair. But as is the fate of the dice. In this case, the genre the game is in HIGHLY improves it. It aids some what
4. Pretty Colours! The game is VERY colourful and very (for me) aesthetically pleasing. The different dungeons are vibrant with colour, each being slightly different in its presentation, yet still being the same-ish style of layout (EG, the lakes look different, but they're all the same lake) If I would be critical about it I would say that the "dirt road" which seems to be everywhere (in the over-world and in the different dungeons) is quite repetitive, but at least it's a pretty dirt road!
5. The Game Play The game play is quite good for what it is. Each Pokemon can learn 4 moves (the standard in any Pokemon game) There are aggressive moves, that do physical damage to an enemy, that can be levelled in to more powerful versions with constant use. There are also non-aggressive moves which can't be levelled up, but help your efforts as a whole (like lowering the attack of all enemies in the room or putting a certain enemy to sleep). There is also a super attack. This attack can only be used every so often and requires charging after use. It's powerful enough to kill almost every enemy in the room via giant explosion. The gameplay is a mix and strategy and Hexbased turned based strategy. And is definitely fun. This is one giant elephant in the room however, you can't easily issue commands to each of your companions, they'll do what ever they see fit, which can sometimes be ... not useful at all. And sometimes they may run off to attack someone, leading them on a wild goose chase in the wrong direction, but returning to you until they're forced to turn around by a dead end.
So there you have it, my for and against. As you can see, yes, the game will never win game of the year, yes the game is not a brilliant master piece. But NO! It is not a bad game. It has it's problems, sure. But it's far from being a bad game. Look to the Kinect for "bad games". If my views drastically change by the end of the game I'll let you all know. But my time so far is enjoyable and I do indeed plan on finishing the game. After that... My name has been ThespianHunter, You can put my Onyx in your Cloyster... and I'll catch you next time
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