"Is it time to explore, or should you skip this game?"

In this Pokemon spin-off of the “Fushigi no Dungeon” series, the popular monsters are given the task of exploring a bunch of dungeons, while doing several different missions. While this simple sentence could as well apply to the the first game, this new title also contains a few additions which make your gameplay experience a lot more enjoyable and certainly more interesting.

Instead of the mildly-cooked storyline of the first game, which was rather predictable and too limited, this game presents you with a starter Pokemon who simply forgot about his past. As you explore the world and advance further in the story, you'll find yourself immersed in an unexpected plot, which contains several plot twists and secret quests, despite a few clichés. Amazingly, you're not stuck to a unique starter Pokemon, and in order to determine your main character you're asked several random questions, with your results giving you a particular monster. Never mind the fact that you can simply reset the game and try to get a different one, but be aware that you're able to select your own partner from a list of several, covering the various weaknesses of your main beast.

No matter who you get, the storyline is basically the same, and once you've joined the Wigglytuff guild you're given several different missions. Some, achieved as part of the storyline, generally give you no major bonuses, but there also opt-in missions. For those, you have to check an in-game message board and look for a mission which suits your current needs, which you can easily accept. This was already available in this first game, via the mailbox, but here it is also presented with a twist - apart from this classical option, you're also able to take criminal hunts by checking a different board. After selecting one of those, you just have to move to a particular floor of the stated dungeon and you'll face a stronger monster, which must be defeated in order to complete your mission.

This small change soon proves to a be a refreshing idea to the genre, allowing you gain more Team Points without having to be constantly stuck to the same kind of missions. Let's face it, the number of different missions here available is slightly limited, and you'll usually be asked to rescue a monster hanging in a particular dungeon, which becomes old fairly quick. Also, as you advance further in the game, this kind of missions becomes more and more frequent, with ones where you are asked to deliver a certain item, or recover another one, becoming less and less usual. Unfortunately, this makes your experience a lot less enjoyable fairly quick, and if it wasn't for multiplayer options, I'm sure you'd put your game down after a few hours of play.

Just like in the first game, you can come online and look for people who need rescuing, a task which you can achieve by introducing a certain, user-generated, password in your own game. This isn't really different from the missions acquired in the game, but the solidarity aspect ends up being certainly important, since you'll be mostly saving other real people from their own defeats, sometimes even recovering part of their prized items. The change, here, relies on the fact that you're now given a lot more multiplayer options. Apart from the stated method, you can now retrieve new missions by going online, via this console's Wifi service, or even by using local wireless. Trading parties and items is also a possible option, one which surely adds to this game's replay value.

For those players who just aren't into online play, possibly one of the quests they may undertake is the one of trying to collect all the monsters here available. Obviously, some Pokemon are only available in this version of the game, while others are only seen in the “Explorers of Darkness” one, but the good thing is that, overall, this title seems to feature around 490 beasts, some of which are extremely rare to find and even harder to “capture”. Well, you don't really capture monsters, here - instead, and since you're also playing as a Pokemon, you merely have to defeat your enemies and hope that, for one reason or another, they offer to join your party. Sadly, the algorithm behind this feature is never explicitly revealed, which makes it extremely hard to capture specific beasts, and while some legendary monsters join your party as part of the storyline, others may randomly join
your team once you've defeated them. Oddly, getting a Dialga to join you is easier than successfully seducing much weaker beasts, such as Kabuto or Bellsprout. Such problem plays heavily against Pokemon fans, making it almost impossible to capture their favourite beasts until much later in your adventure.

When you finally manage to get your desired beasts, you may add up to four to your party, depending on their size and what part of the game you're currently in, and this is where your game starts getting a lot more interesting. Just like in the main Pokemon series, each monster here available has unique abilities and particular move sets, which are changed as they gain more experience. Having more than 400 monsters in the palm of your hand, you can personalize your party in any way you want, taking different creatures to specific dungeons or simply adding your favourite monsters to your party. Let's face it, a grass monster wouldn't be much of a help in a fiery dungeon, and the setup of many dungeons available in this game seem to suggest that you should plan your party according to what you're going to face, an option which may also take some strategy to make.

In general, this game's play time heavily depends on how much you like it. The whole “I can help others” concept is really what makes the difference here, and that's something that only specific players may decide for or against. If you're not really into it, this will end up being the kind of game which you'll surely put down once you've seen all of the main storyline, and doesn't really offer much more appeal. However, if you're really into the possibility this game has to offer, you're bound to play it for tons and tons of hours, while exchanging parties, items, or simply saving other players from their impending demise.

Graphically, this game hasn't changed that much. While the original title was adapted from a Gameboy Advance game, which kinda justified its low quality in this area, this newer experience was surely expected to bear more advanced graphics, and you won't find that in here. Instead, you're presented simple pixel art, with some beautiful images, but which may also feel slightly outdated. While some monsters are easily recognisable, such as Pikachu or Charizard, others look like a strange mass of pixels. Truly, I often found myself looking at the screen while trying to figure out what a specific creature was supposed to be, only to later informed, via an in-game message, that I was now facing a Charmeleon.

Another flaw is evident when listening to this game's sound. Once in a while you may get to hear some catchy tunes, but more often you'll be confronted with uninspired theme songs and unfitting sound effects, which do the job but won't really stay in your mind for more than a couple hours.

Since most of the options available in the first game were simply reused here (and that shows, simply by looking at the menus), I doubt this is the kind of game you'll want to purchase if you already possess the first one. However, if you're a big Pokemon fan and you have access to a wireless internet connection, this game is certainly fun for a couple hours, which you may spend seeing the interesting storyline and rescuing players who need your help.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/28/08

Game Release: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (US, 04/20/08)