it wasn't a bad game, but i'm definitely not going to be buying a second copy of it. (yes, i actually did that with BOTH of the first two. no, that's not something i do with many games.)


its biggest objective fault was the simple fact that it was short.
- i played through the entire game, intro to post-ending, in just a week
- that's playing in my free time, without any kind of guide, and taking time to do non-required tasks.
- unlike the prevoius games, there was very little downtime between plot-driven events. if you wanted to do some more exploring, too bad, you just got plotblocked.


they did bring back the storage system from the first game, where you had unlimited storage and the number of each item was shown on the right side of the display. this could be good or bad, depending on your preferences. on one hand, it eliminates the need to spend time cleaning out junk. on the other hand, limited storage forces you to really think about what you need to keep, and what can be thrown out.

unfortunately, they also brought back the mechanic from the first game where you had a set limit on how many pokemon you could recruit. at least they didn't bring back the "habitat" mechanic- that really fell flat in the first game.

the dungeon generation was also notably impaired, to the point where i began to identify which room shapes could be found in which dungeon. the entire idea of having rooms be shapes other than rectangles failed quite miserably, making dungeons more predictable instead of less. on a related note, i am utterly perplexed by the decision to add a soft-focus effect to the map. isn't the purpose of a map to be clear and accurate? why would they intentionally make the lines of the map blurry?

finally, they removed the entire "hunger" mechanic from all but the final dungeons. no, not the ones at the end of the plot. the optional ones that most people won't even try to play because they're so daunting. again, WHY? that was a core gameplay element! removing it was a major error, and severely unbalanced many parts of the game.


in an unexpected turn of events, neither kangaskhan nor wigglytuff made any appearance in the game. wigglytuff i can understand, since he was a very minor character in r/b, and they couldn't use the same character from t/d/s without repeating the setting and plot. still, i think that he could have easily filled the role played by quagsire.

however, the removal of kangaskhan is nothing short of baffling. in both of the previous games, she took care of your stored items, with kangaskhan-statues placed in checkpoints outside of town. removing the character completely and just scattering "deposit boxes" where needed just seems like a step backwards.

they also removed the shiny kecleon brother, but at least his function wasn't lost, as you can build a shop called "oodles of orbs", doing exactly what it sounds like.


on a more subjective note, it was a major disappointment that they limited the choices for player and partner to just five pokemon. this is another area that was completely unexpected, and was probably the biggest detractor to the game for me personally.



overall rating:

if you really loved the 5th gen pokemon, it might not be so bad. however, if you're looking for a satisfying, challenging, emotionally moving game, go buy PMD: Explorers of (the) Sky.