Pokemon Ranger
SCORE: 71
Hopefully you read my preview on the website before reading this review. There are some interesting behind the scenes information in that preview. Pokemon Ranger is one of the stranger Pokemon games we have played at Family Friendly Gaming. It is like Nintendo tried to accentuate the Nintendo DS features in this hand held video game. Pokemon are captured by drawing a circle around them. Sounds easy right? Well the stronger the Pokemon the more circles that need to be drawn consecutively.
Graphically Pokemon Ranger has a soft look and feel to it. The Pokemon look as one would expect them to. The violence is kept pretty minimum in this Nintendo DS game. The Pokemon will attack the line the player is drawing. Other Pokemon can come to assist the player in their capturing. The lamest part about capturing is many are released immediately. Alternatively once a Pokemon is used to assist once they go away. This leads to going back and recapturing the same ones over and over again.
The music is okay in Pokemon Ranger. Nothing stuck out in my mind, and nothing stayed with me very long. Certain Pokemon make annoying sounds. I did not find any offensive language or lyrics while playing Pokemon Ranger.
Initially I thought there would be a lot of replay value to Pokemon Ranger. The story is a lot shorter than I expected it to be. In fact I was disappointed in this aspect of Pokemon Ranger. Only one player can play this hand held video game at a time. There are three saves for families that excel at sharing. I do not feel this DS game is worth the price of admission.
Nintendo included various controls in Pokemon Ranger. Players can use the D-pad, or the touch screen to navigate around the towns and dungeons. The capturing requires touch screen only controls. I hate to say it, but capturing Pokemon got really old, really quick. In fact I started out thinking it was really cool, and then got bored with it. I had fun capturing Pokemon this way at first, but it became not fun very quickly. There are areas where the player can get stuck. The mission screens really help keep the player on track.
I know there are sequels
to Pokemon Ranger, but there really does not need to be. The game play
issues would have to be tweaked drastically. I can look into one of the
sequels in the future (Lord willing). Players learn that stealing is
wrong, and to stop those from abusing Pokemon. I really look at Pokemon
as animals, since that is what they resemble the most. It was a chore
for me to play and review Pokemon Ranger on the Nintendo DS.
- Luke
Graphics: 77%
Sound: 72%
Replay/Extras: 69%
Gameplay: 64%
Family Friendly Factor: 73%
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: 'E' for
Everyone
{Mild Cartoon Violence}
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