Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team [GBA]

On rolls the huge Pokemon cash cow, and this time, Katamari-like, it scoops up another genre to add to its not inconsiderable collection. Dungeon crawling is what's in store for purchasers of either of the two versions of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Red (for GBA) and Blue (for DS). Unfortunately, a fair amount of boredom is in store for them too: this game has the wrong balance of risk and reward, but nevertheless performs the not inconsiderable feat of being addictive despite its problems.

Yes, as many PC gamers will know, this style of game (as seen most notably in Rogue and Diablo) can be excruciatingly addictive. Mystery Dungeon shares with these classics its randomly generated dungeons, generated afresh on each visit -- complete with multiple levels, stairs, pickups, and a selection from the game's 400-odd Pokemon to fight.

Unlike every other Pokemon game ever made, this time you actually get to play the part of a Pokemon. Almost. You're actually a regular human who mysteriously gets turned into a Pokemon, recruits his own "rescue" team from Pokemon he finds, and sets out into Pokeworld to do good deeds. The basic-but-functional plot rolls along well enough, and although it's hardly a writing masterpiece, the dialogue gets by, albeit in that twee, self-conscious way that Pokemon players will recognize.

But the dungeon sections let the game down. They're too samey, and once you have a handle on the simplistic combat system you'll plough through level after level without much thought. Dying just reincarnates you back at your house, having lost any items or cash you may have been carrying, but otherwise ready to take on the same dungeon again. With careful use of the bank and item deposit stores in town, it has little sting.

So why can't we stop playing it? Dungeon, for all its flaws, still has the intangible addictiveness of games like Rogue or Diablo. Honestly, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why this might be, although the constant small hits of victory as you chop through Pokemon like a blender chops through frogs, not to mention the satisfaction of watching the levels roll by without setback, probably have something to do with it. Like it or not, we're hooked, and the game deserves its share of credit for that.

If you're playing the game on the DS, you'll probably raise your eyebrows at the limited graphics, lame music, and lack of useful touchscreen controls. You might be forgiven for thinking the game has clearly been developed to suit the lowest common denominator -- that's the Red GBA version -- and you'd almost certainly be right. Still, the second screen allows it to display a little extra information, and that's certainly no bad thing. Ideally, you'll have a friend you can arm-twist into buying the GBA version, as there's much to be gained from connecting the two.

Like inviting a friend to rescue you if you die, for example, or swapping items, or importing a CPU-controlled version of a friend's team to fight. What you can't do, and the game cries out for, is co-op play, and it's a real shame it's omitted.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon comes over as something of a guilty pleasure. Objectively, it's not a good game at all -- it's ill-suited to its platform, repetitive to the extreme, too easy, presented with little flair, and a mere shadow of the best that both Pokemon and dungeon crawlers in general have to offer. But it's still sitting there in our DS's slot, waiting for the next time we have ten minutes of downtime, and it'll stay there -- or at least within comfortable reach -- for a while longer. Faint praise, perhaps, but praise nevertheless.