Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - hands-on

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Lame use of the DS is a shame

Pokemon fans have been dying for some pocket monster magic for their Nintendo DS. It would be an understatement to say that the Pokemon games available for the system (Pokemon Dash and Pokemon Trozei) are not nearly as entertaining as the mainline GBA RPGs. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team is an attempt to address Pokefiends' real needs. Although it's a step in the right direction, it looks like it will fall short of the delightful RPGs.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team kicks off with a brief questionnaire that determines what Pokemon you will be. That's right - you are the star of the game, as a human that mysteriously wakes up as a Pokemon. More strange circumstances are afoot, as a series of natural disasters have Pokemon behaving badly. You and the Pokemon that discovers you decide to form a rescue team - of which there are plenty to compete with - to try to make the world a better place... while you try to figure out how the hell you woke up as a pint-sized critter.

The action in this game has you crawling through a variety of dungeons that get progressively bigger and harder as you level up. After accepting a rescue mission, you walk through a dungeon, find items, fight other Pokemon, and rescue your target. You're rewarded with items and rescue points, which raise the status of your team. Along the way you'll impress other Pokemon that will ask if they can join your cause. On a side note, the real mystery of this game might be how forests can have stairs and multiple floors.