Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon Reviews
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon offers a fun glimpse into the Pokemon world from the monsters' perspective, all while providing a unique, turn-based tactical gameplay with light roguelike features. Featuring over 700 pokemon to encounter, fight and team up with, it's a must-have for any dedicated fans of the series, and provides just enough tactical thinking to entertain a budding CRPG player.
Think of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon as a title where the endgame is the reward for enduring a plot where the dialogue is repetitive and lackluster, characters take way too long walking you through every little thing, and you have to spend about 20 hours earning your right to do whatever you want. Once you do get over that hurdle, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon can be one of the best entries in this series, but you really have to earn your freedom.
Great in sprints, but tedium might put off players looking for deeper experiences.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon has good lessons to learn, but chief among them might be persistence: dungeon crawling is tiresome.
There's loads to do but it's all too samey
Mystery Dungeon DX gets the story right, but ultimately fails to deliver on everything else.
But when all of its parts come together, it feels weird and clumsy. It takes out one of the best parts of the series, doesn't quite deliver on others, and compromises its difficulty progression. The best things about it are, for better or worse, the things it has been doing well since the Game Boy Advance.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon on Nintendo 3DS starts slow but proves itself to be the series' most complete package yet — perfect for fans and newcomers alike.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon has a really rough start. It tries to set itself up for a grand adventure, but comes across as plodding and aggravating for the first several hours. While not an absolute deal breaker, it does make for a hard sell for those who aren't totally committed to the series. For fans of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, however, there's a bevy of new customisation options, new Pokémon to meet and recruit, and new challenges and dungeons to explore. It may not be quite the comeback some were expecting, but it shows that the series still knows its roots, and that there's still room to grow from here.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is a bit of a mixed bag. While it excels in keeping (and sometimes improving) the elements that fans adore from its predecessors, these same elements can result in a dated gameplay design. Newcomers that would have probably enjoyed the wonderful plot and presentation that earned the series its current reputation might be put off by the game’s archaic gameplay. Grindy combat and bland dungeons hold it back from reaching its fullest potential. It’s disappointing to say, but both Rescue Team DX and the Mystery Dungeon series as a whole require a bit more of leveling up before they truly amaze.
No game is truly perfect, as the game’s challenge level may put off some folks who aren’t used to RPGs in general, but I still firmly believe that this game should be in your 3DS library without hesitation, mainly due to how accessible it is thanks to the amount of strategies you can come up with for clearing those dungeons.
I still have a ways to go before I'm ready to weigh in on this RPG, but my impressions so far suggest a game that may not be precisely essential but should nevertheless prove enjoyable enough to most RPG fans to warrant a play... even if you found Gates to Infinity as lacking as I did.
When I think of the positives, I find a game that is mechanically decent but presents an interesting narrative worth experiencing. For me, however, the dungeon exploring became stale very quickly, and I only forced my way through the game because of the plot line.
Though the story takes a while to get going, it does have the same charm I've come to expect from the franchise. It's more of the same, but it's a lot more and fans of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games should appreciate most of the new gameplay tweaks and a colossal range of dungeons to dive into.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is a return to form for the series, which I was pleased to see after Gates to Infinity underwhelmed. There are still faults and uneven mechanics that must be ironed out if it is to continue, but my enjoyment came in the touching story sprinkled with humour and how well it brings the Pokémon world to life. Just beware of the difficulty curveballs that are thrown at you on occasion.
"Dungeon crawling is getting old, but Pokemon have feelings too."
Review in Finnish | Read full review