Truth be told, the only thing I ever felt the need to collect with abandon was Star Wars trading cards when I was a lad back in the day.
As such, Pokemon was something I just never latched onto. I mean, I was 26 when Satoshi Tajiri unleashed the idea of collecting pocket monsters, training them to fight and then dropping them into the ring like some kind of virtual Don King.
Over the years, Pokemon video games have met with varied levels of success. There’s no denying the popularity of the franchise and it marries the idea of collecting and fighting together in such a way that it’s no surprise how many people – young and old – have become fans in the last 17 years.
However, the need to provide varied gaming adventures becomes apparent as people can tire of the same thing over and over again.
Which brings me to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the new Nintendo 3DS title. It tweaks its approach enough that it satisfies the needs of gamers on the go.
Gates to Infinity makes capturing and training Pokemon entertaining thanks to its streamlined gameplay approach, which puts the turn-based combat at the fore and leaves the typical time-wasting pre-fight video hype by the wayside. You will enter real time, turn-based battles whenever you move your character adjacent to an enemy and while that may not sound like much of a change, those seconds and minutes add up to hours of action rather than passive viewing when all is said and done.
Some may decry this approach as focusing on substance at the expense of some of the franchise’s trademark style, but if the idea of pre-packaged dungeon crawls and copious amounts of exploration are what you want, there are plenty of other titles that can meet that need.
Instead, for a pick-up-and-play mobile handheld title, Gates to Infinity cuts to the chase and it works well in short bursts, which is truly how this game is meant to be played. Just think of it as speed chess with pocket monsters.
Now, if you have some time and if you feel the need to explore the Pokemon world more deeply, you can visit the game’s Paradise area, where you can linger to your heart’s content.
Paradise lets you manage your group of monsters, as well as allows you to spend your money and use the items you collected during fights. You can invest in stores, grow crops to help you during fights and unlock mini games that add hours of gameplay time.
The campaign’s plot will satisfy the needs of younger gamers and give them some context to the collecting and fighting, but older players who just want to get to the meat and heat of battle should find the pared-down approach rewarding enough.
Gates to Infinity is rated E and supports local and online play, as well as SpotPass and StreetPass.
* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.