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Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: HAL Labs
Genre: Action RPG
Release Date: November 10, 2008
Platform: Nintendo DS
ESRB: E - Everyone
Reviewer: Eric
 It’s been ten years and the Pokemon franchise is still strong. Children enjoy
anything with the Pokemon name and RPG fans love the old school style the games
deliver. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is indeed another Pokemon game, but is
the gameplay really what some are looking for?
Over the years the Pokemon series has released some games outside of the known
series. Sure having two of the same game come out every three years is enough,
but now we have the Mystery Dungeon and Ranger series. These two off Pokemon
games offer unique styles of play to the series. The Ranger series is real
simple; the main aspect of it is to use the stylus and nothing else.
Newcomers to the Ranger series will be in for a real treat. Instead of facing
Pokemon in turn based combat you will have to draw circles with your stylus to
capture your Pokemon. You can only hold a certain amount of Pokemon at one time
so you will be spending a lot of time figuring out which Pokemon to get ready of
when you find another new one you really want.
Every Pokemon has a few ways to help you out, either in or out of battle.
Sometimes different obstacles will be in your way. All you have to do is find
out what ability you need to use to destroy that object. Now all you have to do
next is use that ability and move onto the next area. It is real simple; most of
the Pokemon you need are in the general area so you never have to go too far to
advance in the game. The only problem is once you use your Pokemon they run away
as you thank them for helping you out.
The same thing goes for the abilities you can use in battle. Once you use these
abilities you will loose that Pokemon when the battle is completely over. No
real lose, you just have to make sure you don’t waste a good Pokemon on a weak
Pokemon.
 Battles in Shadows of Almia can either be a challenge or way too easy. As long
as you know the Pokemon’s patterns you can win almost every battle without
getting a rating below a B. Ratings at the end of each battle just indicate how
much experience you receive. The better the ranking the more experience you get,
but not too much more honestly.
The story in the game is just like every other Pokemon game. The only difference
in this game is the graphics. Shadows of Almia has some of the better looking
graphics in a Pokemon game. Almia looks beautiful and the animations for all of
the characters are quite good for a Nintendo DS game.
Shadows of Almia features all new Pokemon to the series. This makes the current
Pokedex too big but I have to give Nintendo credit for still having ideas for
new Pokemon. Thankfully this time around in the latest Ranger game you can pick
between a dozen or so Pokemon as your partner. It’s cool but I still feel your
partner Pokemon is a waste of time.
Final Verdict
With the little enhancements made in Shadows of Almia it is still a good game. I
still prefer the regular Pokemon games; the Ranger series is just way too easy
after awhile. Certain aspects of the game feel like a chore, which is why I can
only recommend this to Pokemon fans. Newcomers to the series might want to hold
off a little longer.
Rating
7 out of 10
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Trailer
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