Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Pokémon Ranger

[Deguello]

It helped immensely that U2’s Vertigo was playing in the background as I played this.

Snugly tucked in a corner of Nintendo’s booth was a kiosk with simply the word “Pokemon" emblazoned on the top.  On one half was Pokemon Mysterious dungeon, and at first I thought that was all the kiosk had to offer.  I then deigned to venture around the corner and there was Pokemon Rangers, lined up on the other side.    

The demo wastes no time in throwing you into the mix after a short demo.  Basically, you capture Pokemon by drawing circles around them with what the game refers to as a “Capture Styler."  The goal is to draw a number of circles around the aforementioned Pokemon until the blue number above its head turns red.  At that point you immediately lift the stylus off the touch screen to complete the capture.  If at any point your line touches the Pokemon, or the Pokemon attacks your line, the capture will fail.  Additionally, if the Pokemon does attack you, your Styler will lose a little energy.  When it runs out the game implies that it is “game over," but I am not sure as I didn’t lose during the demo.  Movement on the outer world outside of a capture is done with the stylus, and along the way you can touch objects and people (rawr!) for additional information.    

The game’s visuals are 2D and fine, no problems here.  As with most E3 demos, the sound is not adequately heard without headphones, which I unfortunately forgot this time.  The demo was only one “mission" and it was pretty simple, but the game was charming and fun nonetheless.