Every now and again a game will come along that is so grossly jaundiced, so unfair and so stupidly difficult it makes you question the exact reason why you bother to play video games. Mystery Dungeon is not one of these games…..pah! Of course it is! I’ve never asked a developer “Why!?” so many times in my life.
Some people may be familiar with the Mystery Dungeon Pokemon games - well this is where they came/come from. Originally released on the SNES in 1995, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer has now been ported to the DS in a move which I can only imagine was intended to cull some of the many millions of DS’ in the world. It won’t be pretty either, my DS almost deflected off the wall and out of the window.
You play as Shiren and are for a start accompanied by a weasel named Koopa. Heh, Koopa - cool. Your continuing task is to explore dungeons - that randomly generate. As with other games in a similar vein, this could of course mean a completely new experience, making playing through again a tempting prospect. Now, when I say playing through again - I certainly don’t mean when you’ve finished it once….because you’ll have to play through again if you die - just once. The RPG in Mystery Dungeon naturally gives you the old faithful levelling up play, and if you die, just once - or say for instance; begin a new dungeon - you’ll be zoomed back to level 1 no matter how far you had previously levelled up. This is, quite frankly - a git.
Combat is an appealing concept. It’s turn based, but not so you’re taken away to another screen and take turns to battle. Every single step, move or even inventory item you equip is counted as 1 turn. It matters not that any enemies could be at the very end of a dungeon, if you move - they move. You’ll eventually cross paths and at the very beginning the combat is unrealistically mundane. A simple press of the A button with a sword equipped is enough to see of any grubs or robbers. It’s not long though, until you’re faced with more tactical foes. Some of these buggers require a more careful approach, the use of spells for instance. If you run in gun ho, you’ll more often than not be forced to essentially start the game all over again. This is soul destroying. It’s very strange as to exactly why the game has been designed like this. No matter how deep you are in a dungeon, you simply must not die. As well as being transferred back to your starting point, and being put back to level 1, you’ll also lose all of your items. Weapons, spells, food - everything. One way to somewhat overcome this is to put some of your items into storage. Each town, which acts like a hub, has warehouses for you to place items. These items are not affected by death, and if you are unfortunate enough to be sent all the way back, you can reclaim said items. The trouble with this is pretty obvious. Do you put your items into storage and try and navigate a dungeon on limited supplies, or do you risk everything? Said warehouses are not easily reached again, the stuff will carry over to all warehouses, but you know you’ll gonna have to clear at least 10 dungeon floors to reach the next one.
In what I personally feel is an excellent idea, is slightly let down by bad odds. If you do die - and you will, you have a get out clause which will save you from going back to the start and losing all of your stuff. You can choose to be rescued. Now, you send out a rescue request on death and you can choose to send it to a nearby player, someone on your friends list or just some random guy who could be anywhere in the world. Making full use of the Wi-Fi connection, this to me, is genius. OK, so you’ve sent out a request and you wait….and wait……and wait….and give up and just reset the game. From what I have been told if someone does indeed answer your request call, they themselves will be shot back to level 1 and will have to begin the dungeon you are dead in - from the start. Essentially, this could lead to the both of you being dead. If by chance they do rescue you, again they will be ported back to the first town. It’s flawed for sure, but if you have another DS handy and another copy of the game, you can somewhat abuse the system. You are however, only gievn 3 rescue requests.
Visually, well it’s going to be a matter of tastes. As a SNES port it uses SNES graphics. I love SNES graphics and these are classic SNES. What the characters lack in animation, particularly in battle, the scenery makes up for it. There’s just something spellbinding about the slight shading effects and the pixulated turf. It’s glorious. Of course it doesn’t really push the DS’ capabilities, but as they were never intended to, I can’t fault them. Sound is also mesmerising beautiful. The backing ditties are just perfect when accompanying your location. The touch screen can be used to control movement, but it never feels quite right, and is just there to be there. The faithful D-pad feels far more natural.
Giving an overall rating for Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer , is tough. For all it’s deeply frustrating traits, there is a good game. The story, environments, music and general gameplay are excellent, but the difficulty is just unfair. Saying this, those who want a challenge and a game that is going to last hours and hours and hours….and those, who expert in classic RPG’s, Mystery Dungeon is going to fill your needs. Gluing the DS to you hand to prevent it hitting the wall is advised, though.
