Wait a minute. Didn't I just review a new Pokémon game for the DS, like, a month ago? I can't claim to understand why Nintendo would so quickly release two different titles from its mega-popular franchise, but as a Pokémon fan, I ain't complain'. Like Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon Ranger is an all-new twist on the classic RPG-style gameplay that defined the series.

As a Pokémon Ranger, your goals in this game are far different than those in the "normal" color-coded Pokémon titles. There are no Pokéballs or gym battles. Instead, you partake in missions designed to help people and protect the Pokémon's fragile ecosystem. This usually involves wrangling wild Pokémon with the game's new "Capture Styler." This stylus-like device supposedly communicates with the beast and "sends it your feelings," but what that really means is that it lets them join your party.


At first, you can only have up to four pocket monsters in your crew, along with a fifth "friend Pokémon" that's assigned to you when the game begins. Eventually, you'll be able to recruit more critters, but you'll find that your party is constantly getting swapped around. The bulk of the puzzles in the game involve using the Pokémon's unique abilities to bypass obstacles. Certain creatures can cut down fences or bushes, some can burn down flammable objects, some can push aside rocks -- that sort of thing. Once you use their abilities, however, they are automatically released back into the wild. Don't worry too much, though. The little guys tend to respawn in the area where you first caught them, so you simply have to do a little backtracking if you find that you're in desperate need of a particular character.

You'll also end up releasing your party when you leave certain areas of the world. You are a Pokémon Ranger, after all. You're about conservation and the whole "harmony with nature" thing, not dragging captured Pokémon outside their natural environment.