
	Platform DS Genre Role-Playing Publisher Nintendo Developer Creatures, Inc. ESRB E (Everyone) Released October 4, 2010

- Diverse gameplay elements - Draws upon the vast Pokemon world - Lots to do

- Slow pace at times may frustrate some - Bulk of the gameplay gets repetitive - The game at times doesn’t seem to know it’s target audience

Review: Pokemon HeartGold (DS) Review: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (DS) Review: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS)
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Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs

Score: 6.5 / 10

pokemon ranger guardian signs

This was my first time venturing out into the Pokemon Guardian series. History has taught us that off shoots from primary source material don’t often work out. In the land of television, ‘Frasier’ is an obvious exception (moving characters created on ‘Cheers’) but the video game world doesn’t often have the same success.

In this case, Guardian Signs is a competent game but it doesn’t match up to the original it was born from but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a look.
The game starts out with you choosing whether you will be a girl or a boy

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(surprisingly, this time I chose boy) and you are quickly thrown into a nasty introduction to the Pokemon Pinchers who are out to capture Pokemon. The gameplay mixes it up between a shooting segment to a mode where you have to hold your DS sideways and this face paced varied elements had me impressed at the start.

As the game settles in,

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you will be sitting through screen after screen of narrative and this is where I sometimes wonder what audience they are targeting. Younger children will not put up with that much reading and even myself as an older audience member found it was all just a little too much.

Eventually you will find yourself exploring on land and learning the primary gameplay element of capturing Pokemon with your Styler to show your friendship. The capture process involves drawing circles around the Pokemon on the screen as they dart and dash and attack you back. Eventually, you can store up to 8 Pokemon at a time and each has their own abilities.

You will at times need to enlist their help and you will have to strategically determine which to keep and which to release in order to effectively beat bosses and bypass certain obstacles.

pokemon ranger guardian signs

You will also learn the signs of legendary Pokemon Suicune, Entei, and Raikou that, when drawn on the screen, give you other special abilities (such as being able to walk on water). All of these elements together will help you progress in your adventure.

The game is fairly linear, offering roughly sixteen hours of adventure. There is also a 4 player co-operative mode that works over WiFi and there are even downloadable missions to keep the replay value of this title fairly high.
The graphics are quite good while the sound design was overall mediocre at best.

All in all, it’s a decent game it just doesn’t offer anything spectacular. It is well executed and polished and will provide you with hours of enjoyment. If you’re a Pokemon fan, then it’s a definite must buy because after all, you’ve gotta catch them all right?

- Syd Bolton

(January 11, 2011)

Syd Bolton is Canada’s top video game collector and surrounds himself in technology at the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca/) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.