Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team is another branded edition of Chunsoft's prolific, Rogue-inspired 'Mystery Dungeon' series, that did more than just import Pokemon's aesthetics to their format. Their blend of Pokemon conventions with the usual elements (hub world + job quests, randomly generated dungeons, quasi-tactical battling, hunger meter, etc.) is perhaps MD's least punishing incarnation to date, with plenty of help menus and small tweaks to past systems. The result - however, is a long series of massive floors where not much happens. Pokemon's customization and Mystery Dungeon's randomized design is a combo that - in theory, should leave room for lots of variety, but without the danger (relegated to the occasional crit) or tension (food items spawn rather frequently), the game becomes a passive monodimensional exercise.

Its greatest asset is wedged between the episodes of quest-redeeming & dungeon-crawling: A multi-part story that begins with the straighforward verve and subtlety of kids cartoons, but then reveals a tragic past followed by a sudden, dire turn of events. Sadly, what could've been an experiment in adopting JRPG storytelling of the mid-90s (a form that turns the idealism of their parents upside down) quickly reverts to its old optimistic mood, culminating in yet another worldly conflict.