N-Philes

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Posted October 26th 2005 by Victor Chaves.

Victor here, ready to give you my two cents on what Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is all about. No, I did not just make an emoticon there; the "XD" stands for "eXtra Dimension", possibly hoping to lead gamers into thinking that this is the giant sprawling 3D RPG that fans have been waiting on for years. Right away let me say that this is not that game. Gale of Darkness is actually much more like the franchise's previous ventures into the 3D world and, for me, was also rather disappointing.

The story is really simple: you, as the hero, go through the world converting the "Shadow Pokémon" to... regular-style Pokémon. Basically the Shadow Pokémon are Pokémon that have their hearts closed. Without their hearts open, they will be ever obedient, and almost machine-like; think "brainwashed". By battling with these Pokémon, having them in your party, or leaving them in storage with Pokémon that are already normal, the shadow over their hearts will open up little by little. Eventually you can go to a ceremony spot that will allow you to fully open their hearts. By saving Pokémon throughout the world, your Pokémon get stronger and provide better fighting ability than Shadow Pokémon. There is a story other than this, where the Shadow Pokémon are being generated through a company that plans to take over the world via their production. But the story isn't really important. In fact, there is almost no story. Any dialogue is more of just telling you as the player where to go instead of anything good on the background.

Fighting is done through trainer battles, being as their are no wild Pokémon fights (except at the end, but if you watch the intro you'll know why this isn't a spoiler). The way you get Pokémon is by stealing Shadow Pokémon from trainers. But stealing Pokémon from the trainer is okay because you're making the Pokémon happier, right? It's done just like all other Pokémon games, hurt the target a little, then catch 'em with a Pokéball. After capturing it, nurture it, fight with it, and now you have yourself a new Pokémon! Use it or store it. Actual fighting is pretty boring too. Although animation looks nice and everything, but it's not very lively and the fighting as a result is just way too... boring for 3D. Figuring out the types of Pokémon and which attacks to use against others works far better in a handheld setting where looks take a back seat to strategy. In 3D we expect more out of the action side of things,

Leveling up the Pokémon is actually really tough, because every trainer you come across is extremely challenging, and you would almost have to go and heal your Pokémon each and every time, which makes for some serious backtracking. Major bad, as backtracking just to heal Pokémon is not what I would consider fun. However, the level designers were so good, each level has a healing station that can be easily found from anywhere in the area. It's just pretty annoying how whenever I fought a trainer, I have to fight to my best, and have all except one Pokémon come out of the battle conscious. Pokémon types are a little difficult to work with, because in order to release Pokémon's hearts, fighting is the easiest, but most of the time that you fight, it's against way stronger Pokémon. One thing I agree with here is the fact that Shadow Pokémon cannot level up at all. When their hearts are released, they get all the experience they earned, and even come out stronger and more powerful than one expects. So fighting definitely has a better payoff than letting the pokes sit in storage.

Here are also some miscellaneous gripes and likes that I had with this game. I was upset to find that the Pokémon you spoke to still sounded like the Game Boy games! Why couldn't Nintendo just add in some Pokémon sounds, or reference the noises that the Pokémon make in fights? We're trying to get away from nostalgia, Nintendo. What I liked a lot was that each trainer that you fight is special. You will not find the same trainer throughout the game, unless they rematch you. This is awesome because it makes the whole game seem more like a living, breathing world. What else I like is that, in essence, you can play the whole game with just your right hand. The C-stick is used for both movement in environments and menu navigation. Pretty cool when you wanna keep moving but thirst is hitting like a sand storm. Graphics are pretty sub-par for the environments and trainers, unlike the Pokémon models, which are very nice. This isn't something for the graphics lover though, so don't expect any eye candy on this adventure.

This game gets an N-Philes score of C-.

Here's my final word on this game: I want to like this game, I really do. It has a good formula for fighting, and the combat system is deep, and there are other factors like charm that make me feel compelled to give this game a higher grade. But the game is not original at all. And not just from previous 3D Pokémon games. If the graphics were reverted to the Game Boy look, people wouldn't notice the difference. If you are looking for something sticking to the original Pokémon formula, then you got it. But if you are looking for Pokémon to actually break into the "Xtra Dimension", you're in for sore disappointment. Trust me, the moment Nintendo releases an original Pokémon 3D adventure that breaks into new territory, I'll be on that like a Pidgey to a Ratatta.

Posted in: Reviews

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