Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, 3DS, January 29
My biggest qualm with the game was how horrifically childish the start was. For a series where the main character is supposed to literally be you, the player, this game seemed to go FAR out of its way to detach you from your self-insert by treating the main character like a child. Sure, this isn't a problem if you're actually a kid, but considering that this game is actually a little too complex for children to play, that's a problem. (also, the series has NEVER brought age into the equation before, so meh.) By the time I finally got out from under our "parents" and joined the expedition society, I had been mentally numbed to the story and couldn't really have my emotional strings pulled.
So when
I was just like "Welp. That happened."
While it's nice that all 700+ Pokemon are back, it was kind of meh that you couldn't nickname Pokemon anymore. For someone like me who nicknames EVERYTHING, that was a major bummer.
It's also nice that you can actually rescue yourself instead of relying on others, but it's not nice that you can't do as you did in Gates to Infinity and control your teammates back home and complete missions while your main two characters are stuck in a story dungeon somewhere. (You CAN control your teammates, but you only have access to dungeons you've already been to, and you can't complete missions.) Level grinding this way is also not an option, despite ALL Pokemon gaining experience when you do in the main game.
MY RANKING: (as a note, 5 is a mid-level where I don't care one way or the other)
Game Mechanics: 8/10 (Major reduction points: Lack of freedom regarding story missions [previous games allowed you to ignore certain story missions and just grind. This game says no.] Lack of Pokemon naming, enemies being constantly overpowered, AWFUL FORCED TUTORIALS.)
Story: 4/10 (Major reduction points: the first half of the game was spent being treated like a kid, going to school, not being allowed to do things because "you're just a kid" etc. It took 11 hours and 30 minutes to even get to the point where the actual PLOT started. After that, things were better, but not good enough to overpower the reduction points for what happened previously. Also, the climax was pretty much pulled out of a hat and had no foreshadowing whatsoever.)
Graphics: 9.5/10 (Major reduction points: WHERE IS MY HEART-SHAPED TAIL?! Yes that is my only legitimate complaint. I don't expect much for a Pokemon game, TBH)
Sound: 7/10 (Music was not quite as epic as Gates to Infinity was, but it did have some nice tracks in it. There was one song, though, that had a flute which sounded like it was dying (I'm not kidding.) It completely bothered me for the entire duration of the dungeon.