Format Nintendo DS • Price £29.99

Publisher Nintendo • Game type Adventure

Release 21 November 2008 • Info It’s Pokémon Ranger, but featuring Diamond and Pearl Pokémon

It’s a whole new Pokémon Ranger game – hooray! The Pokémon World investigative team set out to discover what we can expect from this exciting game…

If you’ve ever played Pokémon Ranger then you’ll know what this new game is all about, because this is the sequel and follows a very similar path! So more scribbling around Pokémon to capture them, more quests and some cool Wi-Fi options, let’s investigate further… Taking place in the land of Almia, in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia you’re once again playing the part of a rookie
Pokémon Ranger who has just graduated from Ranger School.

As a rookie, your first task is to choose a partner Pokémon. While there are 17 Pokémon in the game that you will eventually get to partner with (one for each Pokémon element), there are only three that you can play with from the start – Starly, Munchlax or Pachirisu. We’ve put all the Pokémon in a handy box on this page for you to see who you’re going to meet along the journey through in-game events and exciting sub-quests.

“So where is Almia?” we hear you cry. Well, it’s a brand new region, far away from the lands of Hoenn, Kanto, Johto and Orre that you’ve probably visited. It’s quite a mountainous place with a sprinkling of towns and villages, a volcano and a desert to explore! One of the main locations is Vien Town in central Almia. Here you’ll find a Ranger Base, the Ranger School that your character has graduated from, a Forest and a Beach. Then there’s Pueru Town that is often called ‘the heart of Almia’ where you’ll come across a Harbour that will give you access to more exciting locations like Boil Land near the volcano and Haruba Desert.

What you can expect from Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is everything from the original game, plus a load of new elements to master too! The Pokémon in your party will still be able to use abilities like Fire, Cut or Gust to help you through tricky scenarios, but you will now also be able to jump on some of the Pokémon and take a ride! This will be the key to travelling to new areas of Almia swiftly. Pokémon Assists and Capture Styler Boosters are still in, but you will also be able to gain Guards from the sub-missions in the game. Guards are basically upgrades to the Capture Styler, which allows it to inflict more damage, or, on the flip side, prevent damage from Pokémon attacks and mishaps.

As you adventure through the game and a nearing the end of a mission you will come across Boss Pokémon to battle. You’ll know they’re Boss Pokémon because they have the biggest HP bar you will have ever seen! These Pokémon take an incredible number of Capture Styler rotations to capture them and have some sneaky moves they’re desperate to try out on you. A neat trick, though, is to always watch out for a ‘!’ appearing above their head. This means that they are about to attack you, so get out of the way quick Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia  has maintained the Field Ability element of the original too. This is where you will come across an obstacle in your mission that you just can’t budge on your own. It could be a big rock, a wooden box, some soft soil or a sealed door. There is guaranteed to be a Pokémon lurking somewhere nearby who can help you out. It’s a simple matter of linking the Pokémon with the obstacle and – bob’s your uncle! The great thing is that once an obstacle has been removed, it’s gone for good, so there will be no going back and forth repeating the same task in this game! There are also now Overworld Field Abilities that aren’t obstacle based. These are things like surfing on lava, hovering, creating rain, teleporting and making whirlwinds – yes, there’s going to be a lot to learn in Shadows of Almia.

As ever with a Pokémon game, just completing the main adventure doesn’t mean you’re all done – there are Quests still to go, 60 of them in total! There are unlocked throughout the game and offer you more upgrades to your Capture Styler as a reward for completion. This is a brilliant Ranger game – grab your copy today!