It has to be said: Pokémon is the cow that has been milked too much. Nintendo's current stance with the franchise appears to be quantity over quality and instead of some decent RPGs every few years, we get the likes of Pokémon Channel. Stick some poor animation and AI in there along with a couple of odd anime episodes starring Pichu and put it on store shelves as a full price game. Channel was quite frankly abysmal and most likely sold on the basis that players would be enticed by the prospect of linking it up to your GBA Pokémon games and unlocking Jirachi, an elusive little 'mon. The DS disappointments of Pokémon Dash and Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon are still fresh in our minds, too: naturally, we're just a little bit apprehensive about Nintendo's commitment to producing decent Pokémon games. Yet, Pokémon Ranger looks set to bring a new Pokémon experience to the DS.

You begin the game as a boy/girl that wants to be a Pokémon Ranger. This difference to the rest of the Pokémon series should offer a fresh experience for those who are bored of playing a character who 'wants to be the very best'. The catch 'em gimmick is still there, but its how the gimmick is presented that really makes Pokémon Ranger its own game. After having a little wander in the usual RPG towns, you can do missions, which let you confront and catch Pokémon. There's no random battles this time, you have to walk into the wandering 'mon to begin prodding it with your stylus. When the blighter pops up, you have to frantically scribble and draw on the screen to ensure its capture. Once defeated with the power of doodles, the Pokémon is added to your browser for future reference (and I assume to put on your team for use in battles).

The graphics aren't much improvement over the other portable Pokémon adventures, as they remain 2D. But brilliant 2D beats chunky, ugly 3D graphics any day, right? The sweet looking 2D presentation is made gorgeous on the DS, and the screens look so bright and colourful in trailers. However, it wasn't the graphics that gave the nation Poké-fever back in the 90's. It was the sheer addictiveness and longevity (and probably that pesky trading card game). It remains to be seen whether there'll be enough depth and variety of gameplay in this title to keep players satisfied. Expect a review in a few weeks.

Pokemon Ranger is out on April 13th in Europe.