Customer Ratings & Reviews

A great new way to battle with pokemon. There are many warriors and you get to team up with a different warrior for each story and conquer all the kingdom. The more you battle, your pokemon level up and can evolve them to make them stronger. Also you can re-play each story to your hearts content.

I liked the different strorry lines and the strategy behind the game

I love strategy games, and I also love Pokemon. This game was a fantastic blend of both. I found it surprising engaging and challenging. I recommend strategy game or Pokemon fans to check this game out.

*Note that this review does not contain any specific elements of the game, as I do not want to hinder the experience for anyone. Read official descriptions if you would like to know more.* Successes: This game is based upon a turn-based mechanic, a much different approach to the Pokemon series. This renders the game more difficult at times than anything you may have encountered for the Nintendo DS. Due to the fact that this game is a blend of two series, Pokemon and Nobunaga's Ambition, a unique territory was explored: feudal Japan. For the most part, Pokemon Conquest explored this land of Ransei admirably--though perhaps not entirely factually. In the initial run-through this game manages to continually surprise the player with each of its seventeen kingdoms that must be defeated. Each kingdom introduces some twist that makes the gameplay experience continually fresh. The Biggest Accolades I Give to Pokemon Conquest: First and foremost, there is not too much dialogue or text involved: the game hits just the right amount to keep the player entertained with witty comments here and there, but does not become a drawn-out endeavor. Truly, the script of this game was just as it should be, and I applaud that. Secondly, Pokemon Conquest really splits from the rest of the Pokemon pack and feels like an entirely new experience. However, this makes the game a double-edged sword in many ways, as detailed below. Failures: The Post-Game play consists of episodes for each Warlord and Junior Warlord. If you are a completionist, then this game can be frustrating as each episode is time intensive--often at least an hour to complete--and extremely repetitive (the most common mission is to conquer and unite all of Ransei). Now, these Post-Game episodes are not entirely lacking: they do give each Warlord a backstory. Also, the difficulty level of the game is increased in each of these episodes: this makes winning the stories feel like a definite accomplishment. Nevertheless, the Post-Game does feel as though it is overkill at times, particularly since some of the episode dialogues lack the wit and thought of the initial run-through and each episode continues to be more of the same. Had the kingdoms changed their battlefield design from episode to episode it may have led to more intrigue, but alas, each kingdom remains stagnant from the first episode played to the last. Pokemon Swarms are the only ways to collect some Pokemon legitimately in the game. This would not be a problem except for the fact that they only occur in certain Warlord episodes, which can make for a difficult and random time trying to collect them all. (A similar circumstance occurs when trying to collect all standard warriors, but not nearly as time intensive.) Two small inconveniences in the game are the lack of total Pokemon available (only 200 are in the Pokemon Gallery) and the standard warriors are repeated designs throughout the game, making them feel more mundane than perhaps they should. Had either of these features been enhanced, perhaps Post-Game would have become an entirely different experience. The In Between: Unlike the standard Pokemon games, Pokemon only have one move in this game. As such, this can be seen as something that makes the game more challenging but also hampers some Pokemon (many say that Rhyperior becomes completely useless because of his Rock Wrecker, for instance). Additionally, certain Pokemon are hindered because of a lack of movement capacity (again, Rhyperior only has a range of two tiles). I personally do not find either of these two game mechanics to be more than an interesting challenge, but others do. The audio effects were quite spectacular when I started playing the game. Music truly gave the sounds of feudal Japan. While I can listen to some audio tracks endlessly (Nixtorm and Dragnor come to mind immediately), many turn repetitive after the 100+ hours spent to fully complete the game. The visuals were quite grand for a Nintendo DS game, particularly the renderings of the Warlords and their Perfect Link. However, considering this was a DS release coming at the tail end of the gaming console's era, it makes me question the choice. Why not render the game in 3D? Finally, some of the game mechanics as to how to fully complete your galleries, and subsequently the game, are left for you to discover for yourself: this can either be maddening or entertaining... or a bit of both. Ultimately: This game is definitely recommended for any Pokemon fan. Though it may seem that I have critiqued the game more than given it praise, the only reason I do so is because of just how much I admire it. In fact, I probably undersold the appeal of the game, so I'll try again in brief here: the episodes involving your character, the Hero--crafted to be the first and last episodes of the game--are brilliant and masterful. I have nothing but praise to sing for this aspect of the game. The only problems I personally encountered were found within the repetition of Post-Game episodes: while they did extend gameplay well into 100+ hours and many of the episodes provided me with entertainment, there was not enough variety to keep me entirely entertained. But to get to that final Hero episode for me... it was worth it. Regardless of any criticism I have, this entire game was a valiant exploration into undiscovered territory for the Pokemon Company. As such, Pokemon Conquest dominates and will remain among the ranks as one of the best games I have played. If you liked this game, then something that can give it a bit of a boost would be the 3DS XL. Even though the game is not in 3D and there is slight pixel distortion because of a bigger screen, it really immersed me into the playing experience. Also, I recommend two other spin-offs of the main Pokemon series of the Mystery Dungeon variety. They are both fairly fun, but are much more dialogue/text heavy (there are spots in each of the games where you are reading for minutes on end as dialogue cannot be skipped). Out of these two games, however, Gates to Infinity has a slight edge visually due to the 3D effect while Explorers of Sky has more Pokemon to collect and makes for a longer adventure to play out.