For more on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, check out our full Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity review. Or, for more of the best Nintendo 3DS games for a 10 year old, why not try our Family Game Finder
Based on the popular series of Pokemon games, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity drops you head first into a troubled Pokemon world - and it's up to you to save the day. Playing as a Pokemon of your choice, you team up with other Pokemon to explore the titular 'Mystery Dungeons' which have been cropping up all over the landscape, and making the nearby resident Pokemon act a little strangely, as you help your parter Pokemon build his dream Pokemon Paradise.
The Mystery Dungeons series is suitably different to the other, main Pokemon games (Diamond/Pearl/Black/White/X/Y, etc), as rather than a trainer who goes around catching and battling Pokemon, you're actually playing as a Pokemon directly. Most of your child's time in the game will be spent completing a number of requests set by your fellow Pokemon on the town's bulletin board, which ask you to rescue a lost friend, fetch items, or defeat a particularly tough bad guy - usually by traipsing to one of the nearby "dungeons". Packed full of wild Pokemon, you'll never be too far away from a battle as you explore the dungeons, as the action slows down, and you take it in turns with your opponents to circle, and attack, gaining experience points for each one you defeat, eventually levelling up and getting stronger. The trademark Pokemon collecting rears it's head too, with the wild Pokemon you encounter on your travels often offering to join your team - there's around 150 to recruit, most of which come from the most recent Black and White games.
When you're not exploring the dungeons, however, you can put your town planning skills to work as you build a dream Poketown. As a reward for helping out your fellow Pokemon, you'll receive all sorts of building materials, which can be taken to Gurdurr's shop and used to transform your town of Paradise, building shops full of rare items, dojos to train in and fields that grow berries - all of which will help you out on your journey.
Probably the biggest concern for anyone looking to buy the game for a child is the amount of reading involved in Gates to Infinity - and if we're honest, there is an awful lot of text to wade through, with no voice overs to help out. While the cute and cuddly charm may appeal to younger players, they'll need to be a strong reader in order to tackle this one - that said, there's no more reading than in the main series of Pokemon games, so if your child can handle that, they should be perfectly fine here too.
While the game does have an option for local multiplayer, it requires everyone to have their own copy of the game, and they'll need to have played for around eight hours or so to even unlock the option on the menu.
Being a Pokemon game, Gates to Infinity is as sugary sweet and family friendly as you'd expect from the franchise. Whilst the story deals with your standard "good triumphing over evil" and that by "working together you can succeed" tale, there's nothing especially untoward along the way. The Pokemon do get into fights, but there's never any obvious injuries, blood or guts, and defeated Pokemon simply fade away.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS
