Last year's release of the Pokéwalker with Pokémon Heartgold and SoulSilver for the DS was one of the great moments in Pokémon history. Gamers could take their Pokémon wherever they went and train them. Nintendo was taking a piece of art and making it a part of life. It was like you were living and breathing the animated cartoon, minus the fight scenes. Unfortunately, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs is no such leap forward. The game follows the original 2006 Pokémon Ranger franchise, which at the time presented an entirely new way of playing Pokémon. The game was more Action than RPG. Instead of capturing Pokémon with a Pokéball, you used a "Styler," which was more-or-less an in-game version of your DS stylus. You captured Pokémon by drawing circles around them for later use in solving puzzles. Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs is not too different from its predecessor. The game has a reasonably entertaining story if you stick around long enough to uncover it. However, drawing circles can easily get repetitive and there's just not enough variety to keep your attention.

Pokémon Rangers, much like Pokémon Trainers, are recognized all over the world. NPCs (non-player characters) who are not part of this privileged class immediately recognize you and are in awe by what you do. The story starts off in Oblivia with the introduction of Pokémon Pinchers. These minions are all under order to capture Pokémon for the benefit of some evil master plan that you uncover as the game progresses. The Pinchers fly around on sky sleds capturing any Pokémon in their path. A boy and girl Pokémon Ranger are sent to stop these nefarious Pinchers. Unfortunately, one accidentally plummets to the earth. The one that falls is dependent on which gender you choose. And, so your quest begins to be reunited with your partner and stop the dreaded Pinchers.

Gamers capture Pokémon by using their Styler, which was damaged during the fall. This is done by drawing several circles around wild Pokémon on the touch screen. The circles need not be uniform; they just need to form loops that connect from end to end. If the wild Pokémon strikes your loop before you're finished drawing it, your Styler will get damaged. Both the wild Pokémon and your Styler have power meters so you can see how you're progressing in the battle to tame the wild. If you're Styler's energy goes down to zero, you will have to start over. A couple hours into the game you will be able to upgrade various stats on your Styler: Energy, Power, Capture Line, Damage Reduction, Charge Speed, Energy Recovery and Latent Power.

Gamers need to capture (or befriend depending on how you look at it) Pokémon to solve various environment puzzles and also battle the Pinchers' Pokémon. Each Pokémon has a power type (or element) associated with them as well as a rating. If you see a fire you may not only have to use a water element Pokémon to put the fire out, but also use multiple water Pokémon with level two ratings. Unlike typical Pokémon games, the Pokémon Rangers franchise is friendlier towards these fantastical creatures. Once you use a Pokémon to solve an environment puzzle, you will free them and not put them back in your trusty Pokéball.

Gamers can also call on Pokémon for assistance in taking down a wild Pokémon. The bottom quarter of your touch screen shows which Pokémon you have. You can call on any of these to help you out. Depending on the class of Pokémon, they may have a better chance of success against a Pokémon with a conflicting power or element type. Using your Pokémon will build up your capture rate, but in the end only drawing circles will gain a Pokémon's trust. Ukulele Pichu joins your team later in the game as a Partner. If he pops up at the bottom of your screen he will share his ukulele tunes to help tame other Pokémon. Gamers will also be able to use Ranger Signs as you progress to call on the legendary Entei, Raikou and Suicune Pokémon.

What helps to add diversity to the game is the use of periodic downward missions. There are points in the game where you will position your DS vertically and guide your character as he or she falls through the air or dives through water. There's also a good cooperative multiplayer feature that allows four players to play wireless missions. Gamers will have access to several of the three hundred plus Pokémon unlocked in the game.

Pokémon Rangers: Guardian Signs will give Pokémon gamers a different experience from the traditional RPG franchise. There's definitely more action as well as a story that can be pretty good if you're willing to play through the entire twenty hours of play (depending on how much circle drawing you're into). However, the game simply gets too repetitive. Traditional gamers will get more longevity out of continued play on Heartgold and SoulSilver.

Final Rating: B-