Review: Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)

I hope this doesn't turn into a rant but I'm afraid it might. To avoid this as long as possible, I'll start with the things in this game that are done right. Pokemon are in 3d. It is a thrill to see all 493 pokemon in 3d doing their thing. The online battle system is also very straightforward and very fluid. The actual battle system is still the same as it has always been. The backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous, especially for Wii graphics. Last but not least, using and connecting your DS to your Wii is easy as pie and it works phenomenally.

Now what is wrong with the game? A LOT! Let's start with the pokemon themselves. When you see the surroundings of the battlefield, it gets you thinking that you are in for a visual treat... until your pokemon releases from its pokeball. Then you see 3d pokemon, which is good, but when compared to the backgrounds it looks like a 12 year old animated them.

They looks very flat and featureless, almost as if they were told to withhold as much detail as possible. Next are the attack animations. As has always been a problem with the 3d pokemon games, some of the attacks are lame to watch. You use tackle and your pokemon jumps in the direction of you opponent's pokemon and suddenly the opponent's pokemon is hit by, well, nothing and is pushed backward with a painful expression on its face. No contact occurring whatsoever. Some people might say, they did it so the game would seem less violent, but in my argument, the tv show is directed towards children more so than the games and they show contact. Also some of the moves' animations are just plain boring. Visually they are actually gorgeous but when I hear an attack called shockwave, I expect quite a severe looking attack and that is not what you get.

Now I will give credit where credit is due, some of the attacks (such as water pulse seen above) look good and make sense to the nature of the attack. Another thing that bothers me, and this isn't the only game where this occurs but it's the only game I'm talking about right now. I wonder, why is it that my lvl1 Dratini's hyper beam looks exactly like it does when it has become a lvl100 Dragonite? Maybe it is just me, but I feel that the attacks should look more powerful as the pokemon grows more powerful; is this such a strange concept? If you watched the latest pokemon movie you can clearly see a difference in the potency of Lickylicky's hyper beam as opposed to Dialga's. There's one last thing about the battle animations that really gets me mad. Let's say I used hyper beam with my lvl100 Dragonite. It shoots the opponent's pokemon and drains all of its hp. This is what happens: Dragonite uses hyper beam, it hits the opposing pokemon and knocks it to the floor, the opposing pokemon gets up, returns to its original position, then stumbles around dizzily until it falls. Why does this happen!?!?!? Why doesn't it just stay down!?!?!? Who programmed this? I want to slap you!

The game's most disappointing shortcoming would have to be the lack of a story mode. That's right, all you do in this game is battle battle battle. We're back to the ways of Pokemon Stadium. So, this game with all of its problems and those couple good things manage a 4 out of 10 from me. The lack of story mode take away most points in my book. It keeps four because the game actually works and if you want to battle your friends online, it is great. But for $50 and with all of those shortcomings, I feel a 4 is quite generous.

4/10

-CA

Review: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (DS); 493 useable pokemon?

The pokemon franchise has come a long way* since it's introduction way back in 1995 (in Japan). For those who are either new to the series or have just never played, Pokemon is a turn-based RPG in which you typically start off as a young boy or girl who manages to get a free pokemon (out of a choice of 3; a water type, a fire type, and a grass type) from a random professor in town and starts a journey to see all the pokemon the world has to offer while filling information in your pokedex that the professor gives you, and perhaps become a champion in the process. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are no different**. You start of as a young boy or girl and come across a professor at the lake near your house. After they leave you and your friend notice that they left a briefcase behind in the tall grass. (for those who don't know, you encounter pokemon in tall grass) You and your friend take the risk going into the grass to see what's in the case. When you get there you open it and there are 3 pokemon inside**. The choices are Chimchar, a little monkey who is fire type**, Piplip, a little penguin who is water type**, and Turtwig, a little turtle who is grass type**. Then pokemon attack you and you have no choice but to use one of the 3 pokemon as your defense. After the battle the professor comes back to see what has happened, gets angry and leaves. You and your friend track him down to say sorry and he lets you keep the pokemon if you take his pokedex and fill it with data. And that's how the game begins.

The DS brings a few new elements to pokemon and most of them are great. The second screen takes the clutter out of the first screen, especially during battles. The DS's power over previous handhelds allow for a 2.25D (not quite 2D, not nearly 3D) overworld but to my severe disappointment, the battles were left with non-moving sprites (well, they bounce around a bit when the pokemon is first released) and simple attack animations. This is frustrating to me because this is the fourth major installment of the series and the battles are (other than being more clearly drawn) exactly the same** (below picture is from pokemon red viewed on super gameboy).

In the previous pokemon titles leading to diamond and pearl, there have been a total of 386 pokemon which means that there are 107 all new pokemon to enjoy in this installment... if you can find a way to get them. The reason I say this is because once again, Nintendo thought it would be fun to have more "special event pokemon"**. These pokemon are only attainable by going to special pokemon events where you would receive special items that would unlock a sequence of in game events. These steps will eventually lead you to extremely rare pokemon in the game (Arceus, Shaymin, and Darkrai). In America, these pokemon are near impossible to get without cheats. There are so few pokemon events held in America, and some of them don't even release the "special event pokemon" at them, so I personally am not to fond of the idea if special event pokemon (though it does add a nice rarity factor, it also adds significantly to the hacked pokemon population).

If if you think that getting all of the new pokemon in diamond and pearl because of things like special event pokemon; just wait and see what you have to go through for all 493. First, you need to have all of the Pokemon Ruby and/or Sapphire, Pokemon FireRed and/or LeafGreen, Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD, Pokemon Ranger, and a link cable from your gameboy advance to your gamecube (or wii). Then you have to get all the pokemon into those versions, and oh yes, they have special event pokemon too. Once you somehow manage that, you have to beat diamond or pearl to open the pal park and have them transferred onto your diamond or pearl file. Good luck! Shiny pokemon have also returned to the fray and are just as rare as they have been since they were introduced in the gold and silver versions except, they don't give you one in the plot like they did in gold and silver either. With the Diamond and Pearl versions alone, I'm not sure of the exact number but I think somewhere around 150 pokemon are available.

Of course with new pokemon come new legendary pokemon and once again, this is no exception. Nintendo did a great job in coming up with some kickass new legendary pokemon for diamond and pearl. Dialga and Palkia are both awesome.

So, what's so great about diamond and pearl then? Well, obvious reasons like the new pokemon, the gameplay (though almost exactly the same as it has always been) is rock solid, new moves and pokemon competitions spice it up a little, giving you so much more to do than just stroll your way through the game. Also, for the in depth pokemaniac EV points were added for those who want to breed and raise their pokemon to be absolutely perfect. The game's difficultly level, especially towards the end with the elite 4, is a good amount higher than previous versions; but they keep it bearable. The addition of online battling and trading are an incredible add on as well. Not only can you just trade with people you know but you can go to the global trading center and trade pokemon with people around the world. (My Palkia in my diamond version is from Japan) With a clear and easy to use interface throughout the game, no one that is over 5 years old should have a problem playing this game.

In the end, I give Pokemon Diamond/Pearl 8 out of 10. While the new innovative features definitely get the games score up, it is the lack of innovation in other areas that brings it down. I put a * in the beginning of the review where I said the franchise has come a long way and ** next to several things that are due for a makeover in the game. I referenced them together because the franchise when you think about it, hasn't come that far at all. But don't let that discourage you from the game. My note to Nintendo would be, if you keep stuff in the game from old versions, take something awesome like how after you beat the elite 4 in gold/silver you could travel to the region from the red/blue versions and not only catch a lot more pokemon, but also battle more gym leaders and everything. I still think that the gold/silver/crystal versions are the best in the series having had 251 pokemon available in game (only 2 were event pokemon: Mew and Celebi). So all that bad and still 8/10? Yes! Pokemon is a great and and always has been, it's all of the elements of the game are good; they're just starting to get old. And to those who think it's just for kids, you're wrong. The game is great and people of all ages will love it. The show is for kids (though the movies are tolerable).

8/10

-CA