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Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre: Strategy
• Official Website: http://www.pokemon-games.com
• Score: 3 of 5: Bargain Bin

Pokemon Battle Revolution would have been a solid Wii launch title. This makes sense, since it did hit shelves then in Japan, but the late U.S. release had players expecting a bit more. They didn't get it.

The previous console iterations, such as the GameCube's Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD, had loads of extra features, from expansive single-player modes with varied, complex gameplay to minigames and other utilities for the handheld title. With Battle Revolution, the developers scaled back to even less than the original Pokemon Stadium for the N64, leaving only a very simple one-player mode and a few multiplayer battles.

For those looking to check out the game that don't own a DS or the new games, forget it. PBR does feature "rental passes" of Pokemon that players can use, but they are not very flexible, and without a team of your own creation, this title just isn't any fun.

The game's focus seems to be showing off unique features of the Wii - namely, DS connectivity and online play. As no other game has had these features yet, it's interesting to see them in action, but it feels just a bit like a tech demo. There are no online communities, lobbies or anything that would be expected from a full-featured online mode. As it is, this works the same as on the DS, which means that it's not really necessary for a game that relies so much on owning a DS and Diamond or Pearl already.

On the plus side, there are many things done right in this game. All of the hundreds of creatures look great, and they each have enough animations to keep the game from feeling too stale. The DS connectivity works well, and the ability to basically just broadcast a multiplayer battle to the TV makes it worth having around for groups of gamers. It does, however, get a bit obnoxious to see the same move animations over and over, and the announcer's voice is worth muting. For groups of gamers that enjoy trash talk, it doesn't pose much of a problem.

Pokemon Battle Revolution is another sad story of a game with potential getting rushed out for a system's launch, and it's painfully obvious with the delay for localization. It's fun to try for a bit and may have some lasting value for battle-hungry Pokemaniacs, but it's just not fit for mass consumption.

Jul 18, 2007 | 1 comments
Graham Russell