If you are familiar with the Pokémon series, then you have likely played one of the 3D battle games that have appeared on the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. These started with Pokémon Stadium on the N64, followed by Pokémon Stadium 2 on the same system. Then the usual Pokémon gameplay took a detour with the not-so-popular Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, both on the GameCube, which seem to be nearly forgotten by Pokémon fans (if they ever even played them). Pokémon Battle Revolution is next in line, the first Pokémon game on the Wii. The title of this game is perhaps the biggest misnomer in the history of video games, which I'll explain as I go.
This Review is rated on a 0-4 star scale… 0 is of course terrible, and 4 is of course great.
Graphics: ****
It is incredibly clear that a lot of effort was put into the visual portion of this game. The Pokémon look amazing, as do their attacks. The actual colosseums in which you battle look spectacular as well. You even get to see trainers in this game, and they look fantastic. In short, there is no doubt this game's strength is in its visuals. Unfortunately, that's been a problem in the past…
Sound: **½
The game receives a positive score because of one song: the so-called "UFO music" that plays when you set your Pokémon from your Battle Pass. I call it the "UFO music" because it reminds me of music played in commercials, shows, etc. when aliens are shown. It's a brilliant song, no matter what it reminds you of. The rest of the music in the game is okay. Nothing fantastic, nothing horrible. But that song forces me to give this category a positive rating.
Difficulty: ½
Pokémon Battle Revolution really is as hard as you make it. If you've captured and raised powerful Pokémon from GBA and DS games, then you'll end up having an easy time with the Colosseum battles, except for the Fortune Battles (explained later). On the other hand, if you haven't done much training, or if you don't even have a Pokémon game, then I suppose it's going to be a lot harder. I'm guessing that's the case, although I've simply played with the Pokémon I raised. You can give yourself a challenge in that way, by either using a Rental Pass or by choosing some of your Pokémon that are weaker.
Controls: ****
I'm not trying to propagandize for Nintendo and its Wii, but the Wii Remote makes things so much easier in this game. Okay, so I am trying to promote the Wii a little here. The point-and-click method used in this game makes battling so much easier. It's effortless. And to think that I'm a huge supporter of what I may have called in the past a "gimmick"…
Presentation: **
This category, one that IGN features in its reviews but I rarely do, is… well, the way the game is presented. It's a little hard to define, but rather easy to understand. This game does a great job with things such as the customizable characters, even down to their customizable sayings, and the exact types of Pokéballs that your character throws (if your Mewtwo was captured with a Master Ball, then that's what it will come out of). On the other hand, this game has an annoying girl who slowly describes every option you have to choose from. Also, the attacks look kind of strange… if your Pokémon's attack misses, instead of your Pokémon actually using the attack, and then showing that it missed the opponent, your Pokémon just stands there and does nothing. That doesn't make sense. It looks like this: my Pokémon didn't actually use Earthquake; it saw that it was battling a Flying-type Pokémon, so it decided not to waste the effort.
All in all, the presentation of this game is a mixed bag; some things look great, while others don't make much sense or are too time-consuming for my liking.
Gameplay: ***
The game is pretty straightforward: just win a string of battles in a row and you've won the Colosseum. Of course, there are a bunch of different battle rules, most of which are pretty easy to understand, though there are two that warrant discussion here. One is Fortune Battle, where your 6 Pokémon and your opponent's 6 Pokémon are put on a wheel, and you sort of randomly choose your Pokémon (good timing, however, can get you the ones you want). If you're like me, your Pokémon will be the stronger Pokémon, so you'll want to get your own. But it definitely does not make sense that a trainer is battling against his or her own Pokémon. Isn't there supposed to be a bond between the Pokémon and the trainer, blah blah blah? Nevertheless, although this mode angered me a couple of times when I ended up with a hopeless crew of Pokémon, I realized that it did help test my battle skills, as well as give me a challenge.
Another type of battling is where you are given a choice of 12 random Pokémon from which to make your 4-Pokémon team. This is a great idea, except the execution is poor: your opponent not only chooses from the same 12 Pokémon, but can choose the same exact Pokémon as you! And often, there are clear-cut best choices of Pokémon, so you'll end up having the same Pokémon battle each other, which leads to dull stalemates. I once had a battle where my opponent and I chose exactly the same 4 Pokémon. It should have been that you and your opponent take turns choosing Pokémon from that group of 12, with you getting the first pick, and then your opponent two straight, and then you two straight, etc. That way, there would be more strategy involved, rather than randomly guessing if your Pokémon would be good choices. Also, it would prevent scenarios where the same Pokémon are battling each other, which is boring battling.
The actual gameplay is pretty good overall; it's Pokémon battling against other trainers, so if you like it in the handheld games, you should like it here.
Replayability: ½
This is the biggest problem with this game; it is not deep at all. It took me just about 8 hours to beat the game. There isn't very much to the game, nor is there very much challenge. Pokémon Stadium offered many different battle modes, in an incredibly deep experience. Pokémon Battle Revolution doesn't "revolutionize" the Pokémon battle experience at all; it merely gives you the general core of the experience, while not offering much more than that. (Note: I do not have Wi-Fi access, so Internet battling is not possible for me.)
Fun Factor!: *
This game really doesn't offer that much fun. Sure, winning in the battles where you don't get to use all of your own Pokémon can be pretty exciting, but the other battles are awfully boring. You can easily cruise right through the game without much of a challenge. I know that I'm not a big fan of really hard games, but I do like a good challenge, like what Pokémon Stadium gave to me, which was a very fun experience along with battles that went right down to the wire. It was the true "revolution"; Pokémon Battle Revolution, while two generations later, is clearly inferior.
OVERALL: *
If I had bought this game for cheap, I might be inclined to give it one-and-a-half stars, as it's not completely bad. But given the fact that I paid $50 for this, I'm completely disappointed. I knew I was in for trouble when I opened up the instruction manual and saw the very small selection of modes. Don't even think about paying $50 for this game unless you're a huge Pokémon fan, and definitely don't buy this game unless you have Pokémon Diamond or Pearl, in order to use those Pokémon in this game. If you're expecting a "revolution", you'll find that this is anything but a revolutionary experience, but rather just a small portion of what Pokémon Stadium offered on the N64. I hate to say it, but this game goes back to what made many GameCube games failures: style over substance. Its graphics may be spectacular, but the gaming experience is greatly lacking. Hopefully Nintendo's future first-party, big-series Wii games will be much better than this one, because Pokémon Battle Revolution is a big disappointment.
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