July 11th, 2007 by JSnake
Competing online from the comfort of your sofa
One of the most hyped features of Pokemon Battle Revolution is the online play (WiFi). Players will probably get the most fun out of WiFi, as that is the main source of heated battles and tough opponents. It is always vastly more fun playing against a human opponent than a computer-controlled one. However, the monotony comes back again after two or three battles. That's all most players will be able to handle until they feel a sudden sense of drowsiness. WiFi can be extremely fun if you play one or two battles every so often, however.
Visually, the game is outstanding. It is far and away the best looking Wii game on the market. Character models are gorgeous with great texture detail and tons of vibrancy. The arenas are particularly beautiful as neon lights flash and glow, waterfalls rush down, and burning lava turns and boils. The special effects are arguably the best part of the visuals. All the attacks make great use of shaders. Water splashes down and wets the screen, fire is spewed and turns everything around it hazy and indiscernible. The whole game is extremely beautiful. Unfortunately, even the graphics aren't without their faults in. Animations are random and jerky. Your Pokemon may KO another Pokemon, but the KO'd Pokemon makes a full recover animation and then falls down in defeat. It's awkward looking, and it breaks the realism quite a bit.
Music is pumping and it does its job of getting the player excited. Each arena has its own tune, and thankfully the tune fits each arena quite well. The garden stage is calm and relaxing and the fire stage is fast and upbeat. The sound is quite un-noticeable, with one large exception: the announcer's voice. While a battle is going on, an announcer will talk in the background, announcing attacks and yelling out the status of the battle. The problem is, his announcements are extremely repetitive and it gets bothersome when he says the same thing multiple times in a single battle. Thankfully there is an option to turn the announcer's voice off, but then the battles feel a tad too empty...
Replay value is decent due to the inclusion of online play, but even that probably won't keep players booting up the game for more than a few weeks. Also, there aren't any unlockables other than the different outfits and hidden moves, so the single player portion suffers. The game also doesn't keep track of your records on WiFi. There is no way of telling how many games you've lost or how many you won. You can keep track yourself, but other than that, there is no way to tell. So even the online play suffers from lack of incentive.
So does the inclusion of WiFi make it worthwhile?
Overall, Pokemon Battle Revolution is vastly disappointing compared to what fans expected. Sub-par (but still fun) online play, boring battles, and no unlockables. The game definitely feels more like an extension to the DS Pokemon games than a stand-alone game. This feeling is further backed up by the fact that the game is worthless without owning Pokemon Pearl or Diamond. It's a shame, because the game was extremely hyped. Hopefully, the next Stadium game is better than this one. As it stands Pokemon Battle Revolution is only worth the money to the most hardcore Pokemon fans. If you're not one of them, save your hard-earned dollars/pounds/yen.
|
