Pokemon Battle Revolution Review
Jun 29, 2007
There's an old, painful adage that Pokemon console games are never good. Despite its impressive graphics and a handful of worthwhile online features, Pokemon Battle Revolution is the worst of those meager console efforts to date... and that's really saying something.
Like the Nintendo 64 Pokemon Stadium games released in 2000, Pokemon Battle Revolution is a game of pure Pokemon battles. No story, no overworld, no catching them all - just an endless string of Pokemon battles. What's the appeal of this, you ask? Why, getting to see your Pokemon battle... in 3D!
While the game pretends to be a standalone game, Pokemon Battle Revolution primarily exists as a companion to Nintendo DS juggernauts Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Veteran Pokemon trainers will want to transfer their Pokemon from their DS games over before starting out, otherwise they'll find themselves hampered by the games extremely limited "rental" Pokemon.
The single player is anything but revolutionary. After fiddling around with rental passes, Pokemon levels and some other game-balancing contrivances, you'll be ready to battle. Unfortunately, for a game whose sole focus is battles, you'd expect them to be a bit more exciting than than this. While the battles' pacing has improved significantly from the previous console efforts, there's still nothing more to them than selecting attacks and watching overlong animations play out over and over again - while adequate on a handheld, this formula struggles to hold your attention on the big screen without real gameplay to keep you interested after the graphics' charm wears thin. The game tries vainly to mix things up by throwing a variety of different battle rules to keep you guessing, but these rules are more often annoying than interesting. Top it all off with laughable AI and there's really nothing here to recommend.
As you battle through the various coliseums on Poketopia island in the single player campaign, you'll earn Pokecoupons to exchange for a variety of useful items that can be sent wirelessly to build up your DS game's arsenal, including a coveted surfing Pikachu should you manage to suffer through the entire single player experience... multiple times. Item prices are high, so expect to spend a lot of time grinding through those boring battles to earn any. Pokecoupons can also be used to upgrade the game's handful of customizable avatars, too, but outfitting them is expensive and serves no purpose beyond multiplayer bragging rights.
Yes, multiplayer. Multiplayer, fortunately, fares a better than the soporific single player slog. While the DS Pokemon adventures featured online battles, you were only allowed to battle against friends. Pokemon Battle Revolution is not only the first Wii game with online play, it also allows you to compete against random individuals on the internet. The system works well, but lacks compelling ranking or player matching features to ensure that you're fighting against worthy opponents. You'll also be able to compete against your friends, too, thanks to the inscrutably irksome Friend Code system. Why the game doesn't use our existing Wii Codes is perhaps the biggest mystery of all - how many cryptic string of digits do we have to keep track of anyway? Sadly, the game doesn't award Pokecoupons for online battles, something that would make the game's outrageous item prices more reasonable.
As weak as its gameplay is, it's hard to fault the game's production values. Pokemon Battle Revolution is the most attractive Wii game to date, without a doubt. While the Pokemon models and animations have been recycled from the previous Stadium and Colosseum games, the game's impressive lighting and texture effects really bring them to life. The trainers, coliseums and especially the Pokemons' bombastic attacks are all impressive as well, rounding out this impressive visual package.
The game's sound is solid, too, sporting spoken color commentary by the TV show's narrator, announcing the Pokemon, their attacks and the battle progress on the whole. While the process of stiching the various voice clips together can make the announcements sound a little stilted at times, in the end it adds a lot to the experience.
Pokemon Battle Revolution is a deeply conflicted product - it's complete lack of compelling single player content is somewhat mitigated by the impressive production values and multiplayer extensions, but in the end it's hard justifying spending $50 for an extra coat of paint. As if mocking its own pompous title, Pokemon Battle Revolution is, amazingly, a step back for the historically reviled console Pokemon games - there's plenty of style, but less substance than ever before.