Pokemon Battle Revolution Wii review

Pokemon Battle Revolution for WiiPokemon Battle Revolution for the Nintendo Wii takes place on an island called Poketopia, where your goal is to battle your way through challenging Colosseums to become the Poketopia Master.

The game takes the 2D Pokemon you’re used to seeing in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and changes them into 3D. The battling game features 11 different colosseums in a new land, the Pokemon-themed theme park called Poketopia. Aside from being the first Pokemon game to hit the Wii, it’s also the first Wii game to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for online play in North America and Japan, and the first Wii game to make use of the DS-Wii connectivity if you own both a Wii and a DS (Lite).

Pokemon Battle Revolution screenshot

System: Wii
Genre: RPG-Fighting, Turn-Based Strategy
Release dates: December 14th 2006 (JPN), June 25th 2007 (USA), November 22nd 2007 (AUS), December 7th 2007 (EURO)
Players: 1-4
Developer: Genius Sonority
Publisher: Nintendo
Origin: Japan

The different gameplay modes explained:

* Colosseum Battle Mode: Your goal is to battle your way through a series of Colosseums, each with its own set of rules and challenges. There are 10 Colosseums (Battle Fields) altogether throughout Poketopia. Many will need to be unlocked by playing through the others. Except the 11th colosseum, the Lagoon Colloseum, that is only used in DS Battle Mode and Online Battle Mode.

* Nintendo DS Battle Mode: This multiplayer mode is for those who also own Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl as well as Nintendo DS systems. Two to four players can get together and battle while using their very own Pokemon from their Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. All players use the DS as a controller in this mode. The same battle interface that is used in Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl is used while battling with friends.

* Wi-Fi Battle Mode: There are two online modes; Battle with a Friend, which allows a player to battle a friend using its own 12-digit friend code, separate from the Wii’s code, and then there’s Battle with Someone, which lets the player face off against random Trainers that have skill levels similar to your own.

* Battle Passes and Trainer Customization: Players can create and customize their own Battle Pass by transferring their favorite Pokemon onto the Pass. They can then save the Battle Pass to their Wii Remote and take it to a friend’s house to battle with them.

The wireless connection between the DS and Wii, allows owners of Pokemon Diamond or Pokemon Pearl to use their handheld as a controller in playing Pokemon Battle Revolution. Players can give orders to their Pokemons using the DS, and then watch the result of the battle on the TV screen. Having a DS isn’t needed to play Pokemon Battle Revolution, although it broadens the range of strategy when challenging other players. Using the DS lets you set up your Pokemon on the handheld’s dual LCD screens rather than the TV screen, making it somewhat of a guessing game to figure out what the opponent player is up to.

Through Pokemon Battle Revolution’s connectivity to the Nintendo DS games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, you can win Pokemon from the Wii game and transfer them back to your DS games through Mystery Gift. This feature allows you to obtain Pokemon that are either hard or impossible to get (without using a cheat device anyway). To unlock the Pokemon, you have to achieve certain goals or enter a special code. Magmortar and Electivire are the only Pokemon that can be obtained with these secret gift codes (respectively B416-X4HT-VTWF and BA16-X4SH-E2AT). In addition to the Pokemon download, players can buy items like certain Technical Machines and evolution items.

Watch the Pokemon Battle Revolution opening cinema.

So what are main features of Pokemon Battle Revolution?

* The game takes place on an island called Poketopia. There are 10 different Colosseums to battle in. The objective is to win all the Colosseum battles and become the Poketopia Master.

* Players use Pokemon from their Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games and battle them on the big screen. Pokemon Battle Revolution is the first title where players can link Wii with Nintendo DS. Players can connect Nintendo DS to Wii (compatible wireless router or Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector and broadband access required for online play).

* DS Battle Mode (requires DS systems for all players): Four players can gather together and battle while using Pokemon from their Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl video games. All players use the DS as their controller in this mode, and it uses the same battle interface found in Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl.

* Players can customize their Trainers in the game. By battling you earn credits, which you can spend on dress up items. This way a Trainer’s apparel, accessories, hair color and skin color can be changed.

In conclusion let’s see how much fun Pokemon Battle Revolution is on a scale from 1 to 10?

FUN FACTOR – 5.5
Pokemon Battle Revolution isn’t quite a stand-alone game, the rental Pokemon are too weak for that, it’s really just a way for you to wirelessly copy your Pokemon from the DS games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl to battle it out on the Wii against varying numbers of other Pokemon on your TV screen (locally or online). Since that’s all there is to it, the complete lack of a single player quest really hurts this game. No, the countless monotonous tournament battles aren’t the same.

The added ability to play against random Trainers online wasn’t there in the DS games, so that might be something to look forward to in this Wii game though. Aside from oogling the 3D models of all your favorite Pokemon, you don’t gain a whole lot here, since your battling Pokemon don’t gain any experience, levels, moves, nor evolve. All you get are credits to buy Gears with to dress up your trainer and Mystery Gifts for your Pokemon. I suggest waiting till it goes down in price to $20, before picking it up. Although $50 might be worth it for the Pokemon fanatics.

Graphics – 7.0
Decent graphics. You’ll get to see all your favorite Pokemon, this time in full 3D. Each Pokemon has its own animations for most moves in the game, some animations even feature both the attacking and defending Pokemon on screen at the same time. While the colosseums may play differently with specific changes, they are exactly the same, pretty dull.

Audio – 5.0
The music and sound effects aren’t memorable at all and have very high-pitched sounds in them, it’s very annoying. The play-by-play announcer becomes a rather samey voice over pretty quickly. There’s no online voice chat either, which makes the experience feel more like a downgrade from the amazing DS game this connects to.

Ingenuity – 6.5
The game’s controls focus on simple Pokemon gameplay: select your Pokemon, choose an attack, switch your Pokemon, use items or run. Using your DS as a controller (with its own private dual-screen), instead of the Wii Remote on the TV screen, adds to the suspense by leaving your local opponent to guess your next move. But you can’t use the DS controls in the online mode, where goals and scoreboards are missing too, still online is the best the game has going for it. For this game to have half the options Pokemon Stadium on N64 had seven years ago is unacceptable, a very bare-bones package.

Replay Value – 5.0
For a game that’s basically an updated game in the Pokemon Stadium series, long-time fans will not get that something original they’ve been hungering for. And I didn’t think I’d actually be missing Wii Remote enabled mini-games in a Wii game, but I do here. However, die-hard fans can enjoy seeing their trained Pokemon battle it out on the TV screen in 3D. Depending on the levels of Pokemon on your chosen team, expect to get over ten hours out of this game.