Sunday 22 November 2009

The Games Station: Pokemon Rumble


This is an interesting little game, available exclusive via download on the Nintendo Wii as a wiiware game for 1500 points (thats around £10.50 I believe). In the game you play as small super deformed Pokemon toys which come alive via the use of a "Wonderkey" (like clockwork toys really, just with a fancier name) with the aim of becoming champion of the Pokemon Royal Rumble tournament - a huge melee tournament with about 60 contestants per rumble. Starting out as a Rattata and initially losing your first rumble, you travel around 6 different worlds recruiting more stronger Pokemon to join your cause, rising up the ranks to eventually become champion!

Since its both a) a Wii game and b) a downloadable game, the graphics are hardly anything to shout home about, but this actually works to the games favour since it makes the adorable super deformed Pokemon even more cute - especially my personal favourite Raichu :D

The gameplay is extremely simple to get to grips with. You hold the wii remote on its side and use the arrow buttons to move and 1 and 2 to do attacks, you can also switch your Pokemon using the A button. Make sure to switch the Pokemon when your current one is running low because you only get 3 lives per level, and once they're gone you get kicked back to the terminal (however you do get to keep any Pokemon you've recruited and money you might have made...a nice little plus). The only downside is gameplay can sometime seem a little too easy, since factors such as type don't seem to have such a huge impact in the game. For example, I've been beating flying types with dig, who'd usually be immune to such a move. The most important thing in this game is power - give a powerful Pokemon a powerful move and you'll be fine. You might want to slow down your game progression though (I've had the game since Friday and I've already cleared the first mode). On the upside though, it is RIDICULOUSLY fun. I'd definitely say its the most fun I've had from a Pokemon game outside of the mainline handheld games and DEFINITELY the best value for money. Just running around, beating pokemon, collecting money and taking part in huge royal rumbles - I could do it all day.

Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game is the choice of Pokemon they've included - basically they decided to include the first 151 Pokemon from the Kanto region and then all the NEW Pokemon from the Sinnoh region. This means that some of the sinnoh Pokes have their pre-evolutions missing (eg Mismagius, Honchkrow) which seems a little odd. Plus my 2nd favourite Pokemon Mudkip is nowhere to be seen! Personally I'd have just gone for a random mix from all of the generations, but that's just me.

In conclusion I want to give this full marks, but the amount of fun does not make up for lack of difficultly I feel I perhaps should knock it down to 4. Apparently the last of the game's 3 modes is pretty hard, but since I haven't rushed the game (I want to get my money's worth out of it) I haven't got that far to say. Either way this game is indeed incredibly fun and refreshing to play and is probably even better in multiplayer mode. If you're a wii owner and a Pokemon fan or a wii owner looking for a new game to download this is definitely one to try - there's even a free demo of it up to try before you buy at the moment. You'd be missing out not giving it a go, especially at the price it is.


2 comments:

Karen said...

This game looks awesome! I think I'll definitely have to give it a go now, especially since you can try it first!

I'm just hoping they don't turn it into a series, I buy too much from this franchise already...

Alex said...

I doubt it'll turn into a series, there's not really enough depth in it for them to expand it into a sequel...unless they just add more Pokemon I guess.

And yeah same, although with the quality this franchise usually delivers I'm quite happy to keep buying :D