Game review: Pokemon Battle Revolution

Pokemon Battle Revolution
Pokemon Battle Revolution, the first Pokemon game for the Nintendo Wii and also the first ever Wii game that can communicate with the Nintendo DS. In addition, PBR also has online capabilities, allowing you to battle with people over the Internet like in Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. Although PBR is lacking some of the features that the old N64 and Game Cube games had, it has enough new features to make it a great buy for any Pokemon fan.

Many fans have complained about PBR because it’s lacking the RPG mode that the Game Cube games have. I miss the RPG mode too, but I think the battling in PBR is way more complex and interesting than in the old games. The main part of Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD were in fact the RPG modes; the actual colossem battling in those games wasn’t anything that impressive. It was just straight knockout battles at LV50 or LV 100 with no auto-leveling, making it difficult to get strong pokemon at exactly those levels. The old Stadium games on N64 didn’t have an RPG mode but instead had mini-games and a more variety of battles, for example, only un-evolved pokemon or having to battles sets of trainers before facing the gym leader. So although PBR is lacking mini-games and an RPG mode, it makes up for it by having the best variety of ways to battle with all your well-trained pokemon from Diamond and Pearl.

I think the main feature that makes PBR special and makes up for its lack of mini-games and an RPG mode is the random Wi-fi battle mode, allowing you to battle anyone in the world who wants to battle at that moment, without having to exchange friend codes. You just search for an opponent and in a few minutes you’re in a battle with another player in real-time. You can still exchange friend codes with people just like in D&P, but being able to battle anyone at anytime without having to deal with friend codes is great. The downside to this is that you don’t know who you’ll be battling – there are many n00bs out there who’ll use a team of all legendary/uber pokemon while you’re using your regular pokemon. But from what I’ve heard, Nintendo is working on banning the use of these pokemon in the Wi-fi battles. If it works out, that’ll make the random Wi-fi battles even better. Also, if you’ve got a friend over, you can battle locally with the DS, using the DS as a controller while your pokemon battle on PBR.

Another great feature of PBR is of course, the variety of battles you need to get through in the 10 different colosseums. There’s enough regular knockout colosseums as well as colosseums with unique rules to keep any trainer satisfied. Having to use rental pokemon in Gateway and Sunset Colosseum and the roulette battling in Neon Colosseum adds some twists to the game and really tests your Pokemon battling skills. Beating all 10 colosseums for the first time is pretty easy though; all of the pokemon used are relatively weak and barely put up a good fight. If you use your trained pokemon from Diamond and Pearl, the knockout battles should be a breeze. However, once you beat all 10 colosseums, the second part of the game opens up in which 4 of the 10 colosseums get major upgrades in battle rules and difficulty. In fact, part two of Stargazer Colosseum presents some of the most difficult battles of any Pokemon game.

Besides the variety of battling going on in PBR, there are other great new features. Trainer customization is a lot of fun. As you progress through the game and earn poke-coupons, you can change your trainer’s appearance, catchphrase, and title to suit your taste. You can also make Battle Passes in which you choose six of your pokemon to use on the pass, and you can edit the pass, save it on your Wii remote, or even make more than one. You can also use your poke-coupons to buy items that you can transfer into your Pokemon D&P game. And lastly, PBR allows you to copy every single one of your pokemon from D&P into your storage on PBR. Unlike past games where you could only transfer six pokemon at a time, PBR lets you copy every pokemon on your D&P game card in just a few minutes, and they’ll still be available in the D&P game afterwards too.

As far as graphics, PBR is pretty good. They’ve updated the design of the old pokemon so although they still move the same way, they look a bit better with the Wii’s graphics. Probably the most noticeable new feature is that with some attacks, pokemon now physically move toward each other and strike instead of implied physical contact like in the old games. The graphics when weather changes are in effect is great, with rain actually dripping on and blurring the screen and hail chilling the sides of the screen. Another cool feature is that when pokemon lose HP, depending on the type of attack they were hit with, the animation of their HP bar being depleted changes. For example, when hit with an Ice attack, shards of ice come out of the HP bar. In general, the graphics of the pokemon, attacks, colosseums, and trainers in PBR is better than in past games but not too much. Either way, it still looks pretty good compared to the hand-held games =)

And for the music in PBR, although they don’t use many of the old Pokemon battle tunes, the new music is still good and matches the suspense of the battles well. My main issue is with the announcer; although it’s the same guy who narrates the anime, he sounds way too corny to be a pokemon battle announcer. Luckily you have the option of turning him off.

I can really only point out a few bad things about PBR. First of all, like I mentioned before, the first colosseum knockout battles are incredibly easy. Trainers use nothing but un-evolved, NU, and UU pokemon in Main Street, Waterfall, and the other knockout colosseums. They’re hardly a challenge if you’re using your trained pokemon from D&P. So these battles are pretty boring, but luckily once you beat them, the much more difficult challenges open up, for example the 100 battle challenge in Courtyard Colosseum and the extremely difficult trainers in Stargazer Colosseum. Even before beating all 10 colosseums, although the knockout colosseums are pushovers, colosseums with unique rules in which you can’t always use your own pokemon from D&P, such as Neon, Gateway, and Sunset Colosseum, still offer a challenge. Also, auto-leveling doesn’t become an option until later in the game, so you’ll be forced to use pokemon of the same level for a while. Other than that, my only other complaint is with the Wi-fi random battles. Like I mentioned, there are many jerks out there who’ll use a team full of legendary/uber pokemon. This wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t immediately put into battle once an opponent is found. It would be better if, when you see the opponent’s team, you can choose whether you want to actually battle them or not beforehand. But unfortunately you don’t get this option and you go right into battle the minute you get your opponent. But like I said, I heard Nintendo is working on this problem with legendary/uber pokemon so hopefully it’ll work out.

Well, that’s all I’ve got to say about PBR. Although it’s lacking the RPG mode and mini-games from past games, if you’re a big fan of the battling aspect of Pokemon, then PBR will present you with even more challenges to test your skills in full 3D splendor. Endless random Wi-fi battles, a ton of colosseum challenges, and the ability to use every pokemon from your D&P game will ensure that there’s always something new to do. But unless you’re already a fan of the Pokemon games and own a copy of Diamond or Pearl, you probably won’t get much out of PBR. But if you are a Pokemon fan and want an extension of the challenges presented in D&P, then Pokemon Battle Revolution is the game for you! =D

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. roemello says:

    the game is very great

  2. nick says:

    wow looks good! I’ll rent it! then I’ll probably buy it.

  3. redine joseph says:

    thisssz game,,,,raockzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. Gerudo Dragon says:

    I’ve seen youtube videos of it and the graphics and effects are to die for! I’m also really excited about the auto leveling feature because I have like level 74, 67, 54, 51, and 5 pokemon and I always hated having to train pokemon up to unreasonable levels and the same levels in Pokemon Stadium.

  5. yo sup says:

    i got the game, but the problem is that u cant get strong pokemon or catch them u have to beat the collesoms to get good battle passes

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