Pokemon Rumble Review
Pikachu, use repetitive button mash attack!
by Jack DeVries
November 16, 2009 - I've been encouraging developers to mix up the Pokemon gameplay for a while now. It took a while, but Ambrella finally made a WiiWare game where you not only get to play Pokemon, you get to beat up other Pokemon in real time. It's sweet for a while, but if a Pokemon's life is as repetitive and mindless as this game is, I think I'll be humane and release all the ones I keep prisoner in my PC box.
The premise for Pokemon Rumble is simple: you're a Pokemon toy, and you like to beat up other toys. It's strange to be sure. It feels like the whole toy concept was developed just so Ambrella could reuse the terrible models from My Pokemon Ranch. At least there's an excuse for why every Pokemon looks deformed. "It's a wind-up toy, kids! That's why Machamp has four amputated nubs instead of arms. It's not lazy, it's artistic." The concept becomes even more muddled when the Pokemon toys travel to the beach, or the forest, and fight other toys. The idea of sentient, violent toys living in the woods is a concept that the 1998 film Small Soldiers proved was creepy and dumb.
Pokemon Rumble is very simple. Players use the D-pad to make their Pokemon run through linear mazes, using the 1 and 2 buttons to attack any and all Pokemon in the way. At the end of the level players fight a giant Pokemon boss, usually an evolved form of one of the monsters they've been fighting in the level. After beating the levels and meeting certain requirements, players compete in a Battle Royale: a massive Pokemon free for all. Once they win the Battle Royale they move up a rank and repeat the entire process over again.
What keeps the game from becoming insanely repetitive (at least for a while) is that players are constantly collecting new Pokemon. As they fight through a level, players will occasionally knock a Pokemon unconscious and be able to collect it. In order to progress through the game players need to use stronger Pokemon, so they regularly switch characters, marginally changing up the gameplay. Players can also buy new moves for their Pokemon. A lot of familiar moves are in the game, and each type has its benefits. Grass Pokemon have moves like Absorb and Leech Seed that heal them. Psychic Pokemon can paralyze, confuse, and put Pokemon to sleep. It adds some strategic elements to a game that is essentially just animals headbutting each other.
These features keep the game interesting for a while, but after a few hours of seeing the same levels and Pokemon the experience does get tedious. What ultimately makes the game get stale is that the developers reuse the same levels. Each rank features stronger Pokemon, but players are still running through the same six basic mazes they played before. After getting up to "Rank S" I was so bored of Windy Prairie and Bright Beach and Eternal Tower that I was desperate for something, anything, different. Even after you beat the game and get promoted to the Sinnoh Dex Pokemon you're still playing the same damn levels! It's lazy and it makes the game boring.
Pokemon Rumble supports up to four players, in a sort of Pokemon Gauntlet experience. It certainly makes the game easier, though Rumble is extremely easy to begin with. Players share all the money and Pokemon, so nobody can pull that BS move where they collect all the goodies while their friends are busy fighting. It also means that you can't use any of the money you helped your friend earn on your game. You can however transfer a few Pokemon to the Wii remote and bring them to your game, which is a cool feature.
There are a few things that would have made this game a sweet download. Some sort of online feature. I mean, come on, it's a downloadable game, so 100 percent of the people playing it are hooked up to the internet. Why can't I play with my friend like that? Plus there's no connectivity to any Pokemon games of any kind. Seems like a real missed opportunity not to have some connectivity with the other Ambrella WiiWare game, My Pokemon Ranch. Really, any sort of additional gameplay that gave players a break from the constant button mashing would have helped Rumble's logevity.
Closing Comments
I liked Pokemon Rumble when I started. It was mindless, but it was fun, and playing with other people made it better. But as I progressed through each rank and saw the same levels, and then the same Pokemon, the experience plummeted pretty fast. If you're a pretty big Pokemaniac with a lot of friends (oxymoron, I know), then Pokemon Rumble might keep you entertained enough for a purchase. But note that I'm a pretty big Pokemon nut and even I got bored well before this game was even halfway done. There's just not enough depth to the game to make it interesting to the older Pokemon fans, or really anyone that doesn't squeal excitedly when they see a Pikachu. Honestly I recommend the free downloadable demo since you get most of the experience right there, and it's cheap as free.
IGN Ratings for Pokemon Rumble (Wii)
5.5 Presentation
The whole idea of the Pokemon being toys contradicts everthing else in the entire game.
5.5 Graphics
The models are still ugly, even if they're wind-up toys. The same re-used levels feels really lazy too.
6.0 Sound
Each level has it's own generic but suitable music. The Pokemon use their videogame sound effect voices.
6.0 Gameplay
It's a fun brawler for a while, especially if you have four players. But it gets pretty tedious far too soon.
6.5 Lasting Appeal
The Pokemon from Red/Blue and Diamond and Pearl are in here, so if you love collecting Pokemon, you've got your work cut out for you.
6.0
Passable OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
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