Pokemon Colosseum

"Gang member steals newest evil technology, and he's the good guy?"

Curses! The mind controlling force that is pokemon has forced me to buy another game! Oh well. Maybe them getting into my younger accessible mind all those years ago wasn't too bad... At least the main character isn't some namby pamby idiot wearing some stupid outfit.
wait...
But he does have access to two of the coolest pokemon in the entire series from the start, so I'm happy.
This game is pretty darn good and, like all other pokemon games, wildly addictive.
Of course, the cookie-cutter story is a huge turn-off, but It's directed to a younger crowd, so what are you going to do about it?
Anyway, On with the show! err... review!

Idea 9/10: Wow. You raise monsters to kill each other. You need to collect them all. Sound familiar? Probably because this is pokemon in a nutshell. Not too original. But Nintendo isn't known for repititiveness, so they changed a couple things.
First, All of the battles are in two versus two mode, emphasizing the need for teamwork. One example is this: you have a electric/fire team, and your opponent sends out a water pokemon. You can defeat the water pokemon with switching out your fire pokemon. Wow. That was a crappy example. Oh well.
Second, You don't catch wild pokemon anymore. You "snag" "shadow" pokemon from there "evil" trainers. Thankfully, the bad guys aren't goons with ratatas anymore.
Lastly, there are no trails. I know they seemed like a burden in the other games, But I miss them. Just being able to walk around freely is missing from this game, and I miss that luxury.

Story 7/10: The story starts out with a bang, literally. I liked watching the hero betray his gang and blow up their base, making off with their prize, but unfortunately, this bang ends in a fizzle. Your character slowly turns into a grade-A wuss in a matter of minutes. About the best thing I can say about this story is that it makes great joke material.

Playability 10/10: It's a turn-based RPG. Can they make it hard to play? I don't think it's possible to make any RPG confusing control-wise. I mean, you walk, you talk, you battle where you select options. Not difficult in the least.

Graphics 10/10: I don't care about graphics. If the game is great, who should care? The moves in the game are pretty, and the faint animations of some of the pokemon are hilarious. (Jigglypuff: Where are you guys going? What? a steamroller? I don't- OH MY GOD!) The character models are pretty darned good too. The environments... well... You can't do much with desert, but they certainly worked around it with locals like the under, agate village, and battle mountain.

Sound 8/10: Ahh... The music. It's great. WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE A HARMONICA PLAYING! Geez... I mean, Pyrite town with the jazz, the under with the eeriness, and battle mountain with the... err... battle.. ness...Those are great! wonderful even!But the harmonica in every other place drives you insane after awhile! 60% less harmonica, and you'd have gotten a Ten, nintendo.

Replay Value 9/10: I was debating on what score to give this. I Don't think you'd erase your file and play anew (my definition of replay) But You would definitely play until all of your pokemon you would use are indestructible long after you "complete" the game.

Worth the Money? Yes.: I went to a friend's house one day because we had a track meet next morning, and I needed a ride. I played pokemon colosseum (his game)at his house till late at night. The next day I bought the game. I won't lie to you, I've been brainwashed. It seems like only yesterday when I received a piece of mail addressed to me, that showed a video of Pocket Monsters Red and Blue. I was in a trance. And Now, that trance has done it's work.

Overall score 9/10: Stealing Pokemon's the name of the game, And Genius Sonority's the one to blame! A good game. A good first party game. A good first party RPG for the system who needs them the most. That reminds me... Four days till Tales of Symphonia! A Nintendo Fanboy and An RPG Maniac merge. They become: Adlube. And now, Adlube will lose sleep over the two RPGs he owns for the gamecube, as he waits for his third to be released.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/04