Pokemon Colosseum

"The little critters just aren't addicting this time around."

Introduction: Pokemon. When most people hear that word, they grimace and mutter, "Yuck." Okay, okay, Pokemon isn't the most mature game in the world. It just doesn't make sense to insult a video game so harshly. If they seen the cartoons of Pokemon, they'll literally want to throw the TV out the window. Again, overreaction. What can I say? Pokemon is a great video game series, but I was a little disappointed in this game. Such little flaws and then some major ones. I know that the next Pokemon game, (I believe that will come out in Fall 2005), will fix the remaining mistakes of this game. Yellow, Red, Blue, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Stadium, Snap, Stadium 2, Hey: You Pikachu!, LeafGreen, FireRed and some more that I won't bother to list were all video games. Most of them were quite a success and addicting. This game took one major point out of this game...

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Gameplay-6/10
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You might say I'm being a little harsh, but I think not. The game is the same as before, try to get Pokemon by catch...ahem snagging them! Instead of catching Pokemon in the wild, which most people were fine with, you have to snag them from other trainers! Evil, isn't it? Yeah, that's an automatic T for teen. Here's the problem, there are limited amount of trainers, and thus limited amount of Pokemon to catch. I wanna be able to catch hundreds of thousands of Pokemon. This game, will only allow some 60 Pokemon. 60???!?!? I'm sure that some Pokemon addicts are not going to be pleased by this unusual change. I, personally, don't like this change. It limits the gameplay, and then you can't brag about how many Pokemon you catch, or if you caught 'em all! It's too easy. That severely shortens the gameplay's value. Not only that, but there aren't much challenging trainers. They seem too repetitive and boring. I loved the puns and jokes the trainers make up before and after they battle you during Ruby/Sapphire/Gold/Silver, etc. but these people just say something like, "I'm going to beat you!" That's just pure lame. Also, you don't travel nearly as much as you used to during the ol' game-boy adventures. Those games forced you to take routes, usually containing obstacles and trainers to get to another city or location, but now, to travel, you just enter a cut-scene showing the character along with his girlfriend(not) riding in some motorcycle thing. Along with that, there aren't any real challenges in this game, even Mt. Battle(a 100 trainer mountain), seems exaggeratedly easy. Thus this category gets a 6/10.

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Story-6/10
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The story is also lame. At the beginning before you start playing, you see a scene where you steal a snag machine, then you start to get chased by a weird gang. You end up in a deserted outshack. You travel to places that don't seem to be of any similarity to other places. You are trying to catch "shadow" Pokemon from different trainers. To purify them, you must train them vigorously and when the shadow bar meter is vanquished, you must travel to a relic to fully purify them. That part's actually pretty fun. It's just that Nintendo should have put more familiar characters into their plot...

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Graphics-9/10
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I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the amazing graphics of Pokemon Colosseum. It made me realize that Pokemon has huge potential for their upcoming game. This game raised the bar, with clear images and sharp quality. Hopefully, Nintendo will get even better! From the Pokemon, to the Cities, to the buildings, this game is fabulous in graphic terms.

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Music-7/10
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Again, Pokemon's music has a lot of potential. I don't think that this game quite brought it out, but it was a good step forward. The battles with trainers, top-notch bosses, and just the background music was nice and steady throughout the game. It wasn't anything spectacular or anything that should give Pokemon Colosseum an award, but stellar and easy-going.

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Sound-9/10
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This is yet another category that Pokemon Colosseum excels at. I'm most impressed by the sound effects of the Pokemon's attacks, such as the blasting water of a hydro pump, a burning crinkle in a flamethrower, and a sharp, strident sound from a screech. Wonderfully done.

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Multiplayer-7/10
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Multiplayer wasn't a huge surprise. It didn't quite bomb, but it didn't excel either. It was a meh-meh situation, because of the fact that you couldn't choose from a selection of Pokemon. You can either use your story mode Pokemon, or get your GBA out and connect your Ruby/Sapphire Pokemon to it. The latter might work out better, because you'll have a better selection and type variety of your collection. Also, some of the battles are extremely tough(all level 100s!), so you'll need good luck on that as well.

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Replayability-5/10
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Another flaw in this game is that their are very few sidequests in story mode. I guess multiplayer itself is supposed to be a supplement to the story mode, but I prefer more of a "complete everything on the list" type of situation. Besides that, multiplayer mode isn't great, and once your Pokemon start to become 00ber, you'll get bored and drop this game for the rest of eternity.

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Buy or Rent? Final Recommendation
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I bought this game, because I was a steady Pokemon series fan. I was a little disappointed in the game's value, however. Trust me, this game only needs one or two rents. The story mode is short, multiplayer mode is a drag, but if you seriously don't believe me, and are a hard-core Pokemon fan, then go for it. If this is your first Pokemon game, I suggest that you give it a rent, and see how it turns out.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/05