Hey You, Pikachu!

"A decent pokemon game."

Introduction
This game is about you, a boy in a Pokemon world. You meet a Pokemon named Pikachu and you start too have adventures. It's not as fun as it sounds, and the microphone could have been used better. Pikachu does most of the action, not you, making it frustrating for some.

Game play 6/10
It's not that it's really boring, but there's very few fun things in this game. Most of the time is spent talking to your virtual Pikachu, not good for a game on Nintendo 64, it would have been better on a hand held system. One of the things that crushes the gameplay is the limited area you get to go in. There's your room, a forest, and a few other places. Repetitive activities also ruin the game. Catching fish and helping out other Pokemon may seem fun at first, but it gets boring after a while. The game doesn't really have any difficulty rating, you basically just live out life with Pikachu, the game never ends. The real killer though, is that you never battle with Pikachu. The game is too peaceful for my tastes.

Control 9/10
The control is near perfect. Whenever you hit a button on your control, the action it's assigned to happens. A lot of other reviewers say that Pikachu doesn't do what you tell him too. I can assure you that's false. Whenever you tell him something, he does it. No questions asked. And too clear up rumors, Pikachu can do more than 2 commands, he can do many, many actions, like the heed command, thundershock, growl, and more. It doesn't get a perfect score because certain commands don't work at certain times, I won't spoil anything.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics are very good for Nintendo 64. The Pokemon look very clear, and parts of the forest look very realistic. Pikachu's eyes have the same gleam in them. It's apparent that Nintendo put a lot of effort in this game. The water also looks crystal clear, the sky is screaming for love, and the moon shines brightly at night. Good job Nintendo.

Music/Sound 7/10
There isn't much music in this game, just a few Pokemon tunes and added soundtracks. You don't really notice because of the stunning visuals, so it isn't much of a problem. As for the sound, the sound can go from really good, to average. The Pokemon moves that various Pokemon use sound very good, however, what happened to the cool noises that the Pokemon made? They've been replaced by a few grunts and growls. You can hear various noises even when you're not doing anything, just like in real life.

Play Time ?/10
The play time for this game could be from a couple hours to forever. If you like mini games and spending time with virtual pets, this game has almost limitless replayability. If you don't like Pokemon or mini games, this game will only last a few days.

Rent or Buy?
I doubt you can still rent Nintendo 64 games. If you like mini games, Pokemon, or Mario Party, buy this game, you won't regret it. Otherwise, steer clear.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/04