Pokemon Trading Card Game

"Pokemon haters have a new game to fear!"

If your are looking to play Pokemon Card Game Boy expecting the same experience that you got from playing Pokemon Gold, Silver, Blue, Red, Yellow, or even Green, then you should read this review of the game.
The game story is as follows. There are these powerful Pokemon Trading Card Game players called the Card Masters. They inherited these really awesome Pokemon Cards called the legendary cards. Now they are looking for another powerful Pokemon Trading Card Game player who will inherit the legendary Pokemon Cards. And you feel like getting the cards. But the card masters reside at the Pokemon Dome, and only people who have beaten all 8 Pokemon Card Club leaders are allowed in the Pokemon Dome. So you have to defeat all 8 of the Club Leaders so you can gain access to the Pokemon Dome and defeat the Card Masters so you will inherit the Legendary Cards. But you're not the only player who is after them. Your nemesis, Ronald, is after the legendary cards also. And you thought the road would be a piece of cake journey. Ha! (Gee, this story is very coincidentally a lot like the premise of the original Pokemon games. Deja vu, or money making plot?)
So basically, the game is a role playing game with only battles, and no story line (at least an intriguing one), no items, no quest feel. Sound boring? It's really not, just keep on reading this review.
The battle system is the same system as the Official Trading Card Game's system, and I mean THE SAME. So that means rules are the same. They're very easy once you have been playing the game for a while, but fairly awkward when you start playing the game. You'll get into them, don't worry. I'll explain them. In the beginning of the match, each player shuffles his opponents deck. Next they draw four prizes. Then each player draws seven cards. They place as many basic Pokemon on his deck, then they BATTLE!!! When one of the players has defeated four of his enemy's Pokemon, and taken the prizes, then the match is over. Easy as that. Do these rules sound different? Then that means you have been playing off house rules. Don't worry, I play on house rules too, and the game was easy to learn and fun! :)
The game is ingenuitive, and a pioneer game. Hopefully if another company wanted to make a card battle game, then they will design it like the makers of the Pokemon Card Game Boy did.
As far as sound is concerned, don't expect some John Williams compositions, or a Final Fantasy soundtrack. Just expect the same repetitive Pokemon town themes that have been in the series. ;)
It's replay value is at the point where you can beat the game, wait a while and beat the game again and still enjoy it, not sort of enjoy it or a semi enjoy it. Plus if you play the game again, you can try to build a deck that has different cards then the deck you built the first time, or build a deck that has all the cards.
The bottom line is that the game goes like this. It's good for die-hard Pokemon fans. It's good for Pokemon Card enthusiasts. It's a rent then buy for Pokemon Red, Blue, Gold, Silver, Yellow fans. It's iffy for people who have never played a Pokemon game, and you are trying to introduce it to them. It's a no no for people who utterly dispose Pokemon with all of their heart and all of their soul. So there you go, no you should no if this game is the right game for you.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/00, Updated 11/29/00