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REVIEW: Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond (WII)
13 years ago
General
POKEPARK 2: WONDERS BEYOND (WII)
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Creatures inc. (Earthbound, Pokemon Ranger, Pokepark Wii...)
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
Played for: 17 hours
Hello gamers, welcome to a new review from yours truly! :D
Today I'm reviewing a wii game that most websites rated either with horrible grades or decent ones...I don't blame them, given how this game is certainly not the huge masterpiece the average gamer would expect...but to analyze and review this game I decided to take a different approach from most reviewers, as I know very well that Pokepark 2 is mostly meant to be a game for young children. So with that setting in mind I dove into the game's world, where Pikachu (not the same of the first Pokepark) visits another Pokepark where pokemon are disappearing and he joins forces with Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig to solve the mistery.
Let's see what I thought of it, shall we ? ^^
GRAPHICS
Pokepark 2, while not being any awesome master piece of 3d models and textures, features very round and crispy graphics, the pokemon all being well-made and having very cute or cool animations (Golurk is an awesome gem for a mecha lover like me <3), while the surroundings do feature a good lighting and a very nice art direction, as every "stage" of the game feels really distinct and sticks in the mind of the player and, of course, children will probably love how there are a wide variety of pokemon running around, interacting and playing with each other or with the player pokemon, depending by their mood or their relationship with him...hironic how this is quite close to Oblivion as concept of the character AI...in a pokemon game XD anyway, moving on!
The game's graphics look very nice to the eye and the art direction of the locations helps a lot with that, as well as having the locations being full of life and pokemon being cute or badass as they should be :3
GAMEPLAY
While the main focus of the first Pokepark were the minigames, the focus shifted quite a lot in this second title, where minigames are very few and far between them and more attention is given to the progression of the (simple) story of the game and the interaction with other pokemon, making friends, playing chase or hide and seek or battling them to gain their respect or defeat them to get them out of the way of the player's progression in the plot.
This time, of course, the player will be able to switch between four different pokemon, each of them with different fighting styles, pros and cons...Pikachu is the perfect average character of the game, Snivy is the speedy, but frail one, who can also jump higher, Tepig is slow but has a lot of HP and can break rocks and Oshawott, while being slower than Pikachu and Snivy, is able to swim and has a very good range of attacks for battles.
Like in the first game, you'll find Pokemon who can train each of the characters inertain fields, even if now there's a bit more to power up, with 4 moves for each pokemon, their running speed and their HP. This will, of course, cost berries, that the player can obtain from trees or from befriending pokemon or defeating them in chases, battles and other challenges.
The battle system was slightly improved too with the pokemon featuring way more moves and tactics, even if it's still all very simplistic, wich is perfect for a kid who's still learning the way of gaming, plus it's quite fun to control a Pokemon directly, something that many of us dreamed for long :D The only bad thing is that the controls are still quite clunky asthe player is forced to use the d-pad of the wiimote, wich is something that could've been changed from the sequel but didn't...weird...or lazy, you decide XD
Another problem seasoned gamers may encounter is the based repetitiveness of the actions and the quite easy challenge, as this was designed to be a game for beginners and kids, so don't expect something too challenging...still, as I said before, this is perfect for kids who are still learning...I also gotta mention the nice idea to make the boss fights special events, wich have each a different challenge to go through before reaching the actual boss fight...nice idea ^^
STORYLINE
The story of the game is, onviously, very simple, even if a couple of twists happen here and there, but don't expect to be engaged in anything complex...even though the game may able to move the more emotional gamers with the cuteness and adorableness of the characters, as well as a couple of sad scenes, wich is nicely portrayed by the cute small critters...yeah, I'm a manchild, sue me :P
It's just that the game features a certain charm that, sometime, most games seem to miss...the only point of the game is being...happy, fun, coloured...a happy-go-lucky experience, featuring a nice and simple adventure and in wich the main moral is how important friendship is, wich is a very good moral for a kid's game and is also portrayed very well in the story, even if in a simple and innocent way...many times friendship is almost treated as nothing of special or, on the other hand, impossible to achieve in the real and trusting form of it. and many times gamers dismiss a game just because it doesn't look dark or doesn't feature very complex storylines to hold it up...or just because it's too coloured for them! XD Even if this isn't the huge masterpiece of a game anyone would look for, it brings that charm on the table...wich is an achievement that not many games get to do nowadays.
SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack of the game is very good, as most nintendo games feature nice tunes...I especially liked the battle themes, all of wich are very energetic or even epic in some cases...the location tunes have a nice beat to them and follow the flow of the game perfectly...so here are a couple of example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3HWXcK68U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILEyrMX04lc
FINAL RATING
Pokepark 2 is far from perfect...it has clunky controls and certain elements of the game can get repeititive after a while and the minigames are very few...but on the other hand, the game features very clean graphics, locations full of life, an innocence that most of the gaming industry lost a long time ago, a simple and cute storyline about friendship and a quite nice soundtrack for it as well...it's a kid's game, but it's also a VERY GOOD kid's game, something that I'd gladly and eagerly buy for my child if I had one and, probably, even play it with him! That's why I decided to give this game a...
8.0/10
sometime you should judge a game from a different perspective to grasp its real value ^^
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Creatures inc. (Earthbound, Pokemon Ranger, Pokepark Wii...)
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-4
Played for: 17 hours
Hello gamers, welcome to a new review from yours truly! :D
Today I'm reviewing a wii game that most websites rated either with horrible grades or decent ones...I don't blame them, given how this game is certainly not the huge masterpiece the average gamer would expect...but to analyze and review this game I decided to take a different approach from most reviewers, as I know very well that Pokepark 2 is mostly meant to be a game for young children. So with that setting in mind I dove into the game's world, where Pikachu (not the same of the first Pokepark) visits another Pokepark where pokemon are disappearing and he joins forces with Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig to solve the mistery.
Let's see what I thought of it, shall we ? ^^
GRAPHICS
Pokepark 2, while not being any awesome master piece of 3d models and textures, features very round and crispy graphics, the pokemon all being well-made and having very cute or cool animations (Golurk is an awesome gem for a mecha lover like me <3), while the surroundings do feature a good lighting and a very nice art direction, as every "stage" of the game feels really distinct and sticks in the mind of the player and, of course, children will probably love how there are a wide variety of pokemon running around, interacting and playing with each other or with the player pokemon, depending by their mood or their relationship with him...hironic how this is quite close to Oblivion as concept of the character AI...in a pokemon game XD anyway, moving on!
The game's graphics look very nice to the eye and the art direction of the locations helps a lot with that, as well as having the locations being full of life and pokemon being cute or badass as they should be :3
GAMEPLAY
While the main focus of the first Pokepark were the minigames, the focus shifted quite a lot in this second title, where minigames are very few and far between them and more attention is given to the progression of the (simple) story of the game and the interaction with other pokemon, making friends, playing chase or hide and seek or battling them to gain their respect or defeat them to get them out of the way of the player's progression in the plot.
This time, of course, the player will be able to switch between four different pokemon, each of them with different fighting styles, pros and cons...Pikachu is the perfect average character of the game, Snivy is the speedy, but frail one, who can also jump higher, Tepig is slow but has a lot of HP and can break rocks and Oshawott, while being slower than Pikachu and Snivy, is able to swim and has a very good range of attacks for battles.
Like in the first game, you'll find Pokemon who can train each of the characters inertain fields, even if now there's a bit more to power up, with 4 moves for each pokemon, their running speed and their HP. This will, of course, cost berries, that the player can obtain from trees or from befriending pokemon or defeating them in chases, battles and other challenges.
The battle system was slightly improved too with the pokemon featuring way more moves and tactics, even if it's still all very simplistic, wich is perfect for a kid who's still learning the way of gaming, plus it's quite fun to control a Pokemon directly, something that many of us dreamed for long :D The only bad thing is that the controls are still quite clunky asthe player is forced to use the d-pad of the wiimote, wich is something that could've been changed from the sequel but didn't...weird...or lazy, you decide XD
Another problem seasoned gamers may encounter is the based repetitiveness of the actions and the quite easy challenge, as this was designed to be a game for beginners and kids, so don't expect something too challenging...still, as I said before, this is perfect for kids who are still learning...I also gotta mention the nice idea to make the boss fights special events, wich have each a different challenge to go through before reaching the actual boss fight...nice idea ^^
STORYLINE
The story of the game is, onviously, very simple, even if a couple of twists happen here and there, but don't expect to be engaged in anything complex...even though the game may able to move the more emotional gamers with the cuteness and adorableness of the characters, as well as a couple of sad scenes, wich is nicely portrayed by the cute small critters...yeah, I'm a manchild, sue me :P
It's just that the game features a certain charm that, sometime, most games seem to miss...the only point of the game is being...happy, fun, coloured...a happy-go-lucky experience, featuring a nice and simple adventure and in wich the main moral is how important friendship is, wich is a very good moral for a kid's game and is also portrayed very well in the story, even if in a simple and innocent way...many times friendship is almost treated as nothing of special or, on the other hand, impossible to achieve in the real and trusting form of it. and many times gamers dismiss a game just because it doesn't look dark or doesn't feature very complex storylines to hold it up...or just because it's too coloured for them! XD Even if this isn't the huge masterpiece of a game anyone would look for, it brings that charm on the table...wich is an achievement that not many games get to do nowadays.
SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack of the game is very good, as most nintendo games feature nice tunes...I especially liked the battle themes, all of wich are very energetic or even epic in some cases...the location tunes have a nice beat to them and follow the flow of the game perfectly...so here are a couple of example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3HWXcK68U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILEyrMX04lc
FINAL RATING
Pokepark 2 is far from perfect...it has clunky controls and certain elements of the game can get repeititive after a while and the minigames are very few...but on the other hand, the game features very clean graphics, locations full of life, an innocence that most of the gaming industry lost a long time ago, a simple and cute storyline about friendship and a quite nice soundtrack for it as well...it's a kid's game, but it's also a VERY GOOD kid's game, something that I'd gladly and eagerly buy for my child if I had one and, probably, even play it with him! That's why I decided to give this game a...
8.0/10
sometime you should judge a game from a different perspective to grasp its real value ^^
And I've noticed you've completely ignored the rest of my post just so you can focus on that one negative aspect. Silly chu. |3
Let's hope that Pokepark 3 includes Totodile. x3
Have you tried the coliseum? That gets pretty brutal...
Never did beat the final rank...