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A Park You Don’t Want to Go for a Stroll in
Another year, another Pokémon spin-off. The long-running franchise continues to do the numbers, even if the last entry, Super Pokémon Rumble, did leave a sour taste in my mouth.
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond for the Nintendo Wii is one of those games that looks good on paper, but fails to provide an engaging experience. A Pokémon action-adventure game with all your favourite creatures? Sounds exciting! But when you finally get past the unnecessarily long tutorials, you soon realise that not only does PokéPark 2 not offer nothing new, what it does feature is pretty unremarkable. It’s a shame because, from a technical point of view, the game is pretty solid. My personal belief is that this is what continues to fuel these terrible games year after year, because anyone who buys PokéPark 2 thinking that it looks like a great game is in for nothing but bitter disappointment.
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Chores Galore
The game starts with Pikachu and his good friend Piplup having finally made the trip from the PokéPark that featured in the 2010 prequel to a new Pokémon-filled island. Something mysterious is going on, with a number of the loveable critters having gone missing. It’s up to “Lightning Tail” and his gang of Poké-chums to befriend the island’s inhabitants and get to the bottom of it all.
The premise is simple: walk around the island, converse with your fellow Pokémon and complete tasks. These tasks range from battling opponents and playing chase to retrieving lost items and competing in mini-games. Unfortunately, interacting with Pokémon is never particularly entertaining. Dialogue seems especially long and drawn out considering that the subject matter rarely extends beyond “I’ve lost my ball!” and “Wanna play chase?!?”.
However, this is nothing compared to the actual tasks themselves. The fetch jobs are what you’d expect from your typical grind-fest MMORPG. The only difference is that doing the task isn’t usually worth the reward.
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Meanwhile, the combat is nothing short of plain disappointing. Each Pokémon has a variety of different moves to use, including elemental-type attacks that have bonuses against their respective weaknesses, as per the original series. While this may sound like it adds a strategic element to the game, the combat is so basic that it’s virtually redundant (although not to the ridiculous lengths that it was in Super Pokémon Rumble). Opponents rarely put up a challenge, and normal melee attacks are usually the preferred method purely because they don’t require time to charge up. Thankfully, these attacks end the painfully dull combat quickly, while also keeping your sanity intact.
The gameplay is quite varied in that there are a number of different activities, some of which can be played in multiplayer mode. However, the lack of challenge and uninspired, basic mini-game approach won’t hold your attention for long. Long gone are the glorious days of quality mini-games like the ones found in the original Pokémon Stadium.
Many tasks will require you to switch between Pokémon. For example, in order to get out to sea and talk to the Pokémon that reside there, you’ll need to select Oshawott for his swimming abilities. This regular jumping between sections and environments forces you to switch your character what seems like every five seconds, and this really kills the game’s already slow pace.
PokéPark 2 is one of those titles that conforms to the notion that looks can be deceiving. The colours are bright and vibrant, the character models are sharp and the scenery is surprisingly detailed. It has all the makings of a high-budget title on Wii. Needless to say, this alone isn’t enough to mask its faults, and what you’re really left with after parting with your hard-earned cash is a hollow gameplay experience that doesn’t do the franchise justice.
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The Final Verdict
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond is like a cake that has all the yummy-looking icing and decorations on top, but none of the filling. The game’s presentation is well-executed and oozes everything you’d expect from a high-quality Pokémon game. The biggest problem is that the gameplay is horribly lacking. It’s basic beyond belief, to the point that even younger gamers will likely grow bored of it long before the credits roll.
Take my advice: if you see it at a budget price and are a massive fan of the series (and trust me, you’ll need to be), you may want to pick this up for the collection. Otherwise, PokéPark 2 is best left out there in the wild with the other countless, low-quality Pokémon spin-offs.
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