If you?ve read my Pokemon Rumble Blast review, you know I?m a huge Pokemon fan. So when I give a Pokemon video game a less than stellar score, you know that there have to be some problems with it. Well, in the case of PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, it really stems from the poor controls and branches out into some very harsh limitations associated with those controls. Now don?t get me wrong, kids and fans of the series will still get some enjoyment, it just isn?t perfect.
The game actually starts out in a really?cool fashion with?Reshiram?and Zekrom?talking?about how the world could end, which?they are okay with, but that?there is light.? Queue Pikachu?appearing on screen?and meeting up with?Piplup. I won?t bore you with the details but you can expect some long winded conversations that finally lead you to Wish Park.
Apparently, Pokemon are visiting that area and not returning, forcing you to travel there and investigate. Well, after some pretty interesting story developments, Piplup?gets trapped in Wish Park and you, as Pikachu,?go on a quest to?save him. In order to do this, you must search around the tiny game world,?befriending Pokemon in order to advance to new areas. Instead of including a myriad of different ways to befriend the Pokemon, it really just boils down to three: Chase, battling, or a simple fetch quest.
Chase is just a standard game of tag, that has you racing after a Pokemon by tapping 1 furiously and shaking the Wii Remote to do a big boost. Battling places you in a small arena with your opponent, blasting them away with your Thunderbolt or hitting them hard with Iron Tail, and fetch quests are fetch quests. The main issue with all of these, and the entire game, is the fact that the game is controlled entirely with the Wii Remote and doesn?t include the Nunchuk in any way.
Being that PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond?is a fully fledged 3D adventure game, with some surprisingly good graphics and extremely catchy battle music,?controlling it with the D-pad?is a maddening experience. Just moving around has now become an impossible task because you never quite have complete control over where your character is going. This is especially true when you are playing Chase because opponents will often do a sharp turn, causing?you to?lose them pretty quickly?while crashing into something. I have never played the original game, but I know the controls were a problem and I just don?t know why they didn?t fix it.
As much as the simple act of moving around is a chore due to the controls, battling is also heavily hindered by them as well. Since there are so few buttons on the Wii Remote, you only have 2 moves at your disposal throughout the entire game. You may be able to power up your Thunderbolt and Iron Tail, but you don?t have Electro Tail or Volt Tackle in the game, a glaring omission. By including a Nunchuk, they could have easily upped the move total to 3 or 4 and had battles be very interesting and strategic, instead of very one-note and easy. Once you figure out that all you have to do is dodge and unleash an Iron Tail repeatedly to win battles, the game will breeze by.
One awesome new feature that was implemented since the first game?is the addition of more playable characters. Instead of just controlling Pikachu,?you are given Oshawott, Snivy, and Tepig to help you out. Each Pokemon adds something new to the game, such as swimming, jumping higher, or a boulder-breaking tackle attack. Switching between Pokemon to complete?tasks is a lot of fun and I?m glad they expanded upon the 1 character gameplay seen in the previous version.
Having these extra characters in the game does add a bit of strategy to your battles, but again, the lack of moves is disappointing. Snivy?gets Leaf Storm and Leaf Tornado, but no Solarbeam?or Razor Leaf. Oshawott?gets Water Gun and Razor Shell, yet no Aqua Jet or Hydro Pump. Tepig gets Flamethrower and Heat Crash (which is a hilarious butt stomp attack), yet no Fire Blast or Fire Spin. As much fun as the battling and exploring the over?100 different Pokemon was, I was always hoping for more?to do?and I never got it.
The only real variety could be attributed to the mini games you encounter while in Wish Park. Each time you visit Wish Park to save Pokemon from the big bad in the game (I won?t ruin the surprise, but it isn?t?a Pokemon introduced in?Black and White), you have to defeat other Pokemon such as Cofagrigus?or Chandelure. Before battling them?in an easy, yet interesting fashion,?you have to?partake in some?mini games that involve making cupcakes or dancing? seriously. In order to complete them, you point the Wii Remote at the screen or shake it in time. Once you beat them, they are available to play in multiplayer but they just aren?t fun enough to play again.
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Despite my love of Pokemon, PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond was a bit of a disappointment. It only takes about 8 hours to beat (10 hours if you want to befriend everyone),?it has very little variety in the?moves, and it is a very easy game. They may have captured the pure essence of Pokemon, creating a?fun to explore world,?but the?numerous shortcomings hold it back.
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PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond was reviewed with a copy provided by Nintendo.
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Source: http://trendygamers.com/2012/02/27/pokepark-2-wonders-review/
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