[Stiri Gaming] Pokemon Champions Review

[MrEveningtstar @ LCS]

At the height of late 90s Pokemania, Nintendo released Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64. Instead of offering a full-fledged RPG adventure like the Game Boy games, Pokemon Stadium kept the focus on Pokemon battles. The game was popular enough to warrant a direct sequel and a handful of spiritual successors, but Nintendo and The Pokemon Company moved away from this style of game after the Wii's Pokemon Battle Revolution. 20 years later, there's finally a new game to carry on the Pokemon Stadium legacy in the form of the free-to-start Pokemon Champions. Sadly for those that have been waiting ages for a new game in the Pokemon Stadium style, Pokemon Champions doesn't come close to delivering an experience as strong as its predecessors.

Pokemon Stadium was primarily a game about Pokemon battles, stripping away the adventure and exploration of the main series games, but it had some extra bells and whistles to make it a little more appealing. The big draw of Pokemon Stadium was seeing Pokemon fully rendered in 3D, many for the first time ever, plus it offered connectivity with the Game Boy games and featured genuinely fun multiplayer mini-games. Pokemon Champions, by comparison, really only has the battles, so there's not much to chew on beyond that.

One's enjoyment of Pokemon Champions is going to depend entirely on whether they are interested in competitive Pokemon battles. Pokemon Champions boasts Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, Private Battles, and Online Competitions, with Single Battle and Double Battle variants. The goal of the game is to win online battles and reach the elusive Champion tier.

Pokemon Champions is All About Battling

Battles in Pokemon Champions play out like they have in the main series Pokemon games for decades. Players take turns using moves as they try to knock out their opponent's Pokemon. Pokemon types play a major role in one's success in any given Pokemon Champions battle, as using Pokemon that are super-effective against your opponents' creatures is the quickest and most reliable path to victory. There are abilities, held items, and various other things to keep in mind as well, but at its core, Pokemon Champions battles are mostly about picking the right Pokemon to use.

In a standard 1v1 match, Pokemon Champions players choose three Pokemon from their pool of six, and their opponent does the same. This way, no one knows who will have the type advantage until the battle starts. This makes sense, though the complete lack of 6v6 battles is disappointing.

The lack of 6v6 is far from the only disappointing exclusion in Pokemon Champions. The game also lacks any kind of local multiplayer battles, which was a staple of its predecessors. Pokemon Champions is focused strictly on the online experience, but it's still a rather baffling oversight to not have at least the option for local fights.

Link: https://gamerant.com/pokemon-champions-review/

 

Editat Mai 19 de ZENITH
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