Pokkén Tournament

see deal Pokken Tournament - Nintendo Wii U $49.97 on Gamestop

Loading

“ Each of these turn-based RPG fighters is translated into a real-time combatant with mechanics that feel appropriate.

In Too Deep

Loading

“ The sheer breadth of complexity in gameplay places heavy expectations on your shoulders.

The Trainer Becomes The Trainee

Loading

The art style feels right at home in the Pokémon universe, while also lending an edge to the visuals to make the action a good fit for a brawler. The sounds and music fit just as well as the graphics, with new takes on Pokémon soundtrack classics alongside original high-energy compositions. Pokémon games have always had quality music, and developer Bandai Namco has made sure that Pokkén Tournament does not tarnish that legacy.To its credit, Pokkén Tournament’s single-player content seems to anticipate how overwhelming it might be fore new players and heads that off at the pass by featuring modes that help ease them into the action. Leagues of CPU-controlled Pokémon trainers can be challenged, feeding into promotion matches that grant access to leagues populated by more skilled trainers. This is a smart approach, as it gradually introduces Pokkén Tournament’s slew of advanced techniques via a series of opponents who become progressively more adept as you do, featuring AI that starts out feeble but quickly becomes formidable. And the final boss, who shall remain anonymous, is a great new take on an old idea.It's successful: after spending a few hours playing single-player modes, I found myself becoming comfortable with its more advanced techniques. However, even for a fighting game, Pokkén Tournament can be surprisingly complicated. Even armed with knowledge and practice from hundreds of battles in single-player Leagues and training modes, I found myself sometimes overwhelmed managing the multitude of ways to optimize my Pokémon.Once you’ve mastered the basics and learned more of the unique traits of your character, you can quickly jump into netplay against other trainers. Pre-release online multiplayer had little in the way of latency, and even with a low population of players at the time of this review, matches were made quickly. Netplay features two modes, Friendly and Ranked Matches, and they are similar to the Casual and Ranked modes players have become familiar with in games like Street Fighter V. Being able to jump into my next battle with minimal waiting was a refreshing change of pace from recent fighting games.