Nintendo Okie

When the first Pokemon Rumble game hit WiiWare back in 2009 I downloaded the demo thinking it would be a fun romp in a game starring Pokemon. I enjoyed that so I bought the full game and played through it, multiple times with my children and once by myself. It was a fun little button masher that kept me occupied for a couple of hours. It managed to be the perfect length for a game like that. Move on to 2011 and Nintendo is back with another Pokemon game starring the little wind up toys, Pokemon Rumble Blast. There’s more game this time around, but is it enough to justify a full retail release?

What You Need to Know

Pokemon Rumble Blast is the sequel to the WiiWare game Pokemon Rumble. You play, not as monsters in the world, but rather toy versions of these Pokemon that seem to have some form of life. In the game, a source of water and energy called Glow Drops are disappearing from all over the world. You’ll travel to half a dozen different worlds in your attempt to restore the Glow Drops and bring harmony back to the toy Pokemon world. There are more than 600 Pokemon to collect, from every generation of the game. You’ll befriend different monsters along the way, building up a team that continues to grow in power.

There’s More Game This Time

When I say there’s more game this time I don’t just mean that it’s longer. All of the things that you had in the first game are back. You can play multi-player games where you and a friend can explore the world together. You can visit the Move-a-majig and buy random moves that your Pokemon can then use in battle.

Nintendo and developer, Ambrella, have tried to make this feel more like a traditional Pokemon RPG. There are a number of different worlds to explore, all based around cities like Easterly Town, or Northerly Town. Those worlds are populated by Pokemon that randomly walk around. There are different areas in each world, like the Beach, Tower or Desert that act just like the different levels that were featured in the original game. They serve little more than to act as a more interesting hub, but they are essentially no different than the hub found in the WiiWare game, except that they’re more interesting to look at.

In each of the town’s there are a number of different shops and buildings that you can visit to check your stats, see your collection of Pokemon, release Pokemon that you’ve befriended. There’s also a store that serves as your StreetPass hub where random Mii’s from your friends list, and actual StreetPass hits will visit and spend money. This money goes into your bank to spend on whatever you choose.

There are new types of battles that are designed to break up the game play somewhat and add some diversity to the types of things you’ll be doing. Now you can participate in Team Battles where you assemble a team of three Pokemon to take on some of the Battle Royale’s. These Pokemon will move with you, but once you engage another group of Pokemon they act independently, almost giving you the feeling that you’re playing with other people. They actually do seem pretty competent and I never lost fights because of their actions. In addition to that there’s a new battle called the Charge Battle where you gather a huge group of about a dozen Pokemon and charge into an enemy “formation” of Pokemon. The group with the highest power wins.

More to the Battle Royales

In the first game all of the Battle Royale battles, which were required in order to advance were open to every Pokemon on your roster, as long as you had one that was powerful enough to enter. Now they have attempted to get you using more of your collection by making some of the battles type restricted. Sometimes you’ll have to use poison type Pokemon, while other times you’ll have to use grass types and so on. They also tell you a recommended power level, but if you think you can beat it with some weaker Pokemon you’re allowed to participate and attempt to win it to move on.

Tons of Pokemon to Collect

For the Pokemon collector out there, more than 600 different Pokemon await. Every Pokemon that’s been featured in the main line RPG series is featured in this game. They’re more blocky and polygonal with a windup key sticking out of their backs, but they’re all here. You’ll have to play through the game multiple times if you want to collect them all so replay value for the collector is very high. Befriending Pokemon isn’t a matter of wearing them down and throwing out a Pokeball. You’ll have to hit them with powerful moves, or remove their last bit of health while they’re stunned. Befriending Pokemon adds them to your collection, and this is going to be the key to success. You’ll have to continually befriend new, more powerful Pokemon.

Multiplayer

One of the most fun aspects of the WiiWare game was having three friends together to tackle all of the levels. Competing with each other to see who could beat the most Pokemon was part of the experience. Now, the game has the same multi-player, but it’s considerably more cumbersome to get things set up. You’ll need multiple copies of the game and multiple systems to get everyone into the game.

Doesn’t Really Feel Like Pokemon

Ask any Pokemon fan what the fun of a Pokemon game is and chances are it will be catching various Pokemon, possibly naming them and raising them up in battle. You really feel like you’re responsible for taking care of your Pokemon team and you begin to care for their training. Pokemon Rumble Blast doesn’t give you any connection to the Pokemon. There are plenty to collect, but they almost feel like disposable fodder being used simply to beat up other Pokemon. You never get any chance to feel the same attachment to these toys that you do to those adorable little monsters. You befriend a Pokemon, use it for a couple of levels and then discard it because its no longer powerful enough to realistically engage the other toys. You can buy new moves for your toys, but because the toys are only good for a few levels it almost feels like wasting money to buy these moves.

Conclusion

Pokemon Rumble Blast is just as competant as its predecessor. The core game play remains the same. It’s a fun button masher that’s good for a short period of time. This new game is three or four times as long as before, but it only extends the game play past the point of fun and into the repetitive. The new types of battles don’t do enough to change things up. If you’re looking for a fun button mashing experience it’s good, but I’m not sure it warranted a retail release. This could have been a great highlight to the eShop.

Final Score: 

Review copy of the game provided by Nintendo.
Played through the single player campaign in its entirety.
Total Play Time: 9 hours