PokéPark Wii Pikachu’s Adventure for Nintendo Wii

PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure, published by Nintendo in 2010, is a spin-off of the renowned Pokémon RPG series. This title makes radical changes to the Pokémon formula, both for better and for worse.

The main plot of this game is that the PokéPark, the land in which this game is set, is being threatened by the loss of pieces of the Sky Prism. Pikachu must travel around the PokéPark, reuniting these segments and restoring peace to the land.

To obtain pieces of the Sky Prism, you must take part in Attractions, minigames in which any of the 193 Pokemon present in this game can compete. The minigames range from straight-up races, to contests where you have to fly through hoops to rack up points, and in my opinion the variety of the Attractions helped keep the game fresh. However, the minigames are very easy to beat, and those of you looking for a challenge may want to look elsewhere.

A major gripe I have with this game is the complete lack of multi-player. Considering PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure is meant to be a family-orientated game, you may justifiably expect there to be some form of multi-player, but this feature is completely absent. Battling against a computer opponent is nowhere near as enjoyable as competing with a friend would be, and I think the decision not to include multi-player was a real own-goal.

Another issue I have with this game is its very awkward controls, especially when exploring. To control Pikachu’s movement, you use the Wii Remote’s D-Pad, but given that this game takes place in a 3D environment I think the Nunchuk’s control stick would have been better suited. Thankfully, the control schemes utilised during the Attractions are much more effective.

Graphically, this game is fairly average for a Wii game; the zones you travel through during the game look fairly good though a little lacking in character. The Pokémon themselves look and sound exactly as they do in the anime, so if you’re a fan of the cartoons they should seem familiar.

This game takes around 10 hours to beat, and once you’ve done that, there’s not much to keep you coming back for more. In previous games in the Pokémon series, you could play through the game and experiment with a different team if you wished, but given that there’s no real ‘party’ in PokéPark Wii, this probably won’t appeal to you. After befriending all 193 Pokémon, you’ve done pretty much all the game has to offer.

In the end, it all comes down to whether you are a fan of Pokémon. If you’ve played some of the earlier games in the series, or are an avid watcher of the anime, you may enjoy PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure, but otherwise there will be little to interest you. A series of questionable design choices prevent this game from being anything other than mediocre, and I can’t recommend it unless you are a die-hard Pokémon fan.


By Chris Burridge Barney