Pokken Tournament Reviews
It's been 20 years since the Pokémon series was first introduced. For the past two decades, fans all over the world have spent hours upon hours battling and trading Pokémon of all sorts, getting lost in this fictional, yet amazing world. While features and mechanics gradually evolved as the series progressed, the core formula has remained intact throughout all of the main entries. As a result, veterans of the series have continued to enjoy each new entry just as much as the newcomers. With that said, get ready to experience a whole new world with a brand new attitude, because Pokkén Tournament is truly like no other Pokémon game.
Despite its shortcomings, Pokkén Tournament is a delightfully entertaining experience that will blossom with populated online servers and a dedicated fanbase.
Pokkén Tournament was a brave experiment, and it succeeds in many areas. However, it fails in some others—whether from lack of depth or outright poor design—that keeps it from reaching that upper-tier of the fighting game genre's elite entries.
Pokkén Tournament is how so many people want Pokémon battles to look in the main games. In lieu of that we'll deal with Pokkén - this a great fighter and fun for everyone.
Pokkén Tournament isn't quite as successful as some of the other Pokémon releases and other genre experiments (Pokémon Conquest comes to mind), but it offers high-energy battles and a unique framework for fights, even if it could use some tweaking. It's fun, and it has a battle ecosystem with real potential. Also, I do think its multiplayer could have legs in the esports scene.
Pokkén Tournament doesn't quite know where to hang its hat – accessible fighter for kids, or serious online brawler – but somehow it manages to pull both off. Spectacular combat, beloved characters, and fun gameplay make for a fighter that anyone can enjoy, but as with all of the best genre entries, and indeed the Pokémon series as a whole, it truly comes into its own against a real-life opponent.
As the first of what we hope is a series of fighting games, Pokkén Tournament surpasses our expectations.
It's not as technical as Street Fighter, not as chaotic as Smash Bros and not as fluid as Tekken, but if it just offered a bit more of a challenge and some more depth, it would be right up there with the best of them.
Although it's beautiful and intuitive to play, Pokken Tournament's story mode, where the beef of your gameplay will take place, becomes tiresome and drags down what could have been a one-of-a-kind experience on the Wii U. That's not to say that there aren't redeemable qualities, but with a small roster of fighters and too many battles against the same faces, it loses a lot of luster, fast.
It's no surprise that Pokkén Tournament is good, but it is surprising that it feels so unique. It's a refreshing face in the fighting genre, and offers up a ton of fun.
To the distraught fighting game purist that would criticize Pokkén Tournament as "not a legit fighting game," I counter with this: Oh my GOD!, could Pikachu Libre get any more damned cute? No! No, it could not. So grab a controller—not a fightstick—and whoop some Pokébutt!
Not content with putting Tekken in a Pokémon skin, Pokkén Tournament does its best to bridge the two worlds in one innovative fighter. In terms of the core combat it's succeeded, and Poké-enthusiasts will love to watch their favourites battle it out in a whole new way. However, Pokkén Tournament doesn't go quite far enough to capture the exploration, collection and training aspects of the classic series. It's going to please an awful lot of Poké-fans, but it's not quite gonna catch 'em all.
The Pokémon Company has another successful spin-off. Pokkén Tournament is the best fighting game of 2016 so far.
Pokken Tournament shines when it comes to playing with friends, but the game's grind filled single player and dumb AI make for a pretty unimpressive package overall.
Pokken Tournament might not quite be the Pokemon fighting game I've been dreaming of for years, but to be fair my dreams are ridiculously lofty. Despite its limited-by-reality scope, it's the closest we've come to capturing the excitement of animated Pokemon battles in video game form.
For trainers wanting a true one-on-one real time Pokemon experience, Pokken Tournament delivers rather well. There are a few things here and there that could use some improvement, most notably some online features and how ranking up works with the Ferrum League, but overall a rather enjoyable game for Pokemon and fighting game fans alike.
There's a lot of promise here, but Pokken Tournament can't decide what kind of fighting game it wants to be and that hurts the overall experience.
I'm a little confused whether Pokken Tournament is meant for a casual crowd, a hardcore crowd, or perhaps even both. The mechanics are simple enough for anyone to simply pick up and play, and potentially master, but the game does seem to have some slight nuances to give it an edge in the competitive space. Considering Pokken Tournament is already schedule to headline EVO 2016, it seems that both Nintendo and Bandai Namco are considering the game to certainly be competitive enough to appeal to the hardcore fighting game market. However, my time with it didn't really showcase that, at least not on that level.
Pokkén is a fun fighter with familiar Pokémon characters and surprising depth, but it failed to become a fighter I see myself playing for years to come
Pokken Tournament is a well crafted, yet simplistic fighting game. It won't compete against the Tekkens or Street Fighters of the fighting world, but it does enough to cater to the Pokémon crowd. If there was a bit more balance and a lot more characters, then this game would have been phenomenal. As it stands, it's still a good fighting game with lots of potential for growth.