Pokemon Rumble Blast

Genre: Action-RPG

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Wireless), StreetPass Compatible

.

Review:

When Pokemon Rumble released on the Nintendo Wii via the WiiWare service in 2009, the simple family-friendly Action-RPG didn’t exactly seem like a game that had the makings of a fully-fledged spin-off franchise, with a total of 3-4 sequels following it. Critics and fans alike generally found it shallow and repetitive. However, because sometimes Nintendo likes to ignore some of their better franchises to give a lesser franchise a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance, we get games like Pokemon Rumble Blast, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2011, the first of these sequels to Pokemon Rumble.

I suppose at least Pokemon Rumble manages to be endearing, much in the same way a crippled puppy might be. Its presentation features simple 3D “toy” versions of its various Pokemon that seem like a lazy way to render these Pokemon in 3D without putting much effort into it, its sounds are the same digitized sound effects copy-pasted from other games in the series, and its energetic music is completely forgettable, but it’s still cute and has a colorful, juvenile charm to it.

The problem here is that the gameplay is just as simple and lazy as the visuals. Players fight off hordes of enemy “toy” Pokemon, occasionally earning one to be added to your growing collection. These battles make use of simple attacks, of which each Pokemon can only have two at a time. The lack of variety in your move set, the repetitive nature of these battles, and the dumb enemy AI that tends to just run straight toward you and attack while in range… it all adds up to some really dull gameplay. This isn’t made any better by the extremely-shallow RPG elements, which don’t have you gaining levels so much as you just look for a newer, more powerful Pokemon to replace the one you’ve been using.

It’s perhaps fitting that the Pokemon in Pokemon Rumble Blast are so disposable, because so too is this game. The combat is depressingly simple, the RPG elements are extremely minimal, and there’s little here to hold your interest. Unless you want a Pokemon Action-RPG that’s dumb as rocks, this is not a game worth playing.

tl;dr – Pokemon Rumble Blast is an Action-RPG with extremely simple, dull gameplay and simple, ugly 3D visuals. There’s nothing here of particular interest, and certainly nothing to justify the multiple sequels this game would get.

Grade: D+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, Homer Simpin, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, Kristoffer Wulff, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Francis Obst, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}