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Pokemon Trozei
At its core there’s a wonderful puzzle game bursting to get out
Tags: Pokemon Trozei Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on May 1st, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokemon Trozei (title page) | 1 - 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Puzzle | No | ||
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Pokemon has gone from a “type of RPG” to a licensing behometh that not only infiltrates other genres in the videogame space, it actually gives Nintendo a reason to bring out more games than it may otherwise would. Perhaps no more than any other instance is the puzzle genre an example of how the Pokemon license is used to bring more gamers to a game than might otherwise play it.
This holds true for Pokemon Trozei, a simple puzzle game at its core with a very solid foundation. By using the Pokemon license, fans that would not otherwise typically consider playing a puzzle game may in fact pick it up simply because it uses the small collectable creatures. This isn’t a typical Pokemon game, not by a long shot – but fans of both puzzle games and Nintendo’s fantasy animals would do well to consider picking this up.
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The premise is as corny as it could be. We are to believe that some group is out there stealing PokeBalls with the Pokemon still inside. Naturally such a wide-reaching crime is only capable of being handled by some pre-teen secret agent with a grandfatherly figure behind the scenes at “the lab” – the setup is lame, but being able to get past that allows for some great gameplay.
The gameplay grid is 5X11 squares (5X5 on the bottom screen) and is essentially a “slider” puzzle. The point is to line up 4 of the same Pokemon in a row to clear them and open up a “Trozei Chance” to clear 3 in a row, then two in a row. Instead of moving individual Pokemon through the playing field, entire rows are shifted to the left or right, or down. It is possible to shift a row upward, but gravity will immediately bring it back down.
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To gain a really high score one must chain together as many Trozeis as possible. If the entire playing field of 55 squares is full the game is over. There is an endless mode which allows for players to just keep going on and on clearing away disembodied Pokemon heads from the playing field or there is the Adventure Mode which sets up the story and presents the various stages to play through, complete with boss battles.
The boss battles can be particularly frustrating for those not familiar with Pokemon, and is where much of the alienation will come in. At times the boss will “black out” the screen leaving the Pokemon heads only in silhouette form. It really does pay to know your Pokemon at this stage of the game as trying to line up 4 in a row without knowing which ones are which is an exercise in frustration.
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Also complicating matters (but something that isn’t so out of the ordinary for puzzle fans) is the random replacement of various items in the playing field with “dummy” blocks, ones that can not be Trozei’d by traditional means. This is where the strategic use of the game’s secret weapon comes in – Ditto. Another use of the Pokemon license is the wild card Pokemon that can change its shape allowing it to line up with any other as a stand in. At times players will need to use it to complete an initial “4 in a row” but most of the time it is best saved and used as a third Pokemon to begin a chain of Trozeis to clear the field.
It wouldn’t be a good puzzle game without some multiplayer, and the DS is used quite well here. There is game sharing but no online play. There are only two multiplayer modes and most players will go for the Battle – head to head Trozei action where cleared Pokemon are sent to the opponent’s playing field. Pair is similar, but more of a co-op type of play to get to a single goal of cleared Pokemon.
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There is the Pokemon mantra of having to collect them all in the game as well. Each of the franchises Pokemon are represented in the game, naturally some are rarer than others. Progress in finding and Trozei-ing them all is kept automatically. This is only for the hardcore Pokemon fans who need another way to collect – as if playing the traditional RPGs isn’t enough (and actually we’re still waiting for that genre of the franchise to make the jump to the DS).
Instead of creating a puzzle game with wide appeal, the Pokemon license will hold more “grown up” gamers at bay. The presentation is laughable even by Pokemon standards – isn’t it time that we got away from unrealistic pre-teen heroes and storylines that are as solid as H.G. Wells’ Griffin? And what was with the decision to release it at the same time as Tetris DS?
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Solid puzzle gameplay + One cart multiplayer |
8.1 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Pokemon license shamelessly used unnecessarily - Not enough game modes |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| A good game that should have been better. Hopefully there will be a sequel to bring more game modes in, but the Pokemon theme needs to be turned down if not tossed completely. | |
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Tags: Pokemon Trozei
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on May 1st, 2006 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
