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Take your Pokemon to the big screen and online.

Pokemon Battle Revolution offers up a number of firsts for Nintendo's Wii. It's the first game on the console to allow online play via Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service. It's also the first game to utilize the Nintendo DS as a controller as well as allow users to import Pokemon from Diamond and Pearl to the Wii. Despite these fantastic features, I can't help but feel the game has very little appeal outside the hardcore Pokemon "gotta collect'em all" fans that snap up anything and everything related to the popular series.

At its core, Pokemon Battle Revolution is a graphically enhanced sequel to the Pokemon Stadium games on the Nintendo 64. It connects with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (DS) to allow gamers to see their Pokemon in glorious 3D on the television. Make no mistake, the graphics are pretty polished, easy on the eyes, and kids get a kick out of seeing their favorite monsters represented with high-resolution polygons. The game allows up to four players to duke it out and challenge friends and foes to battle after battle. As mentioned earlier, the game even has an online mode to extend replayability. Sadly, the game doesn't feature a 1-player adventure mode like Pokemon XD did on the GameCube. What's left is basically a multiplayer-only affair that quickly becomes boring for anyone that's not a huge Pokemon nut.

Unlike the previous console iterations of Pokemon, like Stadium 1 & 2, Battle Revolution is somewhat streamlined and stripped down when it comes to additional features. In the N64 games you could put your Pokemon Game Boy game into the controller via a transfer pak and play through the game on your T.V., which was a great feature. No such luck here. Also missing are any real rewards for being good at the game, which is pretty sad when you consider the game's online element. The developers could have at least included leaderboards or something to give gamers an idea as to where they rank compared to others. Last, but not least, for a console that's so cluttered with mini-games it's surprising to see them missing in this one, especially since its predecessors featured a wide variety of them.

Graphically, the game looks great. The Pokemon have never looked better, with many of them taking up a good portion of the screen. The animations are decent, but nothing we haven't seen in prior games. The special effects are nicely done, but not too over the top to slow the game down. The announcer is a nice touch, but some may find him annoying after extended periods of play.

With a surprising lack of play modes and little gratification given for completing battles, it's hard to recommend this game to anyone except hardcore Pokemon fanatics. I didn't find much to like in the game and quickly became bored. If you're looking for a real Pokemon adventure check out the portable games as they truly offer compelling gameplay.