PBR? No, not Pabst Blue Ribbon. I’m talking about the exciting new game for the Wii, Pokémon Battle Revolution. Though I must admit, drinking the former whilst playing the latter would be enjoyable. PBR brings a lot of firsts for the Wii. First of all, it is the first online game for the Wii. That’s right, after entering all those fun 16 digit friend codes, you too can throw down some Pocket Monsters you’re your Pokéfreaks across the world. Also, it’s the first Wii game to connect to the DS. With PBR, you can download and use all the Pokémon you caught in Diamond or Pearl, and you can even use your DS as a controller. Finally, this is, of course, the first Pokémon game for the Wii.

So with all those distinctions, you can see why PBR looks exciting. To be honest, it’s not even really a game. It’s just a fun way to battle with your Pokémon online. Now I’ve had PBR for a few days, so I thought I’d post some opinions. First of all, if you haven’t played Pokémon for the DS, don’t waste your time with PBR. Although you can battle Pokémon without connecting a DS, the game is really meant to let you battle with all the Pokémon caught on Diamond and Pearl. Also, the single player mode is pretty boring. You just battle dumb NPCs, that’s it. So as you can see, although PBR brings a couple of firsts to the Wii, it’s on the whole a shallow gaming experience. About the only fun I’ve had so far, is playing random people online. You might not expect it, but the online competition is pretty stiff. Almost everyone I’ve faced has a ridiculous set of maxed out legendary Pokémon. I hate to be so harsh on a series I love, but this game is just way to shallow. You could find more depth in an Xbox Live Arcade title. Other than that, the graphics look pretty good, you know for a souped-up Gamecube.