Story - 6/10
The story in PokéPark is pretty bland and makes use of the already well known animal kingdom of Pokémon as characters. The story sums up to basically being about Pikachu (as our man hero) going around the "PokéPark" collecting these shards that he was told to collect by Mew in a dream. The story really isn't terrible, and certainly out does stories of other games that actually require some sort of engaging story, but it's definitely not top notch. The story however is sufficient for children, who are probably the target audience for the game.
Gameplay - 7/10
Gameplay is really where this title shines and falls at the same time. In the game you traverse the world, the "PokéPark", as Pikachu. First it'd be good to note that the controls for Pikachu while traversing the main world are very awkward. You use the wiimote turned on it's side, which keeps things simple for small kids, but limits the controls considerably. You are forced to use the D-pad to move around, which isn't the most precise directional input. Pikachu also moves at a snail's pace, and in order to move quickly you must press 1 multiple times to activate his "dash" ability. That wouldn't be so bad if the dashes weren't in the form of little speed boosts that are really hard to navigate precisely, especially on the D-pad.
The game is set up in different zones, each of a different environment and each environment contains different minigames you can play. Now this is where the game is good and bad at the same time. You have the option to befriend many many pokémon from the long catalog of pocket monsters to use in these minigames. In order to recruit, you have to take part in different tasks. Sometimes it'll require you to do something crucial to advancing in the story line, so you pretty much have no choice. And sometimes it'll involve a "skill game". These skill games usually involve one of 5 main games including: a platforming race, tag, hide-and-seek, quiz, or battle. I found the platforming races to be fairly simple after you get used to controlling Pikachu, hide-and-seek also being simple as the pokémon you're seeking is usually yaking it's mouth off, and quizzes are painfully easy. The battling and tag is where you'll really find any sort of challenge while recruiting, and that's not saying much. Once you boost Pikachu's speed boost ability to the max (or even half really), tag matches become a breeze. Battles are pretty easy too after you boost your health and get a feel for how to dodge, but being in the shoes of a 3D pokémon battle is still epic none-the-less.
After you recruit your pokémon you have to participate in minigames. Some of these are actually fairly polished and a lot of fun, not to mention you have your choice of a lot of different pokemon for each event. Some of the minigames include racing, surfing, flying, and snow boarding, there's actually even one that's like brick breaker. While some of them are fun, half of them are really short and some of them feel like it doesn't matter a whole lot which pokemon you choose as they are all the same, just some are better at doing the exact same thing. There isn't anything special about choosing one over another other than skill, which is a little disappointing. If the game had taken a more Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games approach to these minigames, they may have been a bit more fun. For example, the snow boarding, surfing, and flying could've been more fun if they were multiplayer and more mariokart-esque. It's a lot to ask of the game, but it really would've made this game a blast to play if it focused more on making the minigames multiplayer and less repetitive, it would've been near perfect.
Visuals - 7/10
The visuals in PokéPark are what you'd expect to find in a wii title, nothing too exciting. Something else I found disappointing were that some of the animations of the Pokémon looked literally like animations I had seen in Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2 years ago on the N64. Better graphics obviously, but I wasn't sure to find reuse of the same animations charming or lazy. However it is very fun to run around and battle other pokémon in 3D.
Content - 8/10
When I stop to think about it, the game really does have a lot of content, it's just that some of it gets reused to the point where it becomes boring. There are a lot of minigames to play and nearly 200 friends to collect, not to mention you can do "skill games" any time you want with almost any other Pokémon in the game. There is definitely a lot of content in the game, it just would've been nice to see it more polished in some areas.
Music - 8/10
The music found in PokéPark is grading at first. The music isn't necessarily under performed, it's just a little too cheerful and playful, it sounds like a child's toy for sure. However as you get through the game, some of the tracks are actually really well put together and catchy. I was actually impressed at how bad the music ended up not being after I got passed the first main song or two of the game. The voice work is also voices from the anime series and not the 8-bit noises from the handheld games. Some may see that as a plus or minus, I saw it as a good thing.
Lasting Appeal 7/10
Despite the fact that there is a lot to collect here and a lot of replayability, this game is just a little to repetitive to play over and over again. However it's target audience is children, and I'm sure I would've played the hell out of this game as a kid, so I guess it has succeeded in this area to some degree. It really could have benefited from some sort of multiplayer option though.
Overall - 7.1 /10
The reality of this game is, it's built for a certain audience, and that audience will eat this game up. However for old Pokéfans, this game will come across as too easy and too repetitive. If you're a true blue Pokémaster, go ahead and pick it up, but probably a better option for your kids than for yourself.
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