If you've played one of the previous Pokémon games to death, is there really any reason to come back?
Yes. One word: Wi-Fi.
To be honest, we're could have written the whole review simply about the use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. While wireless battling is sadly limited to people with whom you share Friend Codes – it also lets you 'voice chat' online – trading can take place with strangers, even when you're offline thanks to the Global Trade Station: simply list the pokémon you wish to trade and what you want in return and your demands are uploaded to a central marketplace. Desperate for a certain pokémon? Search the listings and find someone that has what you want.
It's simple, but the thrill of having access to an online pokémon shopping plaza is intoxicating.
Even wireless battling gets a boost, as human opposition is much tougher than the single-player artificial intelligence, providing a new tactical edge and emphasising the offensive and defensive abilities spread across the range of pokémon.
Such features have been quickly seized upon by players. Although the game is currently only available in Japan, already English-language tournaments and clans are being arranged by a growing community of fans, specialised pokémon breeders are offering their wares in threads across the Internet, and several Pokémon User Leagues have been created to mimic the one you'll climb to the top of during the single-player campaign.
Indeed, it's somewhat ironic that only now, with the integration of Wi-Fi, Pokémon has become the community game it's always pretended to be. Casting a retrospective eye upon the series, it would appear that every game since the series started in 1995 has just been a level up. This, finally, is the real deal.
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