Pokémon Rumble World (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Other than the yearly entries into the main Pokémon series, with two titles usually released alongside each other, there are also several side games as well, some of which have turned into their own separate series as well. One such is Pokémon Rumble, which is now taking its steps into the free-to-play world with the latest edition, Pokémon Rumble World.

The goal, like it has always been in Ambrella's releases, is to collect toy Pokémon by fighting them in an open world arena. The concept of moving around the fighting Pokémon freely in a 3D environment is one that has been on fans' minds since the launch of this spin-off, and it proves to be heaps of fun for a while, but the highly repetitive nature does start to kick in after some time. The issue is that while there are several stages and hundreds of Pokémon to collect, all the stages and most Pokémon work in very similar ways, which creates little room for variation and, therefore, might get boring in longer sittings.

This is part of the reason why Pokémon Rumble World is such a perfect and natural fit as a free-to-play title. The weakness of a repetitive game is hidden very well when there are timed lockouts that prevent players from over-extending the game time to the point where the repetitiveness starts to take a major toll.

While on paper there are indeed timed lockouts, these very seldom prevent anyone from playing it if they truly want to. As the lock-downs are tied to different stages, there is almost always a possibility to play another stage that, while maybe already completed to the 100% level, might still help to power-up the team. This approach makes the title highly playable even without spending a single penny on the in-game crystals.

However, for those willing to spend money on Pokémon Rumble World, there are clear advantages. For example, it will help to unlock all different stages faster, and fill up the Pokédex quicker and go up in rank, making it a good deal for those willing to spend a few coins. It is, however, as stated above, in no way a necessity to enjoy the title as an on the go experience.

While sometimes bordering on the edge of being too repetitive and being close to the line of what might be tolerable f2p practice, Pokémon Rumble World is still a very balanced experience. Its gameplay strongly encourages shorter play sessions, and is indeed best experienced this way. However, with that many Pokémon and that much content, Nintendo could have made boss Pokémon more unique compared to ordinary enemies. As it is now, they are just oversized standard enemies and after facing off against one of these, gamers will have basically faced off against them all. More variance in the large field of components could have helped this title to shine even brighter than it already does.