Let's talk right away about what made us hallucinate - in the negative sense of the term - when we discovered the Pokkén Tournament roster: the limited number of fighters. Only 14 Pokémon are present – 16 if we add Mewtwo and its Shadow variant – which is scandalous when you know the number of creatures – more than 700 – in the series. Afterwards, the advantage of betting on so few characters is to avoid duplicates by only offering very singular Pokémon. On this point, Pokkén does the job. But first of all, it is important to dwell on the game system for a few minutes which, let's face it, is disturbing at first. In fact, the fights are based on the ground phases which, roughly speaking, take up the recipe of Naruto; and dueling phases with a more traditional approach to fighting. Naturally, depending on the phase in which we find ourselves, the range of blows varies, knowing that it will be necessary to execute very specific attacks to switch to one or the other phase. Believe us, when you make the effort to learn the movements that allow you to change dimension, there is a way to do beautiful things contrary to what you might think. That said, it's true that in the field phase, we would have liked the developers to reduce the prevalence of spam. Seeing projectiles intersect gives Pokkén Tournament a nag aspect which is more convincing in the duel phases. Tekken heritage obliges, it will be necessary to remember the key combinations to hurt the opponent. By working like crazy on the "Training" mode, in which several very clear lessons are available, you end up being able to slam sequences of about fifteen hits, with a smirk.
Confident like the old veterans of the genre, Pokkén Tournament even tries to cancel as well as other subtleties – guard-breaking attacks, air control, counters, stun, chip damage, recoverable HP for example – which work rather well.
If the bounce system – valuable for lengthening combos in Tekken – didn't make the trip, we'll still be happy to see that it's possible to martyr your opponent against the wall. Confident like the old veterans of the genre, Pokkén Tournament even tries to cancel as well as other subtleties – guard-breaking attacks, air control, counters, stun, chip damage, recoverable HP for example – which work rather well. We almost forgot two key elements: the synergy gauge and the support Pokémon. Once the synergy gauge is full, there is a way to trigger the synergistic burst, a kind of trance state in which the character's power is increased tenfold; and it is also at this time that it is possible to slam a fury by pressing L and R. As far as the support Pokémon are concerned, it is more exactly a pair that we must choose before enter the arena, with characteristics specific to each of them. Again, the choice will depend on our style of play and the strategy we want to implement. Play the synergistic burst card or boost combos with piercing blows? Harass the opponent with projectiles or focus on defense? The options are multiple and the intervention of support Pokémon can also have a positive or negative impact on the stats of the character. In short, put end to end, all these subtleties reveal the know-how of Harada-san and his teams who did not want to leave anyone on the sidelines. And as often in such a situation, some will criticize Pokkén Tournament for not going after its ideas, whether in one direction or the other. Indeed, neophytes will regret that the game is not pleasant enough, while purists will point the finger at the minimal room for improvement.
COME TAKE YOUR KARACLÉE
On the character side, we are entitled to a classic distribution between powerful, balanced and fast Pokémon. For the purposes of the test, we mainly slept on Braségali which offers all the guarantees to appear well in the arena without the slightest sacrifice. Those who want to break ribs should definitely fall for Mackogneur, the service Zangief whose mugs are devastating. Charizard can be formidable too, while Dimoret annoys quite quickly with his vicious claws. Like every self-respecting fighting game, and even if Pokkén Tournament has been available for a while now in Japanese arcades, it will still take some time before a credible first tier list appears. What everyone agrees in any case is that Shadow Mewtwo looks completely cracked, as we can see in what looks like a “Story” mode. In fact, the player must struggle with Ferrum League matches to demonstrate that he is the best trainer in the region, with no less than four leagues on the program (Green, Blue, Red, Chroma). In each of them, it will be necessary to succeed in integrating the closed circle of the eight best trainers to access a VIP tournament. Once the latter has been won, it will be essential to participate in a qualifying event in order to win the right to move on to the next league. Disgusting as possible. Fortunately, Shadow Mewtwo and his princess hidden under a hood have the good idea to burst in from time to time, just to remind us who the bosses are. Unavoidable defeats anyway, except during the final meeting where we understand that we will really have to roll up our sleeves. We then rely on trickery techniques to ensure victory, so unbalanced is it. Clearly, it's a fight in two winning rounds - except for Shadow Mewtwo who is declared the winner if he wins the first round - with a number of HP for the boss that is at least double ours. Good luck.
In fact, it is especially its dated realization that is a task. And even without that, the repetitive nature of the single-player campaign, the limited number of characters or the online lag also remind us that Pokkén Tournament is first and foremost a first attempt.
Graphically, Pokkén Tournament cannot be called a work of art. The sets are hopelessly empty, the anti-aliasing has stayed in bed, the effects are tasteless, and the Pokemon poorly modeled. As for the furies, we feel that it is clearly not in the habits of the house to send out colored rays in all directions, despite the obvious efforts. On the other hand, the fluidity of the fights (60fps) is appreciable, except when playing two (one player holds the GamePad while the other follows the action on the television); the framerate then immediately drops to 30fps. As a result, collectors will undoubtedly fall back on the ton of items that can be bought at the corner shop, the items in question having only a cosmetic impact. To inflate the skills of his character, we will have to accumulate experience points and go up in levels (our Braségali points to rank 55), which can make things easier online in particular. Moreover, since we are talking about it, Pokkén Tournament is in the classic by offering matches with a friend or classified. There are also rankings that allow you to position yourself in relation to the rest of the world, but we were quickly disillusioned because of the lag that plagues the fights. Something to discourage you, really.
