REVIEW: Is ‘Pokkèn Tournament’ worth checking out?

I have not done my homework this week because I was too focused on my mom telling me to turn off my Wii U. Yes, I, a 20-year-old still game any chance I get.
Recently, my favorite game is  “Pokkèn Tournament.””Pokken” is a fighting arcade-style game centered around the Pokemon world. Since there are over 16 playable characters, there is never a dull moment when it comes to battling it out with my siblings.
The basic concept of the Pokèmon series is to level up your creatures and fight off other players in a turn-based battle. “Pokkèn” is a new version of the Pokemon games because it is in a fighting style like “Street Fighter” or “Tekken.” The graphics have changed over the years and it is astonishing. They went from pixelated sprites to full HD fighting style pokèmon. The player actually gets to control the pokemon fighting simultaneously with the other opponent.
The gameplay in “Pokkèn” is pure genius. With over 15 different arenas and over 16 sidekick pokèmon, there is an immersive amount of content. I confess, the first few times I was mashing buttons because I was trying to figure out what each button would do. It took me a while to get the hang of it, because there is just so much going on the screen at once. The good thing about playing locally is that the one player can use the Wii U gamepad while the other uses the TV screen. This cuts out that annoying split-screen TV that makes it hard to see what’s going on.
On another note, the story mode can become very dull and repetitive. It has you fighting wave after wave of enemies to further progress in the story. You often have to fight the same characters over and over since there is a limited amount of characters in the game.
“Pokkèn” is a game anyone can enjoy, especially if you are a fan of the franchise. It seems like Nintendo was trying to bring in a new type of audience into the Pokèmon world. Overall, I think “Pokkèn” is a great multiplayer game, but it will probably collect some dust on a shelf if you plan on playing single-player mode too much. Homework can wait; I need to polish up my “Pokkèn” fighting skills before I get started on finals.