I approached Pokemon Battle Trozei with two fundamental expectations. First, that it would be a puzzle game like most other puzzle games: simple, but with a lot of depth, and very addictive. Second, that it would follow the tradition of Pokemon games and be fairly easy: after all, the Pokemon games are made for kids. How hard could Pokemon Battle Trozei be?
Quite hard, it turns out.
I didn’t ever play the original Pokemon Trozei, a Nintendo DS title. So, coming into Battle Trozei, I was brand new to the concept. And it is a fairly simple concept: using the touch screen, the player swaps Pokemon heads on the grid-based playing field to make matches of 3 or more, thus clearing the screen and making way for more Pokemon to fall down from above. Matching 4 Pokemon heads, followed by 3, opens up a Trozei chance, during which matches of just 2 will clear the board. During this time, combos are a little easier to pull off, but the player will still have to work frantically to make matches as Pokemon are cleared and more fall from above.
The type of the Pokemon matched first in a combo will determine the type of attack that is unleashed on whatever wild Pokemon is (are) displayed on the top screen. The player’s job is to reduce these Pokemon’s health to zero, which captures, or “Trozeis,” them. The wild Pokemon can fight back, depleting the health bar on the sides of the bottom screen, and it’s game over when the bar goes kaput. Trozeied Pokemon are added to a collection and can be used as support Pokemon. A support Pokemon will appear in your Trozei grid, allowing you to match types more effectively.
If that sounds complicated, it’s because it is complicated. On top of the inherently fast-paced action, the player has to keep an eye on the health bar and type match-ups. And wild Pokemon will pull off some deviously tricky attacks at times too, especially in the game’s later stages. So playing it may at first be discouraging (it certainly was for me), but with practice, it becomes increasingly more fun. There’s plenty here in terms of challenge, and with a hearty number of stages with plenty of Pokemon to Trozei (all but Diancie, I believe, which adds up to 718), $7.99 seems a reasonable price to me. I give this game:
4.5/5 Stars