

Even if you lose a battle that you must win, you're given the chance to do it again without fanfare. You can win or lose, and the game will continue. It has goals, challenges and missions, but they're presented as silly and fun things to do. Together, the pair must rescue their friends and stop the evil force before it ruins everything. Pikachu barely escapes with some help from his new pal, Oshawott. Evil Pokémon are using it, along with some evil cake, to brainwash the inhabitants of PokePark. Pikachu and his pals visit a special amusement park, which turns out to be a trap. Pikachu and his pals live in a near-idyllic PokePark, where they play and have fun without humans catching them and stuffing them in poké balls. As is, you play with the Wii remote on its side, but moving your character in a 3D space with the D-pad is less than preferable.In PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, players take control of Pikachu, the adorable Pokémon mascot. Poke Park 2 is also in severe want of Nunchuk support. And the mini-games, while amusing, aren't exhilarating or numerous enough to make the game feel like a complete package. The battle system is also rather shallow, just tasking you with spamming a couple of buttons until you win.

Seriously, you'll never want to chase another Pokemon by the end of it. Unfortunately, there's far too much repetition in this game for it to hold your interest for too long.

You'll also play Chase with your Poke pals (which involves you dashing after them and is usually over in a couple of seconds), as well as engage in a few fights. Once you unlock these games you can play them with up to four players locally, which is a nice touch. As you progress you'll gain access to several mini-games - like shooting cake ingredients or completing small side-scrolling levels. You can do this in a variety of ways, from playing games to doing favors to battling. Since the plot, much like the original, places a huge emphasis on the importance of friendship, a large part of the experience involves befriending a limited group of different species of Pokemon from all five generations (no, they're not all in here, just a hundred or so). These are the only Pokemon you get to play as, which is a huge shame, as more variety would have been much appreciated. Throughout the adventure you switch between four different Pokemon, Pikachu and the Black and White starters - Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott. The game is incredibly slow to start, and never really finds a satisfying stride. PokePark 2 presents a charming world to run around, but when it comes to gameplay, there's just not that much to it. Unfortunately, this is where the game falls short. Still, while the skeletal story may amuse kiddos or anyone with a fatal attraction to cuteness, there needed to be some substantive gameplay to make it worthwhile for anyone else. It's silly, to be sure, but you'd expect nothing less from a new PokePark game. How, you ask? By using cake to hypnotize them. The basic gist involves a scheme to kidnap Pokemon. As for the story, it's completely nonsensical, though pretty hilarious at times. All of this goes a long way in bringing the world to life and capturing the Pokemon spirit. The character models of the different Pokemon look amazing too, as do their fluid animations. From the loading screens that feature Pikachu and pals waving and running about to the way your playable characters waddle across the world, everywhere you turn you'll find something unbearably cute to behold. PokePark 2 is, not surprisingly, utterly adorable.
