Gale of Darkness is mediocre. (Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (GC))

Member Name: randomreviews

Product:	Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (GC)
Date:	24/08/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: rare pokemon

Disadvantages: endless battles

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness is the sequel to Pokémon Colosseum for Gamecube which takes you back to the Orre region to hunt shadow Pokémon and defeat the evil crime syndicate called Cipher. Although its got some improvements from Colosseum, its still far from perfect for a 3D RPG Pokémon game.

In terms of the storyline, events are pretty basic and predictable. You run around trying to spot the bad guys with Shadow Pokémon who are harassing people in Orre and defeat them while trying to capture their Shadow monsters. Shadow Pokémon come with special shadow attacks which are super effective against all types of monsters.

One objective is to collect all the Shadow monsters and this game has over 80, much more than Colosseum. You can also purify them to level them up and trade them to your GBA games.

Trying to capture the Shadow monsters is very annoying. You need to be cautious not to KO them but at the same time you need to watch out because they always deal super effective hits so your team is being destroyed as you desperately attempt to capture it.

One good new feature is that you can now save ANYWHERE as opposed to just specific save points like in Colosseum.

Another benefit is that you can capture the 3 legendary bird Pokémon - Moltes, Articuno, and Zapdos along with Lugia, the biggest and baddest of all the shadow Pokémon in the game.

All battles are in the 2 on 2 mode so you have to be careful because some moves are weaker in double battles and some moves can also damage your ally. There are no gym leaders or Elite 4 or anything like that in this game. Its a land barren of Pokémon for the most part except for the evil Shadow monsters created by Cipher to do evil and terrify people.

The game also introduces some mini-games which aren't that great. You're already going to battle thousands of opponents, but you can collect these special battle discs with scenarios where you need to do a specific thing to win and you earn a special item. Another game is like tic tac toe with Pokemon based on elements,types & weaknesses. After completing Mt. Battle which is like a 3 hour ordeal you can get Cyndaquil, Totodile and Chikorita with special moves for their element - Blast Burn, Hydro Cannon, and Frenzy Plant.

The game can get very tiring. Its longer that Colosseum but not in a good way. The only good thing I see is that you can collect special limited edition Pokémon. In Colosseum, shadow monsters were just ordinary monsters with shadow powers and their hearts sealed in darkness. In XD, when you purify them, they learn special moves that they can't learn normally in any game - like a Marowak with Sing or a Moltres with Extrasensory. Those moves can't be bred either, they're unique only to monsters captured in XD. Another thing about XD is that you're allowed to capture a few wild monsters. You leave out bait in designated spots and check in from time to time to see what showed up.. but its usually things like Aron, Sandshrew, Gligar, Trapinch, Hoppip, Zubat, Surskit and Wooper.

Overall I'd recommend you just avoid this game and play the handheld ones - they're much better in every aspect.

Summary: For a 3D Pokémon RPG, this really won't satisfy players who love this series.