Pokémon spin-off games often have varying degrees of success; when the original game in this series launched on Wii Ware it did reasonably well, probably because of its simplicity as in essence all you'd do in the game is fight in an arena using various Pokémon, using a rather basic battle system that anyone of any skill level could enjoy. This trend seemed to continue with the recently released 3DS iteration and now with the release of Pokémon Rumble U on the Wii U - funilly enough - we have what is a culmination of the last few years of the mini-series history resulting in... Pokémon toys in HD! Horray for innovation I hear you cry, but in all seriousness this is at least the first game out of all three that I think actually looks the part because of this; but does it play the part well? Read on to find out.

The story is barely worth mentioning but here we go anyway - a new range of capsule toys containing Pokémon are being delivered to the store when suddenly an 'evil' capsule appears, trips up the Pokémon Centre employee carrying the boxes who then drops the capsules which end up in a stream and are carried far away. So you are in control of four toys on their way home, Pikachu, Snivy, Tepig and Oshawot as you travel across fictional Japan battling against other missing toys who you meet along the way so that they may join you in your not-so-epic journey.

As you venture across the map you will unlock many arenas inside each location; clearing all locations will open up new areas. As you keep progressing onward to your final destination, you get to pick four Pokémon before each battle from your capsule collection, so this is where you can either opt to let three CPU characters join you or just press the 'plus' button on any controller for some multiplayer madness; whichever way you play though you will want to take into account element types as these can ultimately decide whether you're going to be victorious or not. Controls are pretty simple as you essentially just bash away at the 'A' button or the 'B' button if your 'mon has more than one attack. Control is handled using the left stick, where you can make your character move rather comically in true toy-like fashion. Upon destroying enemies or scenery coins or capsules will appear so naturally you will want to collect as many of these as you can. You do this until the 'boss' appears which you then beat... rinse and repeat.

Fans of the previous games might be dismayed to learn that this is basically it for the gameplay stages. The previous titles did contain 'road' stages, but this is all pure arena-based battling with nothing else to break up the gameplay. Variation comes from having nearly seven hundred Pokémon to collect/use in battle, so if these now missing stages are a deal-breaker for you then you may as well stop reading here. I don't think it's all bad though personally, but then it should be mentioned that this is my first time playing a game in the series. There are at least a good few challenges to partake in, which for me at least, provides something to aim for. Mostly though, if you're a fan of the series then you know what you're getting into.

It's safe to say that this iteration is very much multiplayer-focused, so while you can still have fun playing solo, it's probably best if you're able to get a few friends involved as this really does transform the experience significantly, mostly making it more chaotic but it is all part of the fun. It would seem like a great deal of the enjoyment has been tied to the NFC figures that have quite a heavy focus, as you can buy actual toy Pokémon figures that have a NFC chip in the base which can be read by the GamePad. The advantages of using these figures in-game are that you get better stats than the ones that are already there by default. It is a rather clever marketing scheme by Nintendo as the figures can cost around £3.99 each per blind-bag! These figures may still be significantly cheaper than other competitors on the market, but remember that the actual technology in the figures costs mere pence per chip so just be aware of this before you start splashing out on the figures. If they are going to bring joy to you from collecting them then you may deem it worthwhile but it will set you back a fair amount if you intend to buy them all.

Visually everything is rather nice for an e-Shop title, and being that it is the series' first foray into HD it really doesn't fare too badly at all. Anyone who has played the 3DS game before this might feel that it's not that much of a leap, but there are still many nice touches though and when you consider how many animations had to be coded into the game for all the Pokémon... you still definitely get value for money at least where the game on its own is concerned. The music is predictable and rather whimsical, it has a certain amount of charm to it but you can tell that it's still a spin-off from a great series, the background music always feels relevant, it's catchy to a point and the sound effects are substantial but it was never destined to reach the same levels as the main games.

Pokémon fans should find plenty here to keep them occupied in this title as it is a genuine blast to play, but there is a heavy emphasis on collection almost as much - if not more - than the battling, that should tell you all you need to know about whether you want this or not. If you simply must have every Pokémon game and absolutely revel in collecting things then this is most definitely for you, even add a point on to the final score if it makes you feel better. For everyone else though, this will provide a quick-fix of
entertainment every now and then but nothing much beyond that, this is still a fairly decent spin-off series for what it's worth, but just beware that those little plastic figures could end up taking over your life if you let them, just as Pokémon has done for decades now since the original games.