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> Results: Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
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Five years after the Shadow Pokémon incident in the Orre Region in Pokémon Colosseum, a mysterious Dark Lugia was sighted and a cargo ship disappeared. Could there be a connection? You play as a young Pokémon trainer helping his family in a Pokémon laboratory. This lab specializes in creating ways to purify Shadow Pokémon, bringing them back to their regular states. Shadow Pokémon have no free will so most do-gooders in the game are opposed to the idea. But when the corrupt organization that created an army of Dark Pokémon in the first game threatens the safety of the lab and its scientists, you spring into action with your trusty Pokémon Eevee to battle the bad guys and save all the Shadow Pokémon!
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness looks and plays exactly like Pokémon Colosseum. Since the game takes place in the exact region as before, even most of the locations are the same: graphics, music, two-on-two battles, everything. Since you usually don't battle wild Pokémon like in the Game Boy games, you go up against rival trainers and villains with Shadow Pokémon. So how do you catch new Pokémon if they are already under the control of another trainer? Just as in Colosseum, you have a special device that lets you see which are Shadow Pokémon, and a snag machine that lets you swipe those Pokémon from under their noses! Shadow Pokémon have some powerful attacks, but they can't level up or learn new moves. So to change them back into regular Pokémon, you must earn their trust by keeping them in battle with you. To complete the purification process, you must take the Shadow Pokémon to some ruins in the same town you purified Pokémon in the last game. Later on, there is another way to purify Shadow Pokémon in the lab, but it's a confusing process and neither myself nor my Pokémon expert little brothers fully understood how it worked. Just as there is a new way to purify Shadow Pokémon in XD, there's a new way to catch Pokémon as well. Wild Pokémon have started to come back to the once barren Orre Region, and if you set some Poke Snacks at certain locations, a wild Pokémon might be spotted gobbling them down later. If you're quick enough, you can catch it! Make sure and snag as many Shadow Pokémon and wild monsters as you can to build up your repertoire of fighting moves to battle all your rivals. XD offers more of everything. More battles, more challenges, and more Pokémon, Pokémon, Pokémon!  The visuals and audio have largely remained the same as Pokémon Colosseum, but there are new small touches, like lighting, shadows, and trainers wincing when their Pokémon take a really hard blow. In a competition, the audience cheers when you bring out your Pokémon while the battle music really makes you want to wallop some monsters. The basic play control is easy to get into, but you really need to know your stuff in Pokémon XD. The paper-rock-scissors style of elemental weaknesses and strengths are ever present here as in any Pokémon game, but with the two-on-two battles and tough boss trainers, it's helpful to have some prior knowledge of the Pokémon world. As in Colosseum, you can hook up your Game Boy Advance games with a Link Cable and battle it out in 3-D. If you're a Pokémon expert looking for new ways to raise and battle the famous critters, then XD marks the spot. 
Pokémon games are great for kids. They teach reading, organization, and logic skills. Even though this one is rated E for everyone, I'm going to have to skew the age rating a bit older. Good reading skill is required to understand all there is to know. The battles are tougher and kids will really need to bone up on the basics before diving into this one. Beginning Pokémon trainers may want to start out with one of the Game Boy Advance games first. Pokémon smack each other around with tackles, lighting bolts, ice beams, and other attacks, but the violence is all cartoony and nobody dies. Defeated Pokémon just get tired and run away, and people settle their differences with Pokémon battles onlyﾗno physical violence against each other at all. Older Pokémon pros in the 8 to 10 range should have a blast with this latest game in the series.
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