And the more, the merrier because the portals to Wish Park only open if you wish really hard, and the more Pals you can call on to wish with you, the easier the portals will open. Approach the other Pokémon to start a dialogue, though it’s best to stop dashing before you try to do this otherwise you’ll just end up headbutting them into a wall, then they’ll ask you whether or not you want to play with them, and after catching, finding, or beating them, they decide they want to be your Pal. The mini tasks differ from Pokémon to Pokémon, and there’s only one way to find out what they want and that’s to start polishing up your social skills. While the gameplay is pretty linear, there are dozens of mini tasks in each area that you can chose to do such as playing Chase, Hide and Seek, and mini battles with the other Pokémon to gain Berries to spend on improving moves and make Pals who will end up helping you along the way. You’ll encounter new sets of Pokémon as you adventure through the different areas of PokéPark looking for the portals to Wish Park. Exploration is simple enough as the areas are all relatively small, but then again, so are the Pokémons’ legs, so be prepared to continuously mash the dash button to get around at a reasonable pace unless you are just super patient. The basic gist of the game is to go to all the areas of Wish Park, the wonders beyond, playing as Pikachu, Oshawott, Tepig, or Snivy, and bring back the Pokémon that have been trapped there while trying to piece together exactly what is going on.
are romping around a beach and fighting baddies in a cake shop. The game begins by trying to grasp at a serious tone as Reshiram, hovering over a lake of lava, and Zekrom, standing in the midst of a frozen wasteland, discuss a coming darkness that threatens to swallow the world of PokéPark, but this tone is quickly lost when Pikachu and Co. That’s not to say it’s a throwback though PokéPark 2 is primarily filled with Pokémon fresh from the Pokémon Black and Pokémon White generation. I have to admit, I found PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond rather charming in that reconnect-with-your-inner-child sort of way.