Pokemon Team Turbo

Box Art

Pokemon Team Turbo

Publisher

ValuSoft

Developer

ValuSoft

Platform

Genre

Compilation

Origin

USA

Players

Release Date

October 28, 2005

It's time to race and Team Turbo needs you. Challenge your Pokémon knowledge in five exciting games, each with multiple skill levels, to earn racing power-ups. Then use these turbo boosts at just the right time on six tough race courses to cross the finish line first.

Features

  Meet your match in The Street Race - This course may be straight, but it's far from easy. Maximize the traction of your racing ball, collecting your character's letters for double points as you speed to the finish line.
  Dominate Squirtle's Door Dilemma - Can you guess Squirtle's secrets and figure out who's hiding behind the doors? Open all three doors to win a Water Balloon to slow your opponents on the race track.
  Take on Charizard's Crossword Challenge - Can you complete the Pokémon crossword puzzle? Answer the tough questions before your guesses run out to win a Turbo Boost for your next race.
  Survive the Dirt Track Insanity - Whiz through the dirt track to cross the finish line first. Collect your characters' domino pieces throughout the track to win a Turbo Boost, but avoid the other dominoes or risk spinning out.
  Master Skitty's Block Out Game - Pokémon characters are falling from above. Align like characters to earn nuts that you can toss at your opponents during the next race.
  Conquer Mudkip's Word Finder - Prove you're a Pokémon word master by finding the Pokémon words before the time runs out. Can you find 'em all to win Super Furret Speed for your next race?

Review

Pokemon Team Turbo is ValuSoft's second attempt at the Pokemon license after its inaugural showing in Pokemon Masters Arena. Similar to its predecessor, the game is a compilation of mini-games, which are essentially a Pokemon crossword fill-in, a Tetris-type falling game, a Pokemon word find, a guessing game, and another racing game. For completing the mini-games you are given powerups and special items for the ultimate Pokemon race to see who makes it to the finish line first! You get to play as Blastoise, Charmander, Charmeleon, Bulbasaur, Venusaur, Pikachu, Plusle, Rayquaza, Groudon, even Deoxys and a lot more too! All the games have unique difficulties that make the game more challenging every time you play! As was the case with the previous game, Pokemon Team Turbo is intended for ages 6 to 10 due to its simple gameplay.

Graphics: 5/10

The graphics are no better than Pokemon Masters Arena, making them mediocre at best.

Sound/Music: 6/10

Again, like it's predecessor, the music and sound gets repetitive after awhile.

Uniqueness: 6/10

In terms of uniqueness, at least you get powerups for races, as opposed to "exclusive" posters to print out.

Game Play: 6/10

The gameplay is less linear than Pokemon Masters Arena, but Team Turbo stills suffers from repetitive gameplay, but it's easy to pick up and play and it's simple to learn. However, unless you really enjoy the mini-games, there's really no point in playing Team Turbo once you've beaten it since it's a single player experience.

Total Score: 23/40

As was in case in Masters Arena, this isn't a game you'll be playing for years, but at least there's a level of strategy since there's a race involved in the gameplay. If you want to pick up a Pokemon PC game for your 6 to 10 year old child, this would be the best PC game out there to select.

Pros:

  Unique idea for a Pokemon game
  Decent sound and music
  Offers six mini-games
  Combines learning and fun

Cons:

  Gets repetitive quickly
  Low replay value
  Only for children under the age of 10