"Gotta Save 'Em All!" This is the tagline for Pokemon Colosseum for GameCube. After years of hopeful wishing from fans for a 3D RPG, their pleas have been answered... but have they really?

The main attraction in Pokemon Colosseum is the story mode. Gamers are thrown into the shoes of a spikey-haired teenage boy with an interesting taste in personal fashion, in the all new Orre region of the Pokemon universe, a gritty desert wasteland reminiscent of the cult Mad Max films. He's thrown into a quest to thwart a sinister criminal organisation which is "artificially closing the hearts" of pokemon, thus transforming them into 'shadow pokemon' whose erratic nature and aggressive behaviour makes them the perfect tools to carry out the nefarious crime syndicate's agenda. Our hero must ultilise his unique ability to 'snag' shadow pokemon from other trainers, and over time purify their darkened hearts.

The tone is much darker here than what has been previously seen in this candy-coated franchise. The playable character is a former member of a band of outlaws, who go by Team Snagem; not a young person setting out to live their dream of being a pokemon trainer. For some untold reason or motivation, the protagonist destroys his gang's hideout in a large explosion, and flees the scene with the Snagging Machine - a device that can allows for the capture of pokemon from other trainers; a practice that had always been a strict taboo in the Pokemon universe.

The classic turn-based battle system is retained by Pokemon Colosseum. One of the biggest appeals of Pokemon games has always the strategic thinking needed, providing much of the series' fun. Fundamentally one type of creature is stronger than another type, but is weak against a third variety. (E.g. Water beats Fire, but is weak against Grass, and is absolutely obliterated by Electric). It's essential that one learns who is stronger than whom. The challenge is to build a balanced team and the chance of coming up against a foe that can effortlessly flatten gamers, sending a thoroughly thought-out team straight to hell.

The new concept of shadow pokemon is the core element of not only the story but also the gameplay. Fairly early on the hero is joined by an NPC whose mysterious psychic gift detects any shadow pokemon encountered in an enemy's party. These darkened creatures, once weakened, can then be snagged using a variety of pokeballs of varying strengths. A shadow pokemon can be purified by being used in battle. Initially only one attack can be performed, Shadow Rush. As purification progresses, new attacks are made available.

Unlike the handheld outings, there's no 'wild pokemon who dwell in tall grass' to be captured in wilderness areas. In fact, there's no overworld to explore, just a map screen (which is essentially a menu) with a selection of locations (that have been unlocked through the game's linear progression) that are instantly accessed after a very brief cut-scene (this can be best compared to the animated door transitions in Resident Evil).

The game boils down to a very linear, shallow experience. Run around Town A conversing with every NPC until you encounter another trainer; converse with every NPC until you encounter trainer... until a plot point is triggered, that unlocks Town B. It provides an illusion of depth (with artificial dressings like the previously mentioned map screen), but is really a straight one-way road, with very few detours. There are no true side-quests, or other roadside attractions (like mini-games), leaving a cut-down adventure when compared with the GB RPGs.

The other feature of Colosseum, the Battle Mode, is the spiritual successor to Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2 on Nintendo 64. Utilising the same battle engine seen in Story Mode (minus all that shadow pokemon business), players can import pokemon from either story mode or a Game Boy Advance Ruby/Sapphire cartridge (via GC-GBA connectivity), and play against an AI opponent with either 1 or 2 monsters per player (in 'single battle' or 'double battle' respectively) or with up to three human players using GBAs as their controllers (each loaded with Ruby/Sapphire cart) in 'gang battle' mode. Further variations of rules can be unlocked by conquering the gyms (a building where increasing tiers of trainers can be fought) featured in Story Mode. The single-player spin on Battle Mode features pokemon coupons that can be won and swapped for goodies in Story Mode, or the GBA adventures.

Varying levels of effort have been put into the technical aspects of Pokemon Colosseum. Clearly a high degree of creativity has gone into the graphical presentation in a lot of fields. Towns are vibrant and designed well in some places, as are the battle arenas, and building interiors/exteriors. The pokemon boast beautiful character models and animation. On the other hand the human trainer models are quite ugly, and at the most feature only two frames of animation. Effects are simplistic in places, especially in the town environments.

The sound department also has its share of peaks and pits. The background score meshes perfectly with the atmosphere of Colosseum. However, the horrible 8-bit screeches are sampled for the monsters directly from Game Boy games rather than using the library of pokemon voices recorded for the anime productions.