Pokemon: Battle Factory, developed by Shanty Town! You play in a... well, a Pokemon Battle Factory! Let's give it a go.

The Graphics

There isn't much to be said about most Pokemon hacks' visuals, especially if they're well done. This is a ROMhack of Pokemon Red/Blue, so it looks very primitive to begin with. But the environment is well done in general. You'll never be leaving the room you start in, so Shanty Town only had to devote his time to create a single map, which is free of bugs and other stuff that shouldn't be there. What I really like about this hack's visuals though, is that even though this is a Red/Blue hack, Shanty Town replaced all the original Red/Blue Pokemon sprites with the Gold/Silver Pokemon sprites. There's no denying what big of an impact Pokemon Red and Blue had on the gaming industry, but let's face it, the old Red/Blue sprites have become quite primitive while the Gold/Silver sprites still hold up quite well, so I really appreciate this.

The Sound

There's nothing special about the sound. When you start the game, the music from Pallet Town is played, in some battles you'll hear different battle music, and different victory music. Again, the old Red/Blue music is starting to get primitive, but that's not really a bother in this case. You hear sound when its necessary, that's the whole point.

The Addictiveness

It's often the more simplistic things in life which grant the most fun. Such as Pokemon: Battle Factory. Battling your way up the charts, leaving the competing players behind you, using Pokemon you probably wouldn't normally use, and getting to choose from stronger Pokemon as a reward of doing well feels really satisfying. The only things I don't really like about this is that you can't use items for strategy. What's more, if you're defeated, you'll have to start all over again. No second chances. So if you're really far and someone beats you, sometimes by sheer bad luck on your part, it might be really frustrating. But these are the only things, and the items thingy is just nitpicking from my end.

The Story

There isn't really a story in this ROMhack. If there was one, though, the gist of it would be something like this... Pokemon is nothing more than a virtual game of battling monsters online on PCs against other players. Kind of like what Pokemon is in real life! There's a tournament of players who battle each other, you're just one of the people who take part in the tournament.

The Depth

There's not a lot to this hack, it's really simplistic. But there's an undeniable lot of fun to it. In terms of gameplay, nothing has changed. You're a guy taking part in a Pokemon battle tournament where you and your three-Pokemon team aim for the championship. This tournament consists of rounds of 7 battles, each against a different player. After defeating a player, you get the option to swap your Pokemon of choice with the player you just defeated. Defeating 7 players in a row promotes you to the next round. Each new round gives you a next 'tier' of Pokemon to choose from, meaning the first round you're options would be Pokemon like Weedle, Zubat, Jigglypuff, etc. While the higher rounds will present you with Pokemon like Charizard, Scyther, Machoke, etc. It's a really neat system which works nicely. After beating a round, you get a chance to check out your current winning streak, as well as your all-time highest streak. Well, that's it, basically. That's all what this hack consists of, you and your team of level 50 Pokemon battling against other players until you're the champion. It's very simplistic, but it's a very interesting idea. There are no items you can use, like Potions or stat enhancers, but it's not like you really need them to have fun with this hack.

The Difficulty

It doesn't really have to difficult. You simply battle as you always would, only this time you don't choose your own Pokemon. Every Pokemon you use and fight are at level 50, and are always in the same league with each other, so it'll never be truly unfair. However, you should take into account that you need to assemble a team to cover as many different types as you can, and this is easier said than done, seeing as you only get a handful of Pokemon to choose from every time. You can screw yourself over really easily by picking the wrong Pokemon and discovering that during the battle (when it's too late) sucks for a while. But that's never the fault of the game, and even you can't tell which Pokemon the opponent is gonna use before you actually fight them, so it never feels like you can blame the game for your defeat at any point.

Pokemon: Battle Factory is a simplistic, but very fun ROMhack. No, it doesn't let you catch and raise Pokemon and defeat the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, the formula which is pretty much the foundation of the Pokemon franchise since day one... What you get here, though, is an entirely different experience. A fun experience. If you're good at Pokemon battle tactics, you'll love this hack and the challenge it gives you.

Pros:

• the primitive Red/Blue sprites have been replaced with Gold/Silver sprites

• well thought-out tiers of Pokemon to choose from

Cons:

• there's not a lot to the hack, especially for a Pokemon game

• losing can be frustrating when you're really far in the tournament