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At the heart of Pokkén Tournament's battle system is a change in perspective. To fully appreciate it, I needed to adjust my own. There are two modes of combat at the heart of Bandai Namco's melding of Tekken's crunchy pugilism and the Pokémon franchise. You start in Field Phase, with the camera positioned up and over the shoulder of your Pokémon. You're given full 3D movement, though certain attacks will move the battle into Duel Phase, which resembles a more traditional one-on-one fighter. Now you're scrapping on a 2D plane, with damage scaling upward. Here, too, certain attacks will cause a shift, returning you to Field Phase.
For a while, I couldn't see the benefit to it. It's a novel hook, sure, but it feels like a contrived way to distinguish itself in a crowded genre. I began to think it was to accommodate Pokémon that favoured ranged attacks, or a way of allowing more nimble types not to be drawn into a slugfest against harder hitters. But couldn't the same have been achieved just by having more space in Duel Phase? Not least as a single, more distant camera would let two local players use the same screen rather than one being forced to view the action in soft focus on the GamePad.
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