Pokemon Battle Revolution is, at best, a missed opportunity.
The graphics are riddled with disappointment, especially when you consider how essential they are to the game. Genius Sonority took every opportunity to recycle anything they could from previous installments; the only new models in the game are for all the new Sinnoh Pokemon. Players can design their own trainer, but, while a good idea, the options are so limited that nothing really good comes out of it. The attacks are still handled with two separate animations, and the Pokemon still sway and stand even while asleep, leaving the game with a real minimalistic feel. Music is nothing memorable, but isn't horrible and works well for the game.
Colosseum mode goes from mind-numbingly easy to frustratingly hard really… slowly. Getting through the opening colosseums is a chore. At fist the AI will use pre-evolved Pokemon, put no thought into their movesets, and seemingly use their moves at random; making the whole thing a long and unnecessary tutorial. Most of the colosseums have their own gimmick, anywhere between no switching one-on-one elimination style matches to a Pokemon roulette where both trainers throw their Pokemon together and have them redistributed based on spinning a wheel. The problem is that none of it adds much to the experience, and none of it is available in multiplayer.
Eventually the game becomes challenging, for better or worse. Genius Sonority will be throwing every dirty trick in the book at you, so be prepared for frustration. By the end of the game, computer trainers will have better AI, Pokemon, and Strategies. They also clearly abuse the inner mechanics of the game, using information that isn't even available to the player. Basically, if you don't know what "Individual Values" and "Effort Values" are, expect to have a hard time with this game, both online and offline.
Players are free to battle strangers over the Nintendo Wifi Connection, but these matches only come in two varieties: Single three on three and Doubles four on four. There's no way to set any sort of conditions or get matched up based on skill or rank, so it's all very basic. Of course, you can have a standard six on six battle with anyone you've traded friend codes with, but the same option is readily available on the DS, and is less of a hassle to boot. What's worse though is that I see no real reason why the DS Pokemon games couldn't have had random wifi battles.
At it's best, Pokemon: Battle Revolution is a missed opportunity. At it's worse it's a shameless attempt to rob Pokemon fans. If you're a die-hard Pokemon trainer, then the wifi battles will prove enjoyable for the most part despite their flaws, (perhaps even enough to warrant a bargain bin purchase) but Pokemon: Battle Revolution is truly a game that did nothing right.