This game is almost exactly like the core of the Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver games: Get the badges and beat the main trainers to get bragging rights, then collect all the creatures. But there is a difference, if you haven't already figured it out by the title, is that you use cards, not actual creatures. Anyway, this thing is based on the wildly popular Wizards of the Coast card game. Every card from the Base, Jungle, and Fossil sets are in this game along with a few cards that are ''Game Boy only''. I'll get to these ''Color only'' cards in a moment.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are all right for Game Boy. Sort of like a preview of how the colors are used in Gold/Silver. Everything is brightly detailed, but basically it looks just like Red/Blue/Yellow. There's not a whole lot of places you can go. You can go to the 8 Gyms, the Challenge Hall, Dr. Mason's lab, Ishihara's house, and the Pokémon Dome, where the Grand Masters reside. Overall, the graphics do the job, but are nothing to shout about.
Story: 5/10
The story goes like this: One day you overhear that the 4 Grand Masters: Courtney, Jack, Steve & Rod (Wow, such imaginitive names!) possess the 4 rarest cards on Earth: The Legendary Pokémon Cards of Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Dragonite. (BTW, these are really the only ''Game Boy Color'' only cards.) Anyway, the story's not original, but then again, if you're looking for a rich story, why are you playing Pokémon games?!
Control: 10/10
What can I say? Everything is decided by menu except when you walk. This thing is even less complicated the Pokémon Yellow.
Gameplay: 9/10
The game actually reproduces the WOTC game to the last detail. Every card has the exact same attacks, energy costs, damage, and Pokémon Powers. All the Trainer card are here too. There is a rule though: No more than 4 of any Pokémon, Trainer, or Double Colorless Energy card. Dr. Mason will give you your first deck after you pass his unavoidable, very long tutorial on how to battle. Then you go to the eight Gyms and get their medals & Booster packs. While the Gyms will give you Creature cards, Mason's people will give you Energy Cards. There's also a guy named Imakuni? who wanders from lobby to lobby. He's easy to beat, and he gives you lots of Boosters. His promo isn't so hot.
Other Stuff:
This game is a lot shorter than Red/Blue/Yellow. For one, you have the 8 Gyms and the Challenge Hall and the Dome. That's it. Sure, you have a rival, but it's not as built up as Ash vs. Gary, since you don't meet him until later on. But that's it. Unlike the other games, there's no evil corporation out to get the rarest cards and take over the world, so you really don't have any side quests. An intresting feature is Card Pop!, which is a way you and a friend can get new cards. The two Illusion Cards can only be gotten this way, but you need to Card Pop! a LOT in order to get them. But here's the deal: The ''Illusion'' cards actually exist, at least one of them does. The Venusaur one can be gotten easily. The Meowth ''GBC only'' card can be gotten inside the game pack! In fact, most of the GBC only cards are in the Team Rocket or Gym Heroes deck! However, the Legendary cards will only exist on GBC. I don't see how they can be reproduced, since most of them depend on randomness.
Overall:
So if all these things are so great, why is the score a 6? Well, because it's just not as fun or compelling as the original games. It's one thing to take care of a card, it's another to raise a living creature from being very weak to a very strong contender. There's very little sense of accomplishment in TCG, and that's why this game got a 6.