In the 90’s we were graced with the presence of a phenomenon that we had no idea would catch on this well. Whether you started off with the TV series or with the original GameBoy games, Pokemon was truly a one of a kind experience that Nintendo had capitalised on, before you knew it everyone was talking about Pokemon whether they were into the franchise or not. Fast forward to now and the iconic 151 has become more than 700 with even more on the way thanks to Pokemon Sun & Moon. But with Nintendo’s recent partnership with Niantic, they planned to expand the franchise yet again with the mobile game Pokemon GO. In our review we see is this mobile title is a sensation that has smashed the top downloads charts is truly that good.
REVIEW
Pokemon GO Review
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Upon loading up the game for the first time you are welcomed by Professor Willow, this games’ Pokemon Professor. Dawning gear of a seasoned walker, he introduces you to the Pokemon world and the fact that you will be going on the great adventure to catch all the monsters you can. This is where you are introduced to the character customisation which lets you pick between a boy or a girl as well as a few variants on attire, hats and back packs. The options themselves are quite lacking with only a few options available for each area of customisation. Even an option to not wear a hat would have been nice to see. After sorting out your avatar you are then welcome to explore and start catching with your first being the choice of Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur from the original Blue & Red games along with a secret Pikachu if you are willing to walk away from these three.
From here on in the game is truly in your hands. There is one simple instruction that guides you, WALK. You can stand perfectly still and Pokemon will appear for you, but in order to maximise your chances of catching them you will need to get out of your house and start moving. The best way to start is to identify any local PokeStops you may live near. These stops act as hubs for experience gains as well as places to meet up with friends and gain free items every five minutes. Depending on where you are in the world, these stops can either be plentiful, in short supply or very few and far between. But commuting to these stops is by far the best way to keep an ample supply of Poke Balls as you will go through a lot of them trying to catch your favourite Pokemon, especially the rare breeds. As you go up in levels the Poke Stops will also supply you with stronger balls as well as a few other choice items for you to consider. As much as these stops are a great incentive to get moving around, their biggest drawback comes with the lack of them in certain areas such as suburbs and country sides. This will be addressed overtime by Niantic but for the short term it may increase the difficulty of your experience.
These items are all fantastic to assist with capturing Pokemon. Apart from the Poke Balls you also have Great and Ultra balls to assist with catching. On top of these you also have berries which help with soothing the creatures so that you can catch them easier. Think of it like the Safari Zone without needing to throw rocks. You also have the chance to obtain potions of different varieties and revives that can help keep your team in top condition at all times. But one of the biggest rewards you can receive from a PokeStop is and egg that you can hatch simply by walking around. These come in three different varieties with their own separate tables of what could hatch. This in turn gives you an incentive to keep walking as your favourite Pokemon could be lying in wait to be hatched via an incubator. With all these items available at the stops, you can effectively never buy a single PokeBall on the store which is amazing for a free-to-play title on mobile. At no point either does the game advertise or have pop ups stating that you can buy more with real world money which is another plus as it does not take you away from enjoying the game.
Catching Pokemon this time around is not like the standard games where you fight them until they are weak then throw a ball for a hopeful capture. This time you throw balls at the Pokemon and attempt to win them out right. This is good as you can keep walking whilst you attempt to capture the Pokemon, but it is a shame to see that the classic system is not available, especially when you have a line-up of strong Pokemon and an abundance of healing items. Pokemon that you catch via the use of curve balls also reward you with more experience on top of what you would normally get. Pulling this off is a great feeling but because it is slightly buggy at times and requires a lot of skill to pull off, you can end up wasting a lot of your hard earned Poke Balls on something that isn’t even that rare of a pick up.
Stardust and Candy are the two things that you will need an abundance of in order to power up your Pokemon in the game. These values scale up pending on the Pokemons evolutions and current CP and they feel just right. As much as collecting 400 candy to evolve a Magikarp into Gyarados can seem tiresome, it will be worth the price as upon evolution it will become super powered. Their strength is determined by a value known as CP which can dictate your monsters damage and health values when battling others. Owning high CP Pokemon is essential if you wish to take on Gyms and it can be frustrating when a friend has all the success whilst you don’t. But this is based upon your characters level and the higher that number is the higher CP average Pokemon will have upon catch and hatch. Simply playing the game will reward you power in time, which is another great incentive to keep playing the game.
So now you are off on your travels and visiting PokeStops whilst on the search for Pokemon, but is that all the game has? No! Pokemon GO also features Gyms scattered throughout the world also where players can claim their territory and do battle with others. Upon reaching level five, players are able to select one of three team based around the legendary birds of gen one: Instinct, Valor and Mystic. These teams give no benefits apart from bragging rights when you take over a gym with your chosen banner. The Gyms themselves are also interesting as they can reward you with coins and stardust if you are able to hold it for a set period of time. However the battling can be very basic and a let down to those expecting a deep system like in the hand held games. Pokemon only have two moves, one being a basic attack and one being the charged up super attack, but fights either come down to how fast you can tap your phone or how patient you are to dodge incoming attacks. Overall it simply leaves a sour taste in my mouth and as much as it is a completely optional side of the game, competitive players may get frustrated that CP does not necessarily mean that you are a strong opponent. With this said however, the possibility of earning coins and stardust by holding gyms make these very desirable in your community and you can start your very own Ash vs Gary rivalries with either friends or unknowns.
What amazes me about Pokemon GO is how social it is. Sure in the other games you can use link cables or attach to players online for trades and battles, but meeting up with other trainers to go on walks and catching Pokemon together is just brilliant. You get to have a new fun experience with friends but you can also establish new relationships along the way. PokeWalk meet ups and even Lure Festivals have started popping up throughout the world to encourage people to play together and meet each other. It is truly a social experience best played with friends to enjoy the full ideology of the games design. With that said, the game is far from being perfect at this point in time. Servers crash on a regular basis, glitches prevent you from capturing or seeing Pokemon at times and much more. These can be fixed normally via closing and restarting the app, but having to do this many times on a single walk can severely detract from the game. Especially so if you are at a big meet or want to get in a walk after work and can’t simply because the servers are down. Niantic has stated however that they are working around the clock to make the service better and, since the games initial launch, we have already started seeing those improvements. Recent updates have taken elements away which were causing problems as well as optimising which Pokemon appear and what moves they have. Even PvP updates have made certain overpowered moves like Water Gun more balanced when fighting gyms and have even made gym acquisition and defending more accurate. In time the game will shine as a marvellous title, whether it lasts that time is dependent on how fast these updates are released.
If you have wanted to feel like a true Pokemon Trainer and want to go out into the world and catch them all, Pokemon GO is the ideal experience for you. In its current stage with more updates including trading and PvP battling on the way, the game will surely become the go to Pokemon experience for old and new players alike. For the short term however there will be issues such as bugs, glitches and crashes which we hope Niantic can get sorted out. On top of that the lack of Poke Stops and Gyms in certain locations makes it harder for those players to truly get involved in comparison to those who live in hot spots. The trick with the game is time as when it passes greater stuff will become available and more people will be able to enjoy the Pokemon world like never before.
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