Pokemon GO Review

Hey what’s up everybody?  Chukkaque here with another review for you guys.  Today I’m going to reviewing Pokémon GO!  With millions of players happening globally I figured I should do a review for this title as well.  The need to know information can be found right below this paragraph as well as the topics we will be going over in this article.

Device: Samsung S7 Edge

1. Pricing
2. Gameplay
3. Pokémon GO IRL
4. Music
5. Graphics
6. Overall thoughts
7. Final Grade

1:  Pricing 8/10

Pokémon GO is a free app for Android and iOS devices.  That being said as most apps this game does feature in app purchases in the form of Pokecoins.  You can purchase as low as $0.99 up to $99.99.  Pokémon GO doesn’t really feel like it needs these transactions at all.  They’re just there.  In fact, you can actually earn Pokecoins from being in gyms around your town.  So it really is just a feature that was added on for folks who want to throw a few bucks at the game.  The game does a great job of giving you items through pokestops and if you’re lucky you’ll have plenty of PokeStops near you.  So the in app purchases don’t feel needed, especially since the game features no ads and never mentions buying pokecoins, nor does it ever recommend doing it. 

Now I’m always one to support the developers of these titles so a few bucks aren’t a big deal to me.  Unfortunately, they don’t have any type of promotional purchasing or any kind of decent bundle incentives.  You literally are just purchasing coins, which is fine, but the amount you get for going to the higher tiers should be greatly increased.  Here’s my point if I bought $100 worth of coins, at the base level I’d end up with 10,000 coins.  But if I buy the $100 pack I’d end up with 14,500 coins.  To me, that isn’t a big enough “extra” to ever encourage me to purchase a large price tag bundle.  So I’d like to see something more incentivizing for these.  Whether that be a promotional period to encourage folks to purchase coins, or some type of item bundle.

2. Gameplay 8/10

Pokémon GO features really simple gameplay.  To move around the game world, you only need enable your location settings on your device and walk around.  That’s what moves you in the game.  Everything else is simple on screen pressing.  But I’ll break into categories below as well.

General:

When you’re looking at the main screen it’ll be your character on a map with potential for Pokémon to appear, pokestops, and gyms.  If you want to interact with those things you just tap them and the corresponding menu or screen will pop.  Additionally, you’ll have a compass, pokeball, and a player icon that you can interact with.

Player Icon:

This will show your avatar, pokecoins, your team, and a list of medals you’ve earned or are in the process of earning.

Pokeball Icon:

This will pop a menu that allows you to reach settings, pokedex, shop, Pokémon, and items.  Everything is pretty self-explanatory with the exception of items.  When you battle at Pokémon gyms, even training, you Pokémon will lose HP.  To restore it you must tap the item icon and then select the Pokémon you want to heal.  This works the same with restores, and the higher level potions.

 

Catching Pokémon:

Pretty straight forward.  You grab a pokeball, aim, and throw.  Keep in mind though that Pokémon can be varying distances specifically if you’re using AR mode.  Which you can disable by tapping the button for it.  Now there are some various “techniques” that go into catching Pokémon, however, this is a review and not a guide.  So I’ll be skipping that.  You can tap your bag icon to change pokeballs or use berries to make catching easier.  You can spin the pokeball while holding it down and it forces it to hook when thrown.  You can also choose to flee from Pokémon too.

 

Gyms:

Sometimes Gyms show up instead of PokeStops.  At gyms the different team can battle it out for ownership, or if its open you can just add your own Pokémon.  Gym battles let you take 6 Pokémon and try to tackle the gym.  As long as you’re winning battles the gym will lose prestige and eventually force out trainers.  Or if it’s a friendly gym you can take 1 Pokémon and train there.  You’ll earn EXP and boost the gym prestige if you can win battles.

In combat you have a tap move and a hold move.  As you tap to attack you gain stamina which can then unleash your charge move.  They have varying strengths and effects so make sure you check beforehand.  You can also dodge attacks, especially charge attacks by swiping left or right to dodge.  Please note you cannot dodge when using your own charge attack.  And whatever you’re fighting doesn’t move around, so nothing to worry about.

Currently at this time there is no way to trade Pokémon or battle your friends.  You can’t even see other players on the map.

 

3. Pokémon GO IRL: 10/10

Pokémon GO, at time of this article being written, is more used than Facebook, twitter, tinder, and many other popular apps or sites.  The game is a global phenomenon that is played by 10’s of millions of people every single day.  While there are plenty posts regarding the negative effects of Pokémon GO I’ll be focusing on the opposite.  Pokémon GO has done what folks have tried to do for years.  People have tried to get people moving, outside, engaging with folks, and typically they fall short.  But Pokémon GO has done what many have spent a decade trying to do in just one day.  You see folks gathering in the streets, at parks, scheduling meet ups, sharing tips and tricks, getting outside, walking, biking, visiting parks, enjoying the town they’re in.  Some people may have made poor decisions with this app but the general population has made excellent choices with it.  Making new friends and, in my opinion, finally experiencing the town they take up residence in! 

4: Music: 9/10

The music is excellent!  Though it really only has a few tracks, I feel like there maybe 10 at the very most.  But regardless the music sounds great, it transitions well.  It will definitely spark nostalgia for many players.  It was good enough to warrant rewatching the show and downloading yellow on my 3DS.

5: Graphics: 10/10

The character models, the map, images on the pokestops and gyms, the items, and the Pokémon all look fantastic!  I honestly can’t complain here.  Everything is bright and vibrant, which is what you would expect, and there doesn’t appear to be any real issues graphically if you ask me.  I love it!

6. Overall thoughts 9/10

Pokémon GO IS AMAZING!  It really is a fantastic app.  It brings people together, gets folks out of the house, and gives a lot of us that reminder of why we started playing Pokémon in the first place.  Catching and hunting Pokémon is extremely fun and often times really rewarding, especially when those eggs start hatching!  With a few issues regarding the servers crashing a lot on day 1, and infrequently after that it can be annoying.  But in general for a global mobile MMO launch I think it went pretty smooth.  Especially compared to other major launches such as WOW or FFXIV.  To this day I still think Guild Wars 2 is the only launch MMO that had a successful launch without huge issues with the servers or players being locked out.  Aside from that Pokémon GO did a great job.  I know trading and battling are on the way.  Niantic has also said they will be adding more Pokémon in the future and at some point the app will link up with the games too, or so Nintendo said.  I’ve heard some rumors here and there but I won’t get into it much since we haven’t seen them in action yet.  I think Pokémon GO is a must own app for everyone.  Just remember to be careful of your surroundings, pay attention, stay safe, and look out for your fellow trainers, and those not playing.  Be courteous, kind, and respectful of everyone and everything around you.

7: Final Grade

Fans of Pokémon will give this a 10/10 hands down.  It might be “lacking” a story mode but most people just want to catch Pokémon.

Fans of mobile games I still believe this would be a 10/10 title for you as well.  It may appear to not be as grindy or complex as some phone titles, but it is.  Just wait until you hit level 20.

New to the series and phone games 10/10.  I honestly think that if anyone picked up this title, even just to check it out, they would love it. 

Pokémon GO is a fantastic entry to the series and feels perfectly at home on a mobile device.  There are minor server issues from time to time but casual fans will eventually dwindle and I’m sure Niantic is working on making the servers more and more stable.  They said themselves they were not expecting this kind of reaction.  But Pokémon GO does it all right.  I love that it encourages folks to walk around, bike around, and explore their cities and environments.  It does so much right that the “wrong” isn’t even worth mentioning because 9 times out of 10 its just poor users.

But I’d love to know what you guys think.  Are you playing Pokémon GO?  Which team did you side with?  What are your thoughts about the game?  Let me know in the comments below.  And if there is anything you’d like to see me review please let me know!

And as always I’ll see you guys in the next review.  See ya!