Pokémon Go Review

Based on a dream every kid from the 90’s supposedly had, to go out there, and catch them all. This MMO took the industry by storm for being the second of its type . This real world ‘exploration’ game is focused on a stripped back version of the Pokémon formula, of getting Pokéballs, to collect Pokémon. We noticed something, missing in the game, Combat doesn’t seem to be a priority which is drastically different to the main series titles . There is in-game combat, but we weren’t able to find any of a suitable level within our area .

Your avatars location is based on your real-world physical location. We found that this can initially lead to either an enjoyable experience or one where key locations are lacking. In large cities, you can find locations you have visited in the past, have been integrated into the game, without any real-world modifications. What we found was that instead of taking out time to discover new locations, we would instead add it to our daily routine, which for some, sadly made it feel like another thing to do on their way to work. For the rest of us who were still playing it, we found it to be an amazing way to explore the city, find like other players, and be excited about the game and its upcoming updates and tie-ins with the soon to be released Lets Go counterparts. The other option that some players have experienced, is a lack of accessible content. The game generates Pokéstops and Gyms based off of real-world landmarks, which for some of us means that there simply isn’t enough locations in order to get Pokéballs to catch what they want.

The other issue we discovered is that the spawn rate of Pokémon is based on player density, so if you live somewhere without a lot of players like some of us in the past, then you can’t find anything to catch, even if you have a large number of landmarks. One final issue that affects all players is that what spawns is also based off of your location, so water Pokémon spawn more near the coast. If you were to live in Colby Kansas which is as far from water as possible, you would have to take a road trip to catch a Psyduck. This system has changed slightly, as the weather can now slightly affect what spawns. Whilst this sounds good in theory, its execution has been hit and miss; when talking to other players, we have had reports of people catching Magmar in the rain, and earth types in windy environments. The exploration aspect does however add to holidays, during times where there isn’t much to do. Going out and exploring the environment can be magical, providing you have internet, we ended up hopping from Wi-Fi hotspot to hotspot. The alternative is paying an extortionate fee for mobile data, or buying another Sim card just for data.

Whilst we thought that the game was a good distraction if your location can support it, we found that some governments have however been recommending the game, as a way to get “shut-ins and otaku” outside. Other countries have however taken the complete opposite direction, with Turkey, Egypt and Australia, banning the game entirely. Some countries such as China, have said that this is for reasons of National Security. We have found that some methods of blocking the app are unreliable at best, though we can’t recommend breaking the law for obvious reasons. These people leaving the house is an impressive feat, and they are another one of the reasons to play the game. Although mileage will vary location to location, the community seems to be quite accepting and welcoming. This may be due to the lack of competition in the game, meaning that nobody has an incentive to be aggressive towards each other. What we don’t understand is the inclusion of a team system. Players pick between Mystic, Instinct, and Valor, with each team having a different central philosophy. Mechanically, these teams are identical, in a social aspect however, it makes perfect sense. We talked to and bantered with our teammates who we had only 2 things in common with, and we barely knew each other’s names by the end.

Some recent news has shown that the Pokémon Go will tie into the upcoming Pokémon Lets Go games. From what we know it will be limited to swapping Pokémon from the Switch to the phone. This could lead to some interesting situations where you start the game with a high-level Pokémon from your walking trips, though the transferring of Pokémon is something that’s done in the mainline games via the Pokémon Bank, only now you won’t have to pay for the privilege each year to do so, as far as we know.

As far as it goes, the game has some people playing daily, whilst others don’t understand the appeal. For those that liked it have grouped up and go out on a regular basis to new locations. We are quite impressed at how far they will walk in order to hatch a single egg, just to be disappointed at the resulting Magikarp. The community is another huge aspect that we adore with tones of research on the game being done by hand by dedicated members. Whilst the full extent of its integration with Lets Go is to be discovered, we are excited to see what it could bring to both games.