"The success of PokÉmon GO ultimately
depends on whether the developers
continue to support the game"
night cycle on top of
all this, where Gastlys
and Clefairies become
far more common after
dark, and you have
some fairly nice intricacies.
While
journeying
around the world you
will inevitably run
into a point of interest. These are usually
landmarks, but anything from churches to
your local homoerotic
book store have been
flagged as points of
interest. While you can
technically pay real
money for items, these
points of interest will
generally provide you
with everything you
need: Pokéballs, HP
sprays, revivals and
even the occasional
egg if you’re lucky.
Unfortunately,
there
are some discrepancy between rural and
urban areas, with big
towns having a point
of interest every 30
seconds down a high
street. Rural areas are
another matter, with
some rural Pokémon
trainers claiming that
they can go miles
without a single stop,
ultimately leading to a
frustration as their supply of Pokéballs begins
to dwindle.
Now before we go
any further, let’s address the elephant
in the room. No, the
trademark Pokémon
battle system is not in
Pokémon GO – this
is without a doubt the
game’s greatest weakness.
In its place is an uninspiring series of left and
right swipes to dodge
blows, and tapping on
a screen to fight back.
It’s clunky, unreliable,
and frankly, not the
Pokémon we all know
and love. Currently,
the only place fighting
is permitted is in gyms,
which can be controlled by one of three
teams that you may
join at any given time.
Rewards for personally controlling the gym
include currency that
otherwise you have
to pay for. Considering the rewards are so
important, it’s sad that
they’re only obtainable
through the most enjoyable feature of the
game.
The important thing
about Pokémon GO is
that it is a half-decent
starting point. Only
the first generation,
excluding legendries
(and poor little Ditto) are included, and
player favourites like
shinnies and evolution
stones are, at least for
now, tossed aside as
well.
With more Pokémon,
a social and trading system and a re-
This one generated a lot of buzz
How many Duos does a Doduo Do if
a Doduo does do duos?
Remember to groom your charmeleon
regularly, or this will happen.
vamped battle system,
this game could stick
around for the long
run. The success of
Pokémon GO ultimately depends on whether
the developers continue to support the game
and add new, sorely
needed features in the
future.
The big question is,
if this game wasn’t
based on Pokémon,
and instead on some
newly concocted franchise, would it still be
generating the hype it
currently is? Simply put:
no.
When you look at
it, Pokémon GO, in its
current state, is very
minimal. While the
GPS aspect might be
something new, there
really isn’t much there.
NOSTALGIA: 10
FUN 8.5
FEATURES 2
LONGETIVITY 2
Add on top of this the
hot mess of technical
problems, stability issues that the game is
currently experiencing
and the radio silence
from the development
team, and you have
a game that would
be getting critically
slaughtered if it were
under any other name.
Despite everything,
at the end of the day,
this isn’t under another name. This is a
Pokémon game, and
while it may be hypocritical to say, the simple fact that I am able
to live out my childhood wish of going out
into the world to catch
Pokémon makes the
game infinitely more
enjoyable – flaws and
all.
5.6
17