8Bit/Digi

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Nintendo and Niantic have now given this generation a chance to live the dream of venturing into the world and becoming a Pokemon master with Pokemon Go.

Given the unique concept of Pokemon Go, I had decided to hold-off on writing a review until most the performance issues and glitches had been resolved. After almost two months following its release, now seems appropriate to reflect on the game.

Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game that allows players to search for and capture Pokemon in their area while also earning rewards. Players will also join one of three factions and then compete to control a Pokemon Gym.

What makes Pokemon Go fun to play is having to go out into the real world to find Pokemon while also exploring the wonders of ones own community. It’s even more exciting when doing it with friends or with random gamers at a Pokemon Crawl. Or if your lazy, just post up between three PokeStops and turn on the lure module.

Pokemon Go succeeds in capturing the essence of going out into the world to catch’em all but has failed at the battle aspects of the experiences. Leveling up your Pokemon through hard work and developing a battle strategy has been replaced with grinding for Combat Power and simple button mashing.

Players earn candy and stardust for every Pokemon they catch, which could then be used to make their Pokemon more powerful. It basically forces players to grind away just to boost their collection. Hence all the strategy that went into preparing for a battle is tossed out the window. Also battling other Pokemon’s at the gym has no affect on their CP (learned that after my first victory).

An example would be when my Arcanine (CP845) went up against a Butterfree (CP935) during a gym battle. Even though my Arcanine had a lower CP, it should have had the advantage since it was a Fire Pokemon and it was going against a Grass Pokemon. Instead; the Arcanine hardly did any damage while the Butterfree defeated me with little effort.

I wish that was Pokemon Go only problem but the bugs and glitches are still a major problem. After two months and consistent updates, the game still has more performance issues than Battlefield 4 on day one. Players will encounter problems with the games GPS reader or have problems logging in at some points.

Despite it’s shortcomings, what makes Pokemon Go a unique game is the experience of going out into the world and searching for Pokemon. The fun is going out with friends and wandering around in search of rare Pokemon or catching a bunch of common ones for the candy and stardust.

Pokemon Go attempts to bring everything that has made the series memorable to the real world but ends up capturing the essence of half the fun. It’s a great Pokemon game overall but it still needs improvements.

Pokemon Go (iOS)

8

Good

8.0/10

Pros

• One of the best use of AR technology.
• Live your dream of being a Pokemon master

Cons

• Too many bugs and glitches.
• Still broken after 2 months