Pokémon Go Review + Mini Guide

Pokémon Go is long awaited and here at last. It is one of the most hyped games, probably ever. And it come out July 6th at night for the US, morning for Australia and New Zealand and Japan, and literally no where else as of yet. It is out for android and IOS.

This is my (entirely unqualified) review of the game so far ( I know they will continue to update and expand the game), and I am also going to share some of the knowledge I have learned thus far.

Disclaimer: I am a 16 year old with a very limited grasp of how technology works and I am writing this the day I got my wisdom teeth out (7/8/16) and scheduling it for later. If you need clarification on something I write, please ask and I’ll fix it/explain.

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My Review:

Honestly I love the game, mostly because I love Pokémon, the utter obsession/compulsion to keep checking it might wear off around the time school starts, but I really like it. As for its faults? I think it’ll keep being improved, I have faith in Nintendo and Niantic. I am a more casual gamer though, as much as I would love to Catch ‘Em All, I am lazy and would probably get eaten by something if I tried. I’ll leave that to the hardcore gamers, who probably take more issue with certain aspects/executions of the game than I do. Though I think its well made even if they need better servers. I love the AR, and its the first motivation I’ve had to go on walks and get exercise since I finished online PE last summer.

If you were ever a fan of Pokémon, its well worth it. Especially since it IS free.

 

Things I Think Need To Be Fixed:

• The servers: This is number one, they crash a lot, because they aren’t equiped to host the number of people playing. This will only get worse with the Europe launch, so hopefully this is fixed soon.
• The battery drain: Your phone can go from 100% to 50% in less than an hour. Someone is going to get lost in the woods at some point I swear.
• How many candies it takes to evolve a pokémon: Either that needs to be rebalanced, or more pokémon need to start appearing. At least were I live, there isn’t a lot of, well, anything.
• Better distribution of Pokéstops: Some areas are great, some areas (like by my house) only have one in a several mile radius and its inside a gated community, thus unreachable. Then again, about a mile in a certain direction, there is literally no more map in the game, thats how “edge of nowhere” I live.

 

Gameplay Tips:

I am really not qualified to give gaming advice, so below this, I am links to advice from actual professionals. If you don’t want to reads through it all, I’ll give you a run down of the basics.

• Yes, you can customize your avatar, but not as extensively as you may like to. Still, its decent.
• You pick your starters from the Kanto starters: Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander.
• As far as I have seen, there are only Kanto Pokémon, but as we have no official list of the Pokémon available yet, there might be others, or they will add more as time goes on. Who knows. But I like Kanto. So, thats good.
• The game is free to play. Which means there are micro-transactions, though I personally find them useless, depends on your patience and disposable income, I guess.
• You get Pokéballs and stuff at Pokéstops, so no need to spend money really. You can also get eggs, potions, and revives at the Pokéstops.
• When you reach level 5, you pick a team to fight in gyms with. There is literally no difference in teams save for color as far as I can tell. I picked blue because I’m a Ravenclaw, it’s not rocket science.
• Speaking of that, there doesn’t seem to be any team rocket.
• Transferring Pokémon means releasing them into the wild, but Prof. Willow will give you a candy for the Pokémon when you transfer.
• Transfer your weakest of a Pokémon, not the newest.
• Stardust can be used on any Pokémon to raise its CP (basically level it up).
• Candy is Pokémon specific (meaning Pidgy candy only works on Pidgy and its evolutions) and is used both to level up and evolve Pokémon.
• You get candy by catching and transferring Pokémon.
• You get stardust from catching Pokémon.
• The Pokémon you get depends on where you live.
• When catching Pokémon, wait until the circle is smallest, and aim well, it isn’t auto-aim. Turn off AR mode to make it easier if you need to.
• For steps to count for your eggs, the app must be open.
• Please, please, PLEASE turn on power saver mode (click the Pokéball, then settings to find the option).
• This is all I have learned go read the articles by professionals now.
• Please be safe outside, and don’t get yourself killed or arrested, its just a game.

IGN Guide

About the launch (by my favorite gaming blog no less)

How to Play (also by my favorite gaming blog)

Attack Of The Fanboys Guides

Pokémon Go Plus ($35 – Out of Stock currently)

Some Important Tips

Getting Started

Tips and Tricks

Teams and Gyms

A Parent’s Guide

To Save Battery

 

 

My avatar. I’m quite proud.

The team so far.

What do you think of the game? Of my avatar? What team are you on? What starter did you pick? Are do you not play Pokémon? Let me know!

(And if you need convincing to play Pokémon, I can do the convincing.)