Pokemon has been a pillar of Nintendo’s success in the handheld market since 1996 with Pokemon Red & Blue. Since then, almost a dozen releases have hit store shelves, each as popular as the last. The series now has over 200 million units sold and is the third best-selling in the video game industry.
Despite its resounding success, Pokemon hasn’t evolved much since its inception. However, Game Freak has decided to refine its tried-and-true formula with its first release on the Nintendo 3DS, Pokemon X & Y. Has it paid off?
Upon booting up the game, you’re presented with a few options before getting started. You can choose which gender you’d like to play as in addition to picking from one of a few preset looks. Unlike previous games, character presentation in Pokemon X & Y is an important part of the experience. Other players, including friends and random strangers, see how you look and dress, so if you want to come across as business-like or hip, you can do that. The social side of the game adheres to the closed style that Nintendo prefers while still offering up options such as text shout-outs, trading, and giving others o-powers to buff their pocket monsters for a brief period of time. While more limited than other modern games, it’s an important step for the franchise.
Once you dive into your first combat sequence you might notice that not much has changed since past releases; it’s still turn-based with a heavy emphasis on pokemon types. While you might be attracted by the game’s cast of cool-looking pokemon, it’s always best to mix and match so you can counter any enemy that comes your way. With the addition of the Fairy type pokemon on top of the growing list of over 700 different creatures, the sky is the limit in terms of how much knowledge you have heading into battle. As with other releases, enemy information and the Pokedex is unavailable once in combat leading to attacks being a guessing game if you don’t come prepared. If you’re willing to invest yourself, the knowledge you attain pays off with big victories against the more difficult encounters and other players.
The addition of Mega Evolution does mix things up a little, though. Several hours into the journey you’ll unlock the ability to transform a single pokemon in combat into a more powerful form. There’s no negative that comes along with using the system other than the limit of one Mega Evolution per battle. Because of this, you’ll be using it frequently if only to see one of your favorite creatures evolve into a massive beast like a transformer.
In many ways Pokemon X & Y is reminiscent of the best of classic JRPGs. Leveling up your pokemon (characters) is time laboring but fruitful, and the adventure is lengthy. That also means that there are plenty of times where it’s up to you to figure out where to go. While sometimes it’s explained to you by other characters, other times you have to assume that an uncleared path is the next location to visit (travel is fast with the use of equipment such as rollerblades). This style, although potentially frustrating, breeds a sense of adventure that few games have in this day and age.
Pokemon X & Y does a great job of upholding the responsibility of being on a new generation of hardware. Its visuals are a class leader for the Nintendo 3DS. The artistic style and the world’s environments are by far and away the best the series has to offer. Seeing pokemon, old and new, brought to life in the cell shaded universe is magical.
Unfortunately, Game Freak may have gone too far for the poor little 3DS. There’s frame stutter in some areas of the game, and if you play in 3D you’ll be greeted with unattractive framerates. Speaking of which, most outdoor areas aren’t 3D capable. While the 3DS’ 3D feature isn’t something everyone uses, it’d be excellent to play this game with it enabled, and at this point it just isn’t worth it to turn on.
Pokemon X & Y layers in two great new features: Super Training and Pokemon-Amie. Super Training allows you to raise one of 6 stats for a particular pokemon by completing mini-games. Since the mini-games are action-based, they aren’t well-suited for the 3DS’ one analog stick design, but the reward will encourage you to practice until you get the hang of it. On the other hand, Pokemon-Amie lets you play with your pokemon, feed them, and participate in more traditional mini-games. It fits wonderfully within the scope of the Pokemon universe where a large part of the appeal is collecting and raising wild creatures, cute and intimidating, to become your guardians.
The journey stretches from the simplicity of battling pokemon in the wild to the challenges of defeating pokemon gym leaders. You will find that there are difficulty spikes when it comes to pokemon gyms, so don’t become overconfident because the shared XP system has quickly raised the level of your entire team. When you feel like taking a break from progression, the social features offer a second avenue for entertainment if running around collecting pokemon doesn’t sound enticing to you.
Pokemon‘s trip to the 3DS is a great success. Its hundreds of pokemon are brought to life unlike ever before, and offer interaction that make them more than just weapons for battle. If the same amount of care went into adjusting combat this would be inarguably the best game in the series. Instead, it’s another memorable adventure that lays the groundwork for the future to come.
Jonathan Leack is the Gaming Editor for CraveOnline. You can follow him on Twitter @jleack.
We received two review copies of Pokemon X & Y from Nintendo.
