Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee (Let's Go) are currently the newest Pokemon games. Despite this, they manage to be the most archaic games since Red and Blue.
PROS:
-Let's Go looks great. Even if you prefer the cel shaded look of the 3DS games, or the pixelated look of generation 5 and prior, many of the visual elements of Let's Go look great whether playing on the TV at 1080p or in the handheld mode's 720p. Cutscenes are no longer limited to simple body movements like in Sun and Moon, and now feature characters fully moving, particle effects, and even facial expressions. It sounds simple, but it goes a long way toward making the games feel more advanced than previous entries in the series.
-The music is good if a bit generic. The music here is essentially just remixed generation 1 music, but it does get the job done. It's been done numerous times both officially and by fans, but it still sounds nice.
-The new catching mechanic makes catching Pokemon on any route possible. Traditional Pokemon games always have a problem once you finish them. Going back to an early route means weakening them requires a severely under-leveled Pokemon with you. The new mechanic (which doesn't have you weaken wild Pokemon) means you can go back to route 1 at any point.
CONS:
-Kanto was made for a grid. Let's Go maintains Sun and Moon's removal of the grid-based movement, but Kanto remains just as grid-based as it was in Red and Blue. This means that movement is somewhat awkward here.
-Movement doesn't feel right. Let's Go moves the character in any direction the analog stick is tilted. This sounds fine, but it's really hard to move straight up, down, left, or right as a result, making certain puzzles like the sliding tiles in Team Rocket's base somewhat cumbersome.
You also don't run until the joystick is tilted very strong in the direction you're moving, which leads to frequent stuttering if you aren't 100% focused on the game. This lead me to constantly make sure my Joy-Cons weren't suffering from drift. And if yours are, I've got bad news for Pro Controller users.
-Only Joy-Cons and the Poke Ball Plus are supported. The Pro Controller is not supported at all as of this review. If you're playing in handheld mode you can use both of the Joy-Cons, if you're playing on the TV you're stuck using only a single Joy-Con or the Poke Ball Plus. Handheld mode is far more suitable to people who enjoyed Sun and Moon's control scheme. TV mode is more suitable if you have very small hands and like not being able to actually control the game very well.
Using a single Joy-Con allows you to press in the control stick instead of moving your thumb to the "A" button, but every time I do it I feel like I'm breaking it. It's also very uncomfortable.
-Catching wild Pokemon is cumbersome. Wild Pokemon in Let's Go are not battled, with only a few exceptions. You instead walk up to the Pokemon you want to "battle" and you throw Poke Balls of any kind at them until you actually catch them. You can raise your chance of catching them by feeding them Razz Berries, but by the end of the game I ended up only collecting a total of about 30 of them.
Some specific wild Pokemon do have you battle the Pokemon to drain its health before you catch them the same way as any other Pokemon. The issue is that the fight is timed (you get 5 minutes) and the first example, Snorlax, constantly puts your Pokemon to sleep followed by healing itself. This makes the timer a massive problem that, in my opinion, shouldn't even exist. Putting a single player Pokemon battle on a timer is irritating and incredibly out of place. A turn limit would make more sense for a Pokemon game.
It also doesn't help that the camera won't transition until it's done following a certain path, and the battle won't progress until the camera transitions. This can waste several seconds at a time and can even waste an entire minute if you're that unlucky with it.
Even normal wild Pokemon encounters are bogged down by everyone's favorite forced control scheme, motion controls. Motion controls have their place, but they work best when they're optional. Forcing the playing to pretend to throw their Joy-Con when docked is laggy and inaccurate. Forcing the player to aim the system in handheld mode requires moving in ways that won't work great when lounging, laying down, or on the toilet, and a bumpy car ride will make borderline impossible.
-Wild Pokemon can run away. A mechanic ripped (almost) straight from Pokemon Go, any wild Pokemon you encounter can run away. This includes Pokemon that you have to weaken beforehand. This wouldn't be such a huge problem, but unlike Pokemon Go's turn based system, where Pokemon run after at least one unsuccessful attempt at catching it, Let's Go uses an invisible timer. Pokemon can run without you ever throwing a single Poke Ball.
-Breeding is absent. This means that you can't get a Charmander once you evolve you one you get from an NPC. You also can't get more than one Lapras or Porygon. If you transfer the one you get to Professor Oak, that's it. I get this feature is also absent in generation 1, but it was added in Fire Red and Leaf Green, which was also a remake of the generation 1 games.
-Co-op is terrible for player 2. Player 1 is the only one who can read signs, talk to NPCs, and control the camera. Player 1 also determines which buildings you enter, which wild Pokemon you encounter, and what items get used. Player 2 is only actually useful in wild Pokemon battles, where they can throw additional Poke Balls, and in trainer battles, where they turn every 1 versus 1 fight into a 2 versus 1 fight.
-Gym requirements are arbitrary after the first one. The first gym requires you to have a grass or water type Pokemon, yet I used Eevee to get through the gym. Other requirements like Misty's level 15 requirement don't account for type advantages which make the gym very easy. Koga's gym requiring 50 Pokemon in the Pokedex directly contradicts Professor Oak saying it's okay to just focus on using one Pokemon at the beginning of the game. Sabrina's gym requires a Pokemon level 45 or higher even though no one else in the gym has a Pokemon that level or higher. None of the requirements should be there and only get in the way of the player experiencing the game how they want.
OVERALL OPINION:
I didn't like this game. As someone who thought generation 1 was boring and overly simple, this isn't much better. As someone who has started breeding Pokemon for competitive use in Sun and Moon, the simplistic nature of Let's Go makes me cautious toward 2019's Pokemon game.
I'm greatly disappointed in Pokemon Let's Go. I was hoping for something that would be a simple yet fun experience I could have with a friend. Instead I got a boring game with a catching mechanic so horrendous to use that I would rather catch Pokemon with the Pokewalker from Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Pokemon Let's Go is a Pokemon Let Down.
If you're interested in Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu or Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, you may buy them with these links:
Let's Go Pikachu: Amazon | Best Buy
Let's Go Eevee: Amazon | Best Buy
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful when commenting.