Review for Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! / Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee!. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 16/11/2018
In 1996, a title that would later achieve worldwide fame made its first release in the gaming market: Pokémon. The first video game in the series, set in the Kanto region, was developed by Game Freak and was released in Japan in duplicate with Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green. Later, given the success, these chapters also arrived in the West as Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Red, first in 1998 in the United States, and later, in 1999, in Europe.
The success, already global at the time, prompted Game Freak to publish Pokémon Yellow, a new version that followed the events of the cartoon.
Since then, the unstoppable success of Pokémon has continued to grow, becoming a real brand, and combining the playful side with a more competitive one. Now in its seventh generation, Game Freak has decided to return for the third time, after the remakes of Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen, to Kanto.
This time with a completely renewed look, both in graphics and in gameplay, and landing for the first time, with a canonical title, on Nintendo Switch.
Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee! these are two titles that almost radically change the approach we were used to. If on the one hand the competitive aspect is almost completely sidelined, here is the aspect of exploration and capture, in full Pokémon GO style, which is the protagonist.
It should be specified, and we want to do it immediately, that Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee! they are two products that must be played as Game Freak conceived them: without prejudices related to the competitive level and as two titles that want to capture both that slice of players who in the XNUMXs had approached the brand, and new generation. In this sense Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee are two perfect video games, without smudging, and that fully manage to achieve the objective of Game Freak.
The story follows, with some slight changes, that of Pokémon Yellow and in the title we will find many of the characters who have made the history of the brand, such as Professor Oak and Team Rocket. The big news, however, lies in the character editor. As the last adventures in Kalos and Alola had accustomed us, we will be able to change both the appearance and the clothing of our character and more, because in Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee we will also have clothes for our starter Pokémon. The advancement of the storyline will also reveal another novelty that for the first time makes its debut in the series, or the cinematic cutscenes that from time to time will intersperse the development of the story. But we don't want to tell you more and leave you to the taste of discovery. Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee revolutionize game mechanics and this is where we want to focus in this review.
The thing that has made many fans turn their noses up a little since its announcement is the new wild Pokémon capture system. As if we were in a giant Safari Zone, we will not use our Pokémon to fight the wild ones, but we will limit ourselves to using items and Balls. Exactly as already happens in Pokémon GO, we will have to limit ourselves to using the berries to get bonuses, and throwing Poké Ball, Mega Ball, Ultra Ball or the infallible Master Ball to catch something. Around the Pokémon will open and close a circle, green, yellow and red according to the difficulty of catching. If on the one hand this could suggest the setting aside of Effort Values, on the other hand Game Freak has introduced the mechanics of Candies, just to replace the wild training of Pokémon.
Capturing has never been easier, as has finding the species of Pokémon we're looking for. On the game screen we will now be able to see the Pokémon hiding in the grass, as well as immediately find a Shiny Pokémon and then choose which one we will try to catch. In addition, we will be able to decide to avoid the hordes of Zubat that infest the Rocky Tunnel, as well as chain a series of catches of the same Pokémon to obtain increasingly better bonuses. The inclusion of the Alola forms of the Pokémon, obtainable through exchange with the NPCs, adds that extra touch that makes the title even more complete.
Another mechanic that mutates from Pokémon Yellow is the Pokémon Box. Abandoned the box system inside the PC, at any time we will have a box available in which all the Pokémon we have captured will be listed, so that at any time we can decide to change our team. Once filled, it will be sufficient to send the Pokémon to Professor Oak to help him complete the Pokédex, thus freeing up space for new catches and receiving precious candies in exchange that will be used for the new training. The combat system with the other coaches, however, does not vary, anchored to the solid foundations of the series.
Kanto is graphically sublime, as is the original soundtrack that accompanies our adventures. Traveling around the region it will be possible to meet a great variety of Pokémon, while others will have to be exchanged for the other version. So are we talking about a flawless video game? Probably yes, we haven't found a way to criticize Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee. Do we necessarily want to find a fault? The difficulty level very often borders on the banal, but this is how this title was conceived by Game Freak. We are talking about the maximum creative and playful expression of a Pokémon video game.
Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee! are video games that show the great potential that the brand has using Nintendo Switch. Sure, sometimes it seems that the video game as simple as it is limited to a stroll along the Kanto region, but on the other hand that same Kanto is visually a spectacle. Brava Game Freak! Once again you have demonstrated the reason for the success of the Pokémon brand!
► Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! / Pokémon Let's Go, Eevee! is an RPG-type game developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 16/11/2018
