Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - Aujourd'hui 04:47

Pokémon Pokopia – Review

It’s a good time to be a Pokémon fan. Less than a week after the launch of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, another Pokémon title is already here. This one is unlike any other game in the series, though. Pokémon Pokopia immediately stands out because of how out there its core concept is, although it might just be crazy enough to work. Was the collaboration between Game Freak and Dragon Quest Builders 2 developers Omega Force super effective? Story You probably wouldn’t have guessed it based solely on Pokopia’s adorable visuals, but the game’s overarching story is quite dark. Everything starts with a Ditto (that’s you) waking up in what seems to be an abandoned wasteland. Taking on the appearance of their missing trainer, Ditto sets out to explore the bleak surroundings, only to run into another Pokémon, Professor Tangrowth. Ditto quickly learns that both Pokémon and humans have vanished from the world. The professor is trying to figure out what happened. An old Pokédex that he has found responds to Ditto’s human-like appearance, inadvertently turning Ditto into the key to restoring the wasteland. As Ditto slowly but surely transforms the post-apocalyptic wilderness into a Pokémon paradise, it becomes clear what the events were that caused humanity to disappear. Graphics The block-based environments that make up Pokopia are undeniably reminiscent of Minecraft, although the individual blocks are more detailed in terms of texture. Resultingly, the world itself feels like a cross between Minecraft and the Pokémon Let’s Go games. Pokémon games have never been visual powerhouses, and Pokopia doesn’t break that trend. Fortunately, the game’s performance fares a lot better, as it takes advantage of the more powerful hardware of the Switch 2. We didn’t run into any issues like stuttering, and even the game’s draw distance is respectable, which is saying a lot given the size of the world. Load times can be on the longer side, but you’ll only run into these when you’re actively moving from one area to the next. Sound We need to address the Donphan in the room again: Pokopia still doesn’t have voice acting, one of our biggest gripes when it comes to modern Pokémon games. In this case, it didn’t bother us as much, even though this is a very dialogue-heavy game. That’s because the ones talking aren’t humans, of course, but Pokémon. Hearing the critters repeat their names over and over again, as they tend to do, would get really tiresome really fast. We’re content enough with subtitles. The real star of the Poké-show is the game’s OST. The music featured in Pokopia consists of remixes and rearrangements of familiar tunes from other games in the series. The overall vibe of the soundtrack is very similar to that of Animal Crossing, although music isn’t the only thing that’s similar to that series, of course. We also enjoyed that a good chunk of the game’s sound effects were taken from the mainline series as well. They’re used sparingly enough that they come across as small winks to the audience rather than lazy re-uses. Gameplay Believe the hype. We’ll be the first ones to admit that we weren’t exactly paying attention to Pokopia after that initial reveal back in September. The first trailer made it seem like a cute but shallow spin-off title. Then the earliest reviews started to come in, and they were almost all surprisingly positive. Now that we’ve spent several days exploring and building our very own Poké-world, we can honestly say that Pokopia exceeded our expectations. The game combines elements from Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, and, of course, Pokémon to create a surprisingly addictive life sim game. While our first couple of days in Pokopia have been quite eventful, we feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface too. And when we say days, we mean it: just like in Animal Crossing, everything in Pokopia happens in real time. You can cheese this by messing with the internal clock of your Switch 2, but that’s clearly not how the game itself is meant to be played. So how is Pokopia meant to be played then? Well, most of that is up to you to decide. You’re given quite a lot of freedom to decide what to do with your own little world, although the game does nudge you in specific directions. There is the overarching plot to follow, of course, with the game’s storyline doubling as a way to teach you mechanics. The general idea is to restore the world, with the help of the abilities of Pokémon that come to live with you. Scyther can chop wood and turn it into lumber, for example, and Timburr is great at building things. Of course, you’ll need to attract these Pokémon to your world first. This is done by building specific habitats. With some luck, critters start to appear after a few minutes, and by talking to them, they come to live with you. After this, they act somewhat similarly to Animal Crossing villagers, with the benefit that you can count on them to help you expand your village. Building new houses, for example, requires you to gather materials from the wild, then recruit a number of ‘mons with the right abilities, and put them to work. This is something you’d best do at the end of a day, because real-time construction often takes overnight, and any critters that are building can’t lend their power elsewhere. If you instead decide to focus on the plot, you’ll find that the massive wasteland where you start out is just the game’s first area. Pokopia is much, much larger than you’d expect, and by meeting the professor’s demands, new areas will open up, with different environments and, of course, different critters. Each of these areas is as derelict as the next, meaning that if you wanted to restore every nook and cranny, you’d easily get hundreds of hours ahead of you. Of course, that’s something that is typical for the genre, and it does help with making that €69.99 price tag easier to swallow, although the “physical” game being on a Game Key Card remains controversial. Now, we’re not going to say that Pokopia isn’t without its gameplay caveats either. While the game’s UI and building mechanics are among the most accessible we’ve encountered in the genre, terraforming the environment can be tedious, especially early on. With the world being made up of, well, blocks, dismantling mountains or even ruined buildings to make room for new stuff can be quite tedious, especially since the game uses an energy system. You’ll often have to stop mid-build to go look for some berries and restore your energy. Storage is also an issue, particularly early on, although that is typical for games like this, and eventually, you’ll be able to expand your inventory and craft storage boxes. It’s still early days for the game, but we already know that timed events will be a thing too. We’re not entirely sure whether these are all tied to Pokopia’s online component, or if they’re built into the game and just locked behind your eternal clock. The game’s first event, themed around Hoppip, officially starts 5 days after Pokopia’s launch, but people were seemingly already able to access it. Either way, timed events do bode well for Pokopia’s longevity. If games like Animal Crossing but also Stardew Valley are any indication, life sim games like these have long legs, as they’re intended to be a marathon, not a sprint. Conclusion Combining Pokémon with Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders proved to be a lightning-in-a-bottle idea that we didn’t know we needed. Even if you’re not necessarily a Pokémon fan, this is a title that shouldn’t be ignored if you own a Switch 2. While Pokopia is undeniably recognisable as a Pokémon game, its building and life sim mechanics make this one a standout entry in the genre. The game is capable of standing on its own legs, although the brand recognition probably does help when it comes to the game finding its audience.