Hello there! Everyone!
It is time for the Pokemon X and Y Review!
This is my first review of a game ever! So hopefully you all like it and please give me any feedback you would like for me to improve upon! Thank you!
Though I must say I have only played Pokemon Y but both versions are incredibly similar other than a few parts.
I must remark that this Pokemon game is one of the best iterations of the series up till now. It has such a solid foundation on having years and years of experience from the older Pokemon games. There have been much improvements but as with improvements there are also bad qualities to the game that are quite noticeable. There are some new features that are new to the game but I will not go into detail about the some so I will list them here: 3D Gameplay, Roller-Skating, Riding Pokemon, Moving diagonally, Player Search System, Pokemon-Amie, Sky Battles, Horde Encounters, Super EV Training, Fairy Type Pokemon, Trainer Customization, and Mega Evolution.
Graphics- The graphics have been switched over to 3D based engine which is quite similar to the Black and White engines. But the highest improvement is the 3D based battles in the game which gives the whole game another level of immersion. I cannot begin to commend Game Freak on switching the Pokemon battles over to 3D character models because it is just too eye-tearing to see my favourite Pokemon in 3D. Though everything else seems just as good and pretty much what one would expect from a polished game series. One major "irk" I have with the game is that the 3D component of the 3DS system does not come in handy. Pokemon X and Y only have some cutscenes and some battles in glass-free 3D and others, like roaming around and just chilling in the region of Kalos, are just presented without utilizing the glass-free 3D option. So instead of you turning on and off what you want to see in 3D, the game kind of gives you the shackles on what you can see in 3D already. That is a bummer since they could have better utilized the effect for the whole game.
Gameplay- Gameplay is what you would expect from Pokemon. It is fun to capture, nurture and battle in Pokemon. But it is basically the same formula from when the series was first released.They did include a few other quirks into Pokemon X and Y: one is the Pokemon-Amie. It lets you play with your Pokemon and basically go Nintendogs all out with your Pokemon. It is fun but does not offer any incredible depth for my liking.
A major issue that I had was that frame rate was dropping like crazy during some battles. At first I thought it was turning on the 3D component of the 3DS but later I noticed it dropped frame rates even in 2D setting. This is something I find very troubling as it can take the player out of the intense immersive setting they were in. Many times I was in the heat of the battle and the frame rates just dropped and I was saying to myself - "Oh gosh, no way!"
Another issue I have is the newly released Mega Evolution. It is basically unleashing your Pokemon's hidden strength in one battle. It seemed like a great idea and it does have really cool evolutions for the Pokemon that can do a Mega Evolution but I feel it is too much of an overpowered tool. When I had my Venasaur or Blaziken Mega Evolve, I felt they were basically invincible and they can almost one shot any opponent. That was not something I expected. Even though you can only do that for one Pokemon per battle, it is powerful enough to throw the balance of online Pokemon battles.
Story- The story in Pokemon has always been quite predictable. It has always followed the same formula but I will keep it spoiler free in this review. The story at the end does provide a better conclusion than many of the entries in the past. Though I find it frustrating that the enemies always voice the item you need to advance to the next part of the layer. They tell you where they drop something, what the password to a door is. I feel that it would be great if players themselves were given the experience to find and discover those things themselves.
Sound- The sound for the game is spectacular! It still has that reminiscent music from the older games but Game Freak added a new modern tune to keep them more up to date. Many of the soundtracks have been updated with modern tempos and tunes.
Customization- The game has much better customizations compared to all the games before it. You can now select your player's race(kind of, just skin colour) and change how they are dressed. But other than those, you cannot do anything else that makes the customization feel interesting. This part of the game is fairly boring as not much of it feels alive while customizing your character.
Conclusion- I must say that even though the game has its downs, it's positive points way overshadows the negative parts of Pokemon. It has taken the years long experience of making these games and condensed all the good parts into one heck of a good looking game. It is by far one of the best Pokemon games up to date. I recommend everyone to try to play the game whether you are new or veteran to the series. It has given player more customization and better control but I think it is still not completely there yet. By having all the older generation Pokemon included in the region, it is a great starter game into the series.
I give this game a
4.2 out of 5
Graphics- 4.5/5
Gameplay-4.5/5
Story-3.5/5
Sound- 5/5
Customization- 3.5/5
REVIEWER RECOMMEND
Avid Vancouverite Gamer
