Pokémon Sun - Nintendo 3DS

I never thought I would rate one of the core Pokemon games anything below 5 stars, but I was a bit disappointed with this generation. The game itself is certainly playable, but I cannot get over the fact that I miss going to Gyms so much. The Pokemon available are sort of cool, but some of the special things that you have to do to catch them are pretty annoying. Overall, I felt like it was a bit of a step down from OR/AS, but hey, they tried something new. I guess there is always that possibility when you try something different.

Im only giving this game 4 stars because of one downside to the gameplay that really annoys me; the wild Pokemon being able to call for help from other wild Pokemon. It is the single more annoying thing in this game! Every time I wanted to catch the Pokemon if I didnt have it, the damn thing would call for help and then Id have to get rid of the second one before trying to catch the first one. But right after I do get rid of the second one, the first one would call for help AGAIN. One Pokemon did it up to 5 times in a row! Another sort of downfall; and this one Ive seen a lot of in reviews is that there is far too much story to gameplay. Its like watching a pixleized mini movie with SOME gameplay sprinkled in. Not even X/Y, Omega Ruby was like that. There was a leveled amount of gameplay to story in them. But Sun? Mostly reading dialogue and going here or there to get into MORE story. If you like having a lot of story, buy the game; if not, then dont buy the game. Its really that simple. I may still get Moon at some point but I actually stopped playing when I got to the final Kahuna the chick with the Clydesdale like Pokemon because my Pokemon are freaking weak against her.

Pokemon Moon is, in my experience, a surprisingly disappointing game. From the beginning island with the first trial I was shocked, repeatedly, at how easy they decided to make this game. Dont be mistaken: I am fully aware that Pokemon games have never been difficult, but this one takes it to a new level altogether. Cons: *Too many freebies early on and continuing throughout *Processes slowly in some parts due to console limitations *Limited fishing areas *No challenge whatsoever *No horde battles (Honey is essentially useless) *Has a marker that shows you where to go *Too many scenes *A legendary battle right after the last Pokemon League battle and quite a bit of scenes *Easily the most idiotic Team in any game. *The story was slightly lacking *S.O.S. can get annoying early on *Horrible designs for some Pokemon *New addition to battles sometimes shows effectiveness of each attack before you make it *The Pokedex nonsense after catching new Pokemon gets time consuming. *Move reminder teaches all moves a Pokemon can learn by leveling, above and below current level When I say, too many freebies, I mean it. You start off with more than 10 times the amount of money in past games, plus Pokeballs and Potions. Then you get Great Balls, Ultra Balls, Revives, and the EXP Share, all before the first trial. Not to mention more money (over 10,000) for catching a few Pokemon. And then there are the extra areas for racking up more easy items and cash that require little to no actual work: interacting with 6 easily found Pokemon on a beach (20,000 daily for 30 seconds of work), buildings that give daily free items, which include Master Balls and Big Nuggets, and a variety of possible items if you develop a specific island in Poké Pelago. I learned, after the fact, that you can repeat the battle with the legendary that comes after the Pokemon League, assuming you didnt catch it. If you care about the nature and IVs, and havent gone online to find out that fact, youre faced with quite the dilemma, so I count it as a con. I add the move reminder in there because it just makes things too easy. Takes away some of the challenge of breeding if you can get egg moves so simply. Pros: *Riding Pokemon is an interesting concept *Festival Plaza makes for a decent change of pace *A few new Pokemon designs are cool *Being able to get both major legends without another player losing giving up theirs *Hyper Training allows max IV stats without the breeding headache *Being able to see a Pokemons nature right after catching it Hyper training is arguably the best thing for competitive players that this update has. The training doesnt change the Pokemon in a sense that can be bred to future Pokemon, but the IV boost works for battling. Meaning you can essentially cut IV breeding from your agenda so long as youve got a Bottle Cap or two.

Let me just say that I adore Pokemon. Ive been watching the show since it first aired in the US, Ive played every main series game since Silver, as well as a few of the offshoot games, Ive collected cards and more-so naturally when I heard an all new region would be released for the 3ds I was very excited, and the hype around the games grew until I could barely wait for the next news. And when it came... Well, at first, I wasnt as impressed as I thought I would be. Mostly because I was super excited to play and the intro scene takes FOREVER. Seriously, I know its necessary for the story but the whole beginning is so slowww. Its kind of like the start to Pokemon Black and White but longer. I actually thought I wouldnt like the game much at all as I started playing. And then the story took off...and I was BLOWN AWAY. This game is beautiful! I love the scenery, the look of the models, the new pokemon...(well most of them, anyway...) and I would definitely recommend it. But the best thing about this game, is the story. This story was so much fun to follow, even if it was a bit obvious at times. I found myself loving Lillie and Kukuis characters, feeling meh about Haus (hes actually around less than you would expect), curious about Gladion and wanting Guzma to be...I dont know, more, prevalent I guess. But the fact the game made me actually want me to see these characters grow and better themselves-thats impressive. Ive gone on a bit too much by now so Ill end this here. I suggest if you like Pokemon, or RPGs, give this at least one try. Also, for the record, UB Gluttony or whatever looks like a heartless boss jumped out of Kingdom Hearts and invaded Pokemon. Its weird and Im not sure how to feel about it.

Ill start by saying Ive been playing pokemon games since red, blue and yellow and am a diehard fan of the series. There are a few things I really like about this game, but overall it is pretty mediocre. Pros : - the ride pager system is awesome. I love not having to lug around HM slaves - you can finally customize your characters appearance. There arent a huge amount of options but I still enjoyed it - rare pokemon are actually rare. I spent about 2 days fishing before I was able to catch a dratini. - lots of breeding system improvements. The breeder no longer levels your pokemon, so no worries about them ruining your prize fighter. And now that natures have hidden effects aside from stat changes I can actually hatch eggs in minutes. Its pretty great - this one could be a pro or a con, but now after you fight a pokemon once the game will tell you which attacks are effective or not. Its convenient but honestly learning your type advantages is such a major part of battling its like having training wheels on. There were times I liked it but overall it felt very handicapped to me. Cons: - I have no idea why so many reviews on here praise the storyline. It is so bland and boring. It basically amounts to my mom is mean help me un-brainwash her. Its probably fine for the younger audience, but for pokemons 20 something fans I doubt many will enjoy it. - WAY. Too. Many. Cutscenes. I seriously wanted to throw my ds the first 2 hours of the game. You cant go more than 5 steps without being stopped for very meaningless chatter. (Lets go eat this masala! Omg this island is great!) - the characters are extremely topical and boring. I was not invested in a single one, I only wanted their conversations to be as short as possible so I could go back to exploring. The pokemon thieves in this game, team skull, are so cringey. Im embarrassed everytime one shows up throwing their arms around. - rival game is weak. I know this isnt the first game to do this but I still hate it. Your rival is super friendly and kind, and to make matters worse he actually picks the starter pokemon that is weak against yours. I miss the days where your rival talked smack and gave you a run for your money. You know, like an actual rival and not some nice kid you routinely smack down in battle - the totem pokemon trials are very odd and make no sense. Im sure they added them to fit the tropical theme but they were so easy and weird. I wouldve much preferred the classic gym courses. - I wouldve been more okay with the map if all the locations werent given such silly names. They all run together for me and I have to Google a buildings location everytime I need to visit one because its very difficult to tell the difference from one city to another - the E4 members are all Kahunas that youve already encountered with the exception of one girl with no explanation of how she managed to get lumped together with the rest. It felt very random and lazy - this is probably my biggest complaint as it basically renders the game unplayable post championship. There is no good way to level your pokemon after the E4. While they have the battle tree you have to defeat red or blue before entering, and unless you just wanna grind E4 over and over and sit through all that cutscenes you literally have no way to level up aside from grinding random encounters. Its pretty unbearable Overall, 2.5/5

Pokemon is one of the highest selling, most preordered, and anticipated games for the 3DS. And for good reason (sort of). Despite the franchises age, the series seems to outsell itself with every new release. After 20 years, Game Freak has decided it might be time to shake up the formula beyond new pokemon and slight adjustments to type sets/moves. Some changes are welcomed (no HMs) while others are a bit of a head scratcher (can’t fish where you want.) I will give the game the benefit of the doubt as I am only wrapping up the second island, but most of my complaints are true issues throughout the game: 1. No 3D. Absolutely none present in the game. Unlike the previous games where 3D was limited to certain areas, this game has none at all. I have a problem with that considering I am playing this game on a 3DS. Clearly the hardware was too taxed as it is, so 3D was dumped to try and give the game a wider release. 2. This game should have been a New 3DS exclusive. The original 3DS is almost six years old and the New 3DS is almost 2 years old. There are currently only about 3 exclusive games to the New 3DS, this would have been a great opportunity to get people to move on to a new unit. I know I would have. As it is, the game supposedly runs “slightly better” on the new hardware, but that is debatable 3. The game runs poorly. Despite having released two other pokemon games for the system, Game Freak has yet to learn how to properly optimize the game. The game runs fine when walking around the world, but in battle things can get dicey. Totem battles, which happen after every trial, will make the game run slow. When the totem pokemon calls for an ally, it runs even slower. It took damn near 10 seconds from me pressing flame bite for the game to actually show the move on screen. Even single battles can cause the frame rate to dip. That is insane. How are there frame rate issues in a POKEMON GAME. This isn’t Tomb Raider or COD. 4. The game fools you into thinking it might be free roaming, but it is possibly more restricting than the original Red and Blue releases. There are trainers not letting you pass, barriers in the way, wild pokemon blocking you. All in an effort to make sure you follow this extremely linear path to the one place the game wants you to go. At least in Blue/Red you could skip gyms and come back if you wanted. 5. I feel like the probability of random battles has been raised. I can hardly walk through grass a few steps without been attacked. Maybe it is just me, but I am using more repels than ever in this game. I don’t know if it is a result in moving on a 3D plane rather than a grid, but I don’t remember having battles this much in ORAS, X/Y 6. People talk WAY too much. I understand dialog is going to happen, but this isn’t Metal Gear Solid with deep political intrigue and an engrossing story. Pokemon’s story is pretty straight forward, so why do I have to hear three different people talk and then move to another location just to have them talk some more? Even the random NPC characters have nothing interesting to say. I’m usually just trying to get the basic info and move on. Don’t drown me in exposition and unnecessary cut scenes. 7. The game is even easier than ever. A. Experience share is back, which makes leveling a joke. At least you can turn that off. B. NPCs will literally tell you where to go to next. No need to roam and maybe find something cool C. If that isn’t enough, the map will show you with a red circle D. If THAT isn’t good enough, the pokedex will TELL YOU WHERE TO GO YOU DUMMY DUM DUM E. The game tells you type advantages. God forbid you learn something F. People are constantly healing you or giving you free healing items. G. No trainer has more than 2-3 Pokemon. Not ace trainers, not trial trainers, not big Kahunas. You will steam roll everyone 8. I can’t fish where I want. Now you have to find special zones by the water to fish. You can’t just do it wherever, that wouldn’t make sense. 9. Your avatar’s stupid blank face. Every other character in the game can emote, but you are left with this stupid grin on your face that makes me want to punch him. If other people can raise their eyebrows, open their mouth, and make other expressions, why can’t I? 10. There is no audio options to raise or lower background noises and music. Maybe I just want to hear the music and no noise, or vice versa? Or just turn the music down a smidge in the mix from the battle sounds? You can’t. Most modern games give you this option but you can’t do it in pokemon. WHEW, Ok. So what do I like about this game? 1. Despite the terrible optimization and frame rate drop, I will admit the character models and environments are well made and LOOK nice. I am not condoning trading function for pretty polygons, but the art direction is quite nice. 2. I’m glad Game Freak tried to make a move in a slightly different direction with these games. Trial challenges are interesting and fun for the most part. It breaks up the monotony of the game. Granted they are not all that different from gyms, but different enough to give the old fans something fresh 3. You can move freely in all directions. No more grid based movement. I really hated this in the past two games. In the DS and gameboy days I could live with it, but when everything is fully 3d, but you still moved on a grid, that was awful. Great change. 4. No more HM slaves. Long gone is the need to have a pokemon’s move list be deluded with strength, cut, surf, etc. Now you open a menu and you can ride a pokemon past obstacles. It is a bit of a bummer that only one specific pokemon is flagged to be that specific HM (tauros for rock smash) for instance. So you can’t designate who you want. Not too big a deal 5. Pokemon refresh is a mini game of sorts where you can get rid of status ailments like poison with the touch screen. You select a brush or comb and touch the pokemon until they are healed. It is a nice inclusion as you are bound to get poisoned or paralyzed along your trip. 6. The new pokemon are perfectly fine. Haven’t run into anything yet and was disappointed with the design. They fit well with the old monsters. 7. The music is also fine. There is nothing there that will blow your mind – has a bit of a been there done that feel, but there isn’t anything in the soundtrack that will grate your ears. (trumpets) 8. There are other things to mess with like poke alego island and the festival plaza. Honestly I never really messed with these types of things much in the old games, but it is nice to have something separate from the main game to play quickly. So there you have it I guess. The game is a disappointment in my eyes. I think Game Freak will really hit it out of the park with their next release. Hopefully they move away from the old 3DS. This wobbly game will make me weary of future launch day purchases. Never thought that would be a problem with pokemon. I honestly would not recommend this game for the full price. Maybe at 30, anything lower than that and I would say go for it.

Ive been playing pokemon for 20 years now, and every game that has come out has been beautifully amazing. The only gripe I have with these gen 7 games is the fact that not all Megastones are available and the ones that are unavailable will be obtained via events or online competitions. This does annoy me greatly. Equally as annoying is if you have an older 3DS this game loads up much slower than it would on a New 3DS. Sometimes it takes a while to even shut the game off. So if you want to play this I do recommend getting a NEW 3DS to play it on, itll be a lot less slow running. Though beyond that the battles are harder, the graphics are gorgeous, the cut scenes are amazing, and Im just blown away by this game. Though if youre looking to relive your nostalgia for the good old days (Red and Blue) this game is probably not for you mostly because Gyms have been eliminated and in its place is Trials. If youre looking to relive the old days I suggest buying the virtual console in the eShop rather than buy this game. This also applies to players coming to this game via Pokemon GO, do remember if this is your first Pokemon game do not expect it to operate in the same way that Go does. Though I do hope you give this game a try, the core series is definitely the better of the Pokemon games in my humble opinion. I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next. <3

I have avidly played Pokemon since the original Pokemon Silver on the GameBoy Color. And let me tell you, Pokemon Sun has shown that the company has come a long, long way. Im not sure I like where its going. I spent hours completing the Pokedex on Pokemon Emerald, I cried during Pokemon Black, I rejoiced with Pokemon HeartGold, and celebrated the release of Pokemon X & Y. Pokemon Sun, however, isnt as good as the others. While Pokemon is arguably a childs game, this game really emphasizes it. 1.) No HMs, like they dont trust us how to use them. 2.) Rotom Dex is annoying with its constant blinking and blurbs - its reminiscent of Yokai Watch in style. 3.) Constant dialogue from start to finish - theres really no time to explore and have fun, because every 100 feet or so, youve got some story character that needs to tell you something. 4.) Names of new pokemon are so childishly simple; Mudsdale for a horse-like pokemon, Rockruff for a dog-like pokemon...like, honestly? Im all for puns, but those are just bad. It all just felt too young, but it is still excellent for what it is and for any newcomer to the Pokemon world. I wish to see, in the future, a game that focuses less on gimmicks and instead embraces what the original games were about: exploration, emotional bonds, and friendly competition. Itll attract all the old fans, like myself, and new fans alike.

Its Pokémon. The goods: new monsters, fashion stuff is back, HMs are replaced by actually riding Pokémon (no wasted moves, no HM slave, and you get near animations), the pokepelago is a great little side feature that lets you get items, beef up states, increase happiness, etc.; you can also beef up a Pokémon’s IV stars (for combat, not breeding). The downsides: team Skull is the worst team yet, imo, more dumb than menacing; the world isn’t as compelling to explore as in X/Y; most importantly, no national dex.

Hands down the best Pokémon game since HeartGold & SoulSilver. Mixing up the formula REALLY worked for them! The new features are great, lots of old features have been revamped to be significantly less annoying than ever before (EV training, hatching eggs, showing the effectiveness of your moves if youve encountered the Pokémon before, being allowed to choose if you want to send a pokémon into a PC box or replace one of your party Pokémon, etc.), and the characters are all brilliantly written. Here I was thinking I might be finally done with Pokémon after X/Y bored me to the point where I couldnt finish it, but much to my joy I find that theres plenty here to keep me engaged. 20 years later, and Pokémon is still going strong! Whether youre an old fan of the series, or never got to it back in the previous generations, pick up this game. You wont be disappointed!