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Pokemon GO Review Thread

shandy706

Member
It's not a good "game". Sitting around with it is..well, pointless.

I really don't care about Pokémon, but I downloaded this and walking around outside with my 4 year old and 8 year old was fun. They got really excited when we'd find them.

My job involves a ton of driving around and walking, so I've built up a bit of a collection.
 
It's barely a game in my opinion. A fun social app though in theory with meeting people. Would kinda want some more stuff to do if you don't live in a big city.

5/10 sounds about right. It's making The Pokemon Company and Nintendo a bunch of money though.
 
It's right where it should be in review ratings and I love the game. It's very bare in terms of features right now and lots of glitches. But they have promised every two weeks for an update.
 

NateDrake

Member
Seems like an odd game to review since it is mostly an experience. The core game elements found in it are basic and nothing impressive, but the experience is the attractive feature of it all.
 
Reviewing this type of game makes a lot less sense because it will be continually updated like most apps and MMOs. We're not really in the world where you get most of the game on release and have enough of a picture of it to judge.
 
I honestly think if you're solely reviewing the game based on the mechanics of the app itself, you're missing the forest for the trees. Could the game use more depth? Yep. Could gym battles be better? You betcha. However, none of that really changes the fact that walking around downtown with my fiance shouting out: "Oh shit! There's a Scyther over there!" and passing by strangers doing the exact same, talking to them about the Pokemon they've caught, has been the single most fun I've had with a game in 2016.

The "game" is just as much, if not more so, about exploring parts of your city you've never been to before. Finding interesting landmarks you never would've noticed, meeting other Pokemon trainers and sharing the experience with those around you.
 

Javelin

Neo Member
I'm not sure this is something that can be properly reviewed as a traditional game, which is what a lot of these reviewers normally focus on. I'm also not sure how this objectively stacks up against other mobile games. Most other hits like Hearthstone, Angry Birds, Candy Crush, etc. are stop and play games whereas GO is centered much more around real world interaction. Augmented Exploration Games might become their own genre.
 

oti

Banned
It's barely a game and all about the social/cultural experience. Weird that they actually decide to review it like this.

It brings clicks. That's not me criticizing them, it just makes sense to get into the Google search results.
 
None, I guess.
It's not even a game.
ready for many "Wii-style" review.

It's funny to even read reviews saying "It's terrible but I'm playing hours and hours of it!!" lol
maybe the usual "key-points" used for reviews aren't a good fit for an App like this?

I sort of get the feeling its because the traditional sites feel they have to as its clearly a game and its clearly popular, all the while underlining the vast disconnect between what they consider gaming should be and what for most people it actually is.

It feels very old man shouting at clouds "I'm still relevant!"

Clicks, I guess. Niantec said they will keep updating GO with more features so these Reviews will be outdated in a few weeks.

To me, so much of the game is about what's going on outside of the game, with your friends or even strangers and reviewing it and giving it a score is just like a spotlight in the sky saying "I don't get it"
 

Kyari

Member
Reviews for Pokémon Go seem massively unnecessary as they are going to have ZERO influence on if someone plays it.
 
Here's my facebook review:

4.5/10

as a game, it's not good. Not enough friends on there and my mom keeps messaging me news stories.
 

Menitta

Member
I'm happy with these scores. The game itself is terrible. It has no features and depends entirely on the outside world. As someone who doesn't have time to just go outside and catch Pokemon, I especially hate it. Also, I'm tired of seeing it on my Facebook and Twitter feed.
 
I actually don't think the game itself is "terrible" unlike a lot of people. The map is great, catching Pokemon is fun, it doesn't feel like a frustrating grind for me (yet!) like a lot of free to play games. Battles are simple but the gym concept is cool. Hatching eggs is great.

It could definitely do with some more features, but launching with just the core was probably a good idea. The REAL problem is with the crashes and instability, but as a game it's 7/10 for me.
 

Wensih

Member
Not fitting the mould of a traditional game, does not mean it's not a game. The physicality of real world exploration, discovery, and social interactions that is incentivised through objectives and items within the game is the game. This occupies the same head space as saying Gone Home or other walking simulators are not games.
 

Deku89

Member
I love the game, but any review with a high score is a lie. I feel it's similar to ratings: online/real world interactions with other people can't be rated/reviewed. Every person has a different experience that's impossible to replicate, which makes the review pointless.
 
Comeon now son, lets get serious for a minute.
Going by that blurb, seems like score is more representative of how the reviewer felt about the game than "how well constructed is this game".

Basically this
You also can't put a score on a social experience (I mean you can, if you have serious issues).

Pokemon GO, the app, is buggy and shallow.

Pokemon GO, the thing thats happening around us right now is amazing.

I honestly think if you're solely reviewing the game based on the mechanics of the app itself, you're missing the forest for the trees. Could the game use more depth? Yep. Could gym battles be better? You betcha. However, none of that really changes the fact that walking around downtown with my fiance shouting out: "Oh shit! There's a Scyther over there!" and passing by strangers doing the exact same, talking to them about the Pokemon they've caught, has been the single most fun I've had with a game in 2016.

The "game" is just as much, if not more so, about exploring parts of your city you've never been to before. Finding interesting landmarks you never would've noticed, meeting other Pokemon trainers and sharing the experience with those around you.
 

Cmagus

Member
As someone playing it , it's a bad game but with incredible social potential.
Key word is potential because I'm sure the meet ups are fun but would you get the same experience living outside a large city where large meet ups are less likely.

I've been messing around with it and the first few were fun to catch but then it just became kind of meh. I'll still hold full judgement till it officially released here though to see what kind of community pops up.
 

gamerMan

Member
Feels like a weird thing to review, considering Pokemon Go is all about the social experience and less about the actual gameplay mechanics. Reviewing the game based on the later just seems to be entirely missing the point.

Any gaming site or reviewer who reviews this is just probably thirsty for traffic. It's not even a game.
 

MisterHero

Super Member
the shallowness is what gets so many people to get along and work together. also, they can appreciate that they're outdoors and not wrapped up in a game.

Adding more regions of Pokémon will turn it into work. Trying to turn it into a competitive game will divide the userbase. Fans of the mainline games might see the fun in the mainline games, and that's why there's a separate platform for those kinds of games.
 

Maximo

Member
Any gaming site or reviewer who reviews this is just probably thirsty for traffic. It's not even a game.

It is a game reviewing it just mechanically sorta misses the point, but saying anyone who reviews this is just doing it for traffic is extremely silly.
Some of the comments so far sound like something taken from a PR Company *Anyone who reviews this is silly, its about the Social EXPERIENCE, not about the quality of the app itself." One can certainly judge the app based on mechanics and quality.
 

lt519

Member
Polygon 7.5/10

They did a dual review with two reviewers:

Wherever it goes, though, right now Pokémon Go is in a fascinating position, a cultural artifact whose power and pervasiveness is impossible to ignore, even if you're not playing it. Is it good? That's a complicated question that's going to change depending on how much you value a game's mechanical depth versus the unique social experience it provides. But in a week of playing it, we've been all smiles while doing so. For now, that's enough. When the servers are up, anyway.
 
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