Welcome to the Ohana
(This
review contains minor spoilers!)
If you’ve been living under a rock,
you may have missed that it’s the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon
series this year. In celebration of this, The Pokémon Company has pulled out
all the stops, releasing loads of content under the Pokémon name, and for the
most part it’s all been of high quality. It all culminated with Pokémon Sun and
Moon, the first ever releases in the seventh generation of the main series
Pokémon games. But with all that hype, do the games stand as a new franchise
pillar, or join the ranks of the more forgettable releases?
Right off the bat, you can tell that
Sun and Moon is trying to distance itself from several franchise hallmarks,
while still keeping more fundamental elements around to create a Pokémon
experience that, while ultimately very traditional, is able to stand out on its
own. You play as a young trainer who has just arrived at the Hawaii-inspired
Alola region, ready for adventure, excitement, and new pocket monsters galore.
The most noticeable change from
previous installments is the eschewing of the tried-and-true gym badge
collection. Replacing this is the Island Challenge, an all-new series of trials
that each behave differently. The challenge works similarly to the gyms in that
you travel around Alola, meet each Trial Captain, complete their specific
objective, defeat a final boss Pokémon, and receive your victory spoils. The
objectives vary from trial to trial, from a wild Pokémon battle gauntlet, to a
hidden item search, to even a spot the difference minigame. When you have
completed all the trials on one of the islands (of which there are 4 in total),
you square off against the island’s kahuna in a final battle. While the trials
end up feeling pretty similar to one another towards the end of the game, they
are each unique enough that you don’t grow bored like I often seem to when
reaching the end of my gym badge runs in the other games.
Another welcome change, and one that
longtime Pokémon fans have been clamouring for for years, is the removal of the
Hidden Machines, or HMs for short. For those who don’t know, HMs were a
mainstay in all other games in the main series as moves that were necessary to
teach to a Pokémon in order to progress in the game. They were, for the most
part, extremely weak in battles and you could only remove them with the
assistance of a Move Deleter NPC. Sun and Moon does away with the HMs once and
for all, replacing them with rideable Pokémon that do the job for free. Need to
fly somewhere? Call on a Charizard and you’ll get there. Need to get across
water? Call a Sharpedo. Need to push a heavy rock? Machamp’s your guy. This, as
well as a few other additions, allow Sun and Moon to become the most
streamlined and accessible Pokémon games in years, and allows the franchise to
grow as a result.
Alola itself also feels much
differently from other Pokémon regions before it. It’s clear that the
developers and artists working on the game really did their homework on Hawaii
and Polynesian culture, because playing the game almost feels like taking an
island vacation yourself. From pristine beaches to lush jungles to the Pokémon
themselves, this is the best looking handheld Pokémon game yet.
And yet, these updated graphics come
at a significant cost. Although it can be played just fine on a standard 3DS,
it is made very clear through the gameplay that Sun and Moon would prefer to be
played on a New 3DS. I played the game exclusively on a standard 3DS XL, and
while it’s far from unplayable, there’s a lot of significant slowdown and lag
at certain points in the game. Specifically in a double, triple, or one of the
all new Battle Royals, the game slows to below 30 frames per second, making
everything look choppy.
Onto the gameplay itself, how is it?
Well, despite what the advertising for this game may have you believe, aside
from the introduction of the Island Challenge, Sun and Moon are still standard
Pokémon games through and through. This is especially evident in the first few
hours of the game, which is paced painfully
slowly. First impressions are very important, especially in video games. Sun
and Moon’s introduction and subsequent tutorial are a complete chore to get
through, and left me worried about what the rest of the game would be like.
My worries were thankfully unfounded,
as Sun and Moon only get better and better the more you play them. Once the
game stops handholding you and allows you to play at your own pace, it shows its
true colours as one of the best Pokémon games in recent years.
Starting off with the new Pokémon,
there are a grand total of 80 new critters to capture and train, bringing the
total number up to 802. That’s not even counting the returning Pokemon from
previous installments, or the all new Alolan forms of some Generation 1
favourites, giving new life to classic Pokemon such as Grimer, Meowth, and
Vulpix by changing their designs and types. When playing Pokémon games I tend
to find a team of 6 and stick with them for the entire game, but with Sun and
Moon I found myself shuffling my team around a lot to accommodate all the cool
new designs. Some new favourites of mine include Grass-types Fomantis and
Lurantis, Ground-types Mudbray and Mudsdale, and all 3 of the new Starter
Pokémon as well as their subsequent evolutions.
The other reason I tended to change my
team around a lot was that Sun and Moon have upped the difficulty from previous
installments. While it’s still easy enough that any kid worth their salt could
beat the game no problem, it’s a far cry from the cakewalks that were Pokémon X
and Y and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I actually lost a few of the
more difficult battles in this one, particularly one of the later kahuna
battles that gave me an especially tough time.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Pokémon
game without battles, and Sun and Moon don’t disappoint. The good folks over at
Game Freak have refined the battle system even further, adding a new toggle you
can use to check your Pokémon’s stats at will, including any changes that may
have occurred during combat. Catching Pokémon has improved too, as you can now
choose to switch your newly caught monster with one already in your party
instead of being forced to make the trek all the way back to the Pokémon Centre
to pick up your new partner.
The other major addition to the
battles are Z-Moves, which essentially replace the Mega Evolutions from the
previous two installments in the series. You activate a Z-Move by giving one of
your a Z-Crystal that matches the same type as at least one of the moves in
their party. Once per battle, you can select to use a Z-Move instead of one of
the 4 other options, unleashing a comically destructive attack that’s almost
always a one-hit knockout, especially if it’s super effective. As fun as the
Z-Moves are to use, they do feel more than a little broken, as even some of the
Elite Four’s strongest Pokémon went down in just one hit thanks to a
well-coordinated Z-Move. But the part of them is knowing when in the battle to
use them, as you only get to use one per match. Plus, collecting all the
Z-Crystals is a lot of fun, especially when you get one that matches up with a
major member of your team.
In terms of the story, I do feel that
this is the one thing Sun and Moon does that’s been done better by a previous
game in the franchise. The overall story in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha
Sapphire is much better than Sun and Moon’s story. That’s not to say Sun and
Moon’s story is bad by any means, though. There are some really good new
characters, the evil team is a lot of fun, and while it’s not exactly
memorable, it’s one that you’ll enjoy watching unravel while you play.
Pokémon Sun and Moon feel like, if
anything, a celebration of how far the series has come in the last 20 years. In
streamlining the battle system, removing some of the more loathed burdens from
previous games, increasing the difficulty, and introducing loads of new and
cool Pokémon, Game Freak has created a new installment in the Pokémon pantheon
that can be enjoyed by fans young and old alike. However, the excruciatingly
slow start and occasionally low framerates when playing on a standard 3DS may
turn away more impatient gamers. Nonetheless, Pokémon Sun and Moon is an excellent
game that only reaffirms the series’ status as a gaming mainstay, because for
the first time in a while it feels like Pokémon has truly evolved.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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