To say that the launch of the very first actual Pokemon game on a legitimate console is a momentous occasion would not do it justice. Yes, I know people will argue that, bringing up games like Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Stadium 2, Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD, Pokemon Battle Revolution, and the more recent Pokken Tournament. However, none of those games have been mainline entries in the franchise. While Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let's Go Eevee aren't exactly original in any sense of the word, I know that I'm not the only gamer to enjoy the fact that I can plug my Nintendo Switch into the dock and kick back with my feet up, while catching pokemon and taking on gym leaders. And the fact that I can do it on a screen larger than four inches is even better. If you grew up in the '90s and were determined enough, yeah, you could purchase the various attachments required to play Gameboy games on your television, but back then, if you told me that one day Pokemon would look the way it does on the Nintendo Switch, I would have never believed you. Having played Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu from start to finish, I've learned that even as an adult, I'm still capable of being pleasantly surprised.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee is the complete console experience I've dreamt of since I was a kid. It's half remaster and half brand new game. For those of you who experienced the joy of Pokemon Yellow, in which Pikachu followed you around the Kanto region (unless you used a thunder stone on him), this might feel familiar to you. Yet, despite its familiarity, it's also brand new in many ways. Everything from the visuals to the gameplay has been built from the ground up. The story, while incorporating elements from Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow, brings new trainers to the fray, placing you on a path that follows the footsteps of the original trainers Ash (or whatever you happened to name your character) and Blue. And while the story is almost exactly the same, placing you in familiar locations like Mt. Moon and the annoyingly complex Silph Co, they've added in familiar fan favorites from the animated series, Jesse, James, and Meowth, who - as usual - blunder and blast off.
When Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu and Eevee were first announced at a Nintendo Direct last year, fans were ecstatic, but they were also concerned. Why would you be concerned about such great news? Nintendo and Game Freak were finally giving us what we've always wanted, but there was a catch. When E3 2018 rolled around, we finally got a look at the gameplay, and that catch became worrisome. While the game looked and felt like a Pokemon game, complete with brightly colored graphics and newly rendered environments, it was missing a key ingredient, that without, made people wonder just how much of a Pokemon game this would be. That missing element was the frustratingly necessary random pokemon encounters. We all remember those. From the moment you leave Pallet Town, to journey's end on the way to meet the Elite Four, anytime you walked through a patch of a grass, the chances were likely that you were going to encounter a wild pokemon. That was the tried and true formula of role playing games (and I use that term loosely) of that era. If you didn't already have the pokemon you encountered, you wore it down and captured it, if you did already have it, you fought it. All for experience points. All to see your Charizard, Venasaur, or Blastoise help propel you to the position of world's greatest trainer. What we learned when seeing footage from the E3 2018 was that those random pokemon battles had been removed. Yes, the trainers were all there, still annoyingly persistent that you fight them, but instead of pokemon invisibly stalking you through the grass, they actually show up and you can choose to avoid them. If you make contact with one, it triggers a battle (sort of). You no longer have to battle them down to low health to catch them. All you have to do is throw a pokeball and hope for the best. There's a system that makes it easier, a method to the madness if you will, but there's no danger of losing health or having to run back to a Pokemon Center whenever you get poisoned. Is this a good system? At first, I didn't think so, but after spending time in the game, it grew on me. Here's why . . .
Every pokemon trainer of just about any generation knows the hassle of trying to level up all of your pokemon. For me, back in the days of red, blue, and yellow, I would try to get each pokemon in my lineup into battle and then recall them immediately to make sure they got a piece of the experience points. More often than not, that tactic would end with one or several of my pokemon being knocked out. It was annoying. And much like the guy who goes to the gym and only works out one arm, I would end the game with one or two pokemon over level fifty and the rest of them being pretty much useless. In Lets Go Pikachu, not only do you not have to fight random pokemon (except if they are of the legendary variety), whenever you encounter a pokemon and catch it, all of the pokemon in your party get experience points, making leveling up a walk in the park compared to the earlier entries in the franchise. In fact, while playing, I created a system; I would keep three pokemon in my party at all time (at least what I needed to fight the different elemental types at the different gyms) and the other three would rotate, so that while I was playing the game, they could level up, evolve, and fill my pokedex.
As far as negative things about this game are concerned, there isn't really much to complain about that hasn't been complained about over the past twenty years. Yes, the random trainer battles are still sort of annoying. Some of them you can go around and others you can't. They still have pokemon that can only evolve after being traded, like Alakazam, Machoke, and Haunter, which is sort of annoying, especially if you're a thirty-year-old who is one of the few in your peer group who still plays video games. There's also an interesting new mechanic that may or may not be negative to some people. Instead of receiving HMs to do things like fly, cut down trees, surf, or move heavy objects, there is now something called "special techniques" which are still received in the places you got the HMs, but they're all taught to Pikachu. For example, if you want to fly, Pikachu summons a scooter with balloons tied to it. If you want to surf, Pikachu has an actual surfboard. If you want to move boulders, Pikachu does that, too. This game uses Pikachu like a Swiss Army Knife. Also, for those of you who might be wondering, no, you can't do the infinite item cheat anymore (unfortunately). As far as actual complaints go, I think that covers it. From other people I've talked to who have played it, there has been some discussion about the game being repetitive and Pikachu being way overpowered.
In the realm of the positive. There's a lot to say, but i'll stick to a few things. The feeling I got when playing this game was powerfully nostalgic. Though I didn't like it at first, the new pokemon catching system did grow on me, and the system of shared experienced points takes hours off the game, and I mean that in a good way. I finished in a little under twenty hours, and once your done with the Elite Four, there's still plenty to do, like catch some legendary pokemon, take on Mewtwo, and explore areas that you might not have been able to explore before. I only wish that they'd let you travel to Johto and explore over there, as well. Unfortunately, you're limited to the Kanto region and the stories and pokemon within. On that note, however, there are various NPCs throughout the game that will trade you pokemon from other regions for your Kanto region pokemon. So if you're in the market for a Dugtrio that looks like the Hansen brothers, make sure you stop in and talk to everybody at the Pokemon Centers. Another cool new feature is the Pokemon Go Park. In place of the Safari Zone (which is strictly cosmetic in this game), you can go into the Go Park and bring the pokemon you've caught in Pokemon Go into Pokemon Lets Go. The only downside is that you have to capture them.
Before I say "pokemon" another hundred times, I'm going to wrap this review up by saying that Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu and Eevee is a welcome walk down memory lane. It's nostalgic for those of us who have grown up playing those games and still manages to feel new and fresh. If you've never played a Pokemon game, it's the perfect place to jump in. Though I wish the game were a little beefier, it's the perfect game to hold fans over until the untitled Pokemon game hits the Nintendo Switch next year, a game that is promised to be a proper continuation of the main series. Gamers and journalists have always referred to the Pokemon franchise as "baby's first role playing game." It doesn't matter how experienced you are in games like this, or if you're a casual gamer looking for something to tide you over until your next big gaming experience, Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu and Eevee is an entertaining adventure from start to finish with enough content to justify the price and the time you might and probably will invest in it.
Reviewed by: Josh Pederson
Played On: Nintendo Switch
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