Pokémon: GO

Never thought I’d EVER do a mobile game review in my life, but seeing as this one has legitimately taken over the world and was officially downloaded more times than Twitter; I feel an exception should be made in this particular instance.

The highly anticipated (and long thought inevitable disappointment) Pokémon themed walking simulator from Niantic hit the app stores several days ago and has in its very short time in this world taken over the lives of many a Pokémon trainer, sending droves of them into the streets to find, hunt, and catch’em all!

The game uses your phones GPS to map out your city for you, as the player walks through his actual hometown, random Pokémon have the potential to pop up depending on location. Some obvious (Water Pokémon near bodies of water) and some theories spreading as to the patterns of Pokémon type and the general location in which they spawn (some going as far as to say specific Pokémon spawn near power plans, college campuses, and graveyards). Once a Pokémon is encountered, the player merely touches the screen and throws imaginary Pokéballs at it until it is caught.

Once a Pokémon is caught it can be “trained” by catching duplicates of that Pokémon and essentially recycling it for upgrade candy that can be pumped into your primary Pokémon of that species. Pokéballs can be obtained by stumbling across Pokéstops, which are specific landmarks mapped on your game interface that you can walk to, tap on, and voila! More time spent stalking the streets for imaginary monsters!

Though  I feel the primary draw for me at current is the gym system, the game (like life in general) divides you into three factions and gives you the option of picking one, these factions hold no real in game significance or game change, but are just meant to give the player a competitive sense of unearned belonging. The teams are represented by the three Legendary birds Zapdos, Articuono, and Moltres and are named Instinct, Mystic, and Valor respectively.

These teams primary function is to take and hold gyms around the world to assert their dominance that you, as an opposing team member, must usurp and dethrone. How? By standing in proximity of the gym in the middle of a busy square and frustratingly tapping on your phone to whittle down the opposing Pokémon’s HP to nothing, and if successful, can put one of your own Pokémon in the gym that other people from your faction can too bolster with theirs.

The game overall is buggy as ALL hell, with frequent freezes and far more frequent hacks, this game by Niantic has a long way to go in the fixes department. But  it’s encouraging to see people taking to the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on foot (some in vehicles, some in vehicles) to play the game whilst accidentally exercising.

To me, this is nothing but an appetizer for Sun and Moon, though I imagine I’ll be playing this one for some time simply for the “Well, I’m already walking, so why not?” factor.