To say that Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee! will be the most divisive games in the series’ history is an understatement. While the idea of returning to the Kanto region sounds great in theory, many long-time and hardcore fans are disappointed in the drastic changes and connections to the Pokemon Go mobile game.
I tried to have an open mind going into my hands-on preview with the game at E3 2018. The idea of not having the ability to weaken a potential Pokemon partner in battle certainly was a hard pill to swallow for a huge fan like myself, but the mobile game connections actually seem pretty cool.
My time with Pokemon Let’s Go was rather brief, dedicated to just a couple of battles and catches over the course of a couple of minutes due to some technical difficulties. I was thrown into the fray in Viridian Forest near the start of the Kanto region. Fans of the original will remember this maze-like forest filled to the brim with bug types.
Pokemon Let’s Go Preview: The Console Experience We’ve Been Waiting For
Pokemon Let’s Go‘s visuals are certainly better than the most recent games, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, in large part due to the higher resolution and sharper details. The game doesn’t quite reach the heights of Pokken Tournament on Switch but it manages to find a satisfying balance in between.
It was so surreal playing a Pokemon game on a TV screen, since the last time I experienced that was on the Nintendo 64 with Pokemon Stadium, but that wasn’t even the most jarring part of the demo. I didn’t touch a single Pro Controller or Joy-Con — even though it’s actually playable with just one! — during my preview time.
That’s because I had the opportunity to play the entire 10 or so minute demo with the precious Poke Ball Plus. This delicate little accessory fit perfectly in the palm of my smaller than average hand. While it has been mostly marketed as a device that can house your pocket monsters literally in your pocket as you walk around in real life, that isn’t its only purpose.
It is essentially a single Joy-Con of sorts, but I don’t know if it would work with any other Switch game. Regardless, it is a fascinating way of playing the game that pushed the boundary of realism even further. The Pokemon Go-like method of catching Pokemon already works well, but doing it with the Poke Ball Plus appealed to the child in me who always wished that I could catch these adorable monsters in real life.
Pokemon Let’s Go Preview: A Whole New Ball Game
Random encounters are totally out for the first time ever, replaced by actually seeing every single catchable Pokemon in the tall grass. This alleviates those pesky moments of repeatedly running from unwanted battles as you look for a specific pocket monster.
The actual encounter with the Pokemon you’re looking to catch takes you to a near replica of the Go screen with the creature in front of you. The difference between Pokemon Let’s Go and Niantic’s mobile game is that you do have a few options to select from. You can go through your inventory and use various items to up your chances. When you’re ready to catch it, you simply flick the Poke Ball Plus (or controller of your choice) at the monster.
There are underhanded throws, overhanded, and so on. Like Go, you get bonus experience for your team of six monsters if you catch it on the first throw, get a nice throw, and more. I can’t emphasize enough how amazing it felt to mimic throwing a ball in real life with the Poke Ball Plus. The item is a must-have for me, as it comes with its own analog stick, button, and sound effects for Pokemon.
Thankfully, the series’ classic turn-based battles are still present and correct. The menus are streamlined and simple, making it easy to swiftly select your moves and win battles. The only thing that caught me off guard was the fact that I found catching Pokemon gave me more experience than battling, usually due to bonus multipliers from nice throws and such.
That’s totally fine for me as I plan on aiming to complete the Pokedex, but what about players who only have a handful of favorites they want to catch? Catching gave me double and even triple the amount of XP that battling did at times, which seems oddly unfair.
Hopefully, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company tweak the numbers a bit between now and launch to give all players a balanced experience no matter their preferences. This is especially important considering the audience that the game looks to be aimed towards. I don’t believe that Pokemon Let’s Go is targeted towards everyone, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Pokemon Let’s Go Preview: E For Everyone?
Pokemon Go was such an unprecedented success that most likely no one could have predicted. It brought in so many new fans of the series and Pokemon Let’s Go seems aimed towards getting those mobile players to try out a console game, perhaps even for the first time or the first time in a long time. This is seen in the numerous connections to the mobile game and the focus on returning to the region featured in the original games. The idea of using this one game to convince someone who may have never played on a console before to purchase a Switch just for Pokemon Let’s Go may seem pretty Farfetch’d, but I don’t think so.
Think of it like this; millions and millions of players around the world caught onto the brief phenomenon that was Pokemon Go and played alongside their child, parent, brother, sister, loved one, friend, and so on. Pokemon Let’s Go feeds directly into that by allowing players to play cooperatively with someone else at any time, in a manner that will be a smart evolution of mechanics found in the mobile game.
That is such a brilliant design decision because it has the possibility to usher in millions of players into the Pokemon fold with an RPG-lite experience that they may have never had before. When generation eight arrives next year, they will be potentially ready for what is sure to be a more traditional and rich Pokemon experience. Until then, I don’t think that Pokemon Let’s Go is for everyone, but I do know for sure that it is for me.
