Pokémon Moon Review

Alola trainers! Welcome to a new generation of Pokémon. How does this new generation of Pokémon stack up to the previous games? Does the game live up to the hype?

As with all Pokémon games in the beginning you will be able to choose a starter Pokémon. You will can choose  Rowlet, Litten, or Popplio. Rowlet is the grass/flying type, Litten is the fire type, and Popplio the water type. In this game they made a few notable changes from the previous generations. The biggest change made is there are no longer any gyms for you take on. This game features Island Trials for you to challenge. These Trials feature different tasks for you to accomplish, some will have you battle mysterious Pokémon in the water, others will have you search a jungle for specific ingredients to draw out a Totem Pokémon.  While these trials may be different then the gyms , they still  feel rewarding. After you beat all the trials an island has to offer you will be tasked to take on the islands Grand Trial. The Grand Trial is like a traditional Pokémon battle, you will face off against the islands Kahuna. After beating each Kahuna you will eventually be able to take on the elite four.

Another new feature, the Ultra Beasts, play a big part in the story. While on your journey to complete the trials you will encounter these strange creatures. The Ultra Beasts appear from alternate dimensions and are incredibly powerful. The character designs for the new Ultra Beasts are vastly different then what we have seen before. The designs look  “alien” to help reflect the fact that they are from another dimension. You will be asked to track down the beasts later in the game. To capture the Ultra Beasts you are given a new Pokéball type called a Beast ball.

A welcome change to the games is the elimination of the HM’s. In the past players had to have Pokémon on their team that knew moves such as surf, and strength to get past obstacles. The problem with this is that you would often need to leave your strongest monsters behind in a PC so you can use the required move to get past any obstacles. This could hinder your team’s performance in battle. Thankfully that was changed in this game. Early in the game you will receive a device that will allow you to call ride Pokémon to your aid. They will let you smash rocks, surf, fly ect so you can get to your next destination on the map.

The battle system is mostly the same however there is a new type of attack that has been added. Z-moves make their debut in this game, these attacks are extremely powerful and can often kill an opponent in one hit. The Z-moves can only be used once per battle and to use them the Pokémon must be holding a Z crystal plus know a move related to the crystals type(ie the Firium z crystal only works with fire type moves). There are also unique Z crystals for a few specific Pokémon like the event Snorlax with the Snorlium Z crystal. The Z-moves were a nice touch that added to the game. It made me feel like I was performing a special finishing move to take out the other Pokémon. The only issue is they tend to make some battles too easy, however they did add a few restrictions for the Z- moves so you can’t abuse the system. Battles are also made easier for new players. They now will let you see how effective your move set is compared to the opponent if you encountered a the Pokémon species before. In addition to that they also added a new feature to wild encounters. In wild battles with Pokémon the wild animal will sometimes call for help and another wild Pokémon could potentially appear. While this is a neat feature, it can get old sometimes while playing.

A fun new challenge is the Battle Royale, this is similar to the battle frontier in the past games. The Battle Royale will have you face off against 3 other trainers all at the same time. The winner of each match is determined by how many Pokémon the player beat, and how many you have remaining. Each trainer is only allowed to bring in 3 different Pokémon each. After each match you will be given BP( Battle Points) that can be redeemed for prizes.

As with all the Pokémon games there are exclusive Pokémon in each version, for instance to get the legendary Pokémon Solgaleo you will need to trade with Pokémon Sun. This isn’t anything new and most players will be used to this by now. This is of course part of the fun of the games.

If you’re a fan of Pokémon already chances are you are probably playing the game already. If you are new to the series or maybe haven’t played the games in a long time this is definitely worth checking out. There are fun new twists and changes to the formula that keep the game interesting. Old mechanics that burdened the player have been replaced by far better systems. The only change I did not care for was the call for help feature, other than that everything is great. Overall while it is still similar to previous generations, Pokémon Moon changed enough to keep the experience fresh. It is for these reasons that I am giving Pokémon Moon a 9/10.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.