Pokemon X/Y Review

by SaikyoBro on Oct 23rd, 2013

Pokemon is something everyone can relate to. …well, not everyone, but a lot of people! Pikachu is one of the most iconic fictional creatures there is, the anime has been going strong for well over a decade, and every few years we’re treated to a new batch of Pokemon to add to the mix. For the record, I think Pokemon Black and White is the series’ strongest installment to date. For the first time in many years it didn’t just feel like another expansion pack to existing Pokemon, it felt like a clean slate! Not a single Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh Pokemon was to be found until after the completion of the main game. There were a total of 156 Pokemon to catch and not a single one was a familiar face. Not all of the designs were spectacular, but plenty of them were memorable and useful, making Unova really fun to explore. But the new Pokemon were just half of it; there were all kinds of new gameplay mechanics and additions to the battle system that made Black and White feel like a huge leap from Diamond and Pearl. Hoenn and Sinnoh felt like new adventures in familiar worlds, but Unova truly made you feel like you were doing something fresh and new entirely, despite the similar gameplay mechanics to previous installments. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Pokemon X and Y.

You start off with a choice between Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie. I don’t think they’re as cool and adorable as the classic Kanto starters, but I’d take Chespin and Froakie over Turtwig and Oshawott any day. The premise is the same as just about every other Pokemon game: you go around catching and raising Pokemon in a party of 6, you defeat 8 gyms, you stop some evil team along the way, and finally you take down the champion, successfully beating the game. X and Y are no exception! The pacing in the main story is a little weird…you do the first gym early on, then there’s a GIGANTIC gap between gyms 1 and 2. Another big gap between 2 and 3, but after that you breeze through the game very quickly. Instead of Team Rocket or Team Plasma or whatever, you’re introduced to Team Flare! Their designs are fun and quirky, but they’re about as cheesy and non-impactful as possible. I’m not saying I want Pokemon to be super serious, but Team Galactic from Gen 4 and Team Plasma from Gen 5 at least contained some semi-memorable characters and had a motive that made sense. I honestly don’t remember a single thing about Team Flare besides their funny outfits, while I could still probably tell you all about Cyrus from Team Galactic and N from Team Plasma. Those games didn’t exactly have super-engrossing stories, but they were certainly more engaging than the time I spent battling Team Flare.

Aside from the horribly lame villains, I only have a few other problems, but I’d say they’re much more significant; for one, the number of Pokemon introduced is VERY low compared to that of any previous gens. At only 68 new Pokemon, I seriously just couldn’t enjoy this game as much as I did Black and White. Half the fun is finding all these fun new designs and catching them, but that’s not really there in X/Y. With less than 70 new Pokemon introduced, I caught most of the new ones before I even beat the champion by just catching the new ones as I saw them. This made the post-game content seem really limited, as a big chunk of the incentive to keep playing the game for me is trying to catch as many of the new Pokemon as possible. This isn’t really fun when there are so few of them to catch. Props for one thing, though; there are only 3 new legendary Pokemon. The last few games had gone CRAZY with the new legendaries and it’s good to see them holding back this time around.

So the focus wasn’t really on new Pokemon, but rather on new gameplay mechanics; and boy are there a lot! First of all are the Mega Evolutions: about half-way into the game you’re given the ability to “mega-evolve” certain Pokemon. This allows them to transform into super-powerful states once a match. However, not every Pokemon got a mega evolution…in fact, only 26 did. The designs aren’t exactly incredible in most cases, either. You’re given at least 2 pokemon with the ability to mega-evolve, but any others you have to catch yourself (in addition to finding the proper mega stone to evolve them). It’s a cool idea I think, but I’m not sure how I feel about only a small handful of Pokemon (all of them from Gens 1-4) getting them. If they’re as powerful as they seem to be, then in competitive battling you may end up being forced to adopt one into your team just to compete. There’s also another addition that radically changes battle systems: the Fairy type! For the first time in over a decade, a new type is introduced. It’s pretty unique in that its only weaknesses are poison and steel, while it’s super strong against fighting and dragon types. Some weaknesses and immunities were also switched around between types, so battling is a lot different now than it has been in previous generations.

The game’s completely in 3D now, and it looks really good. Like, REAAAALLY good. The poorly animated Gen 5 sprites are a thing of the past with stylistic animated 3D models taking their place. They all have personality and cute little touches to them that makes them feel a lot more fresh than they would appearing as sprites for the sixth time. You can move in 8 directions and roller-skate around now, which speeds up transportation a lot. You can even customize your trainer’s outfit! You have some cool new features for raising your Pokemon, too: a “super training” mini-game (which is kind of monotonous to play but helps to raise specific stats for your Pokemon), and “Pokemon Amie””, which allows you to interact with your Pokemon in a Nintendogs-like pet simulator. It doesn’t really do anything, but damn, rubbing Mewtwo’s belly is pretty cool.

I enjoyed the game a lot, because, well, it’s Pokemon. There’s something about the series that just makes you feel like a kid again, exploring and trying to raise the best team possible. Playing through with different teams and experimenting is as fun as it’s always been, and trading and battling with friends both locally and online is a huge plus like usual. But something was…missing, this time. Black and White felt like a whole new adventure that added tons to the usual Pokemon formula, but X/Y just sort of takes that formula and refines it further. And that formula’s good, don’t get me wrong; it’s damn good. But introducing such few new Pokemon makes it feel really, reaaaally lame. Post-game content suffers tremendously in that there’s not as much to go and catch as there was in previous games, while seeing the same Caterpies and Pidgeys in the first areas of the game as you’ve been seeing for the last 15 years is just getting old. The addition of 3D graphics and the changes to the battle system do a lot to make the game feel like a big jump forward for Pokemon, but while these introductions are much appreciated, they don’t do as much to separate this game from previous entries as Black/White did. I understand that for a lot of people, the postgame content and replay value lie in training your Pokemon to their maximum potential and going online/playing competitively. For those people, this game is a lot of fun! But for those of us who don’t care to take the game quite as seriously and are just looking for a fun and fresh new journey with lots of cool looking creatures to capture, there’s not quite as much to be found here as expected.

All these problems said, there’s still a lot to like about Pokemon X/Y. It’s just hard to not set the standards a bit higher when the Gen 5 games tried to feel so fresh and different.

3.5/5

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