Pokemon Go (iOS and Android) Review | Video Game Thoughts.

There is one thing I need to say before I start the review. I wrote the script for this video over the summer, which means there might have been updates to the game in the meantime that changed aspects I talk about. Okay, with that said, I can start the review.

I really didn't think I would enjoy Pokemon Go, largely because the fun I get from Pokemon games is the adventure in a new world and battling Pokemon competitively now that I know how to, which isn't applicable to Pokemon Go. And yet, I had a blast playing this game and seeing Pokemon in real life! It's one thing to fight Pokemon in a patch of grass, but it's another to see a Pokemon in your own kitchen.

I love the surprise of being on the bus and seeing a Pokemon appear on the map. The Pokemon themselves also look just how they should. If the Pokemon weren't animated well, that would have hurt this game so much. This game relies on showing semi-realistic versions of Pokemon in our real world, so if the Pokemon looked or moved even slightly incorrectly, it would have damaged the game a lot.

Fortunately, the Pokemon behave and move in ways that are true to the original video games. It's great to have the camera be able to take pictures of the Pokemon in the real world. The Augmented Reality aspect really made the idea of Pokemon come alive in a way I hadn't really expected.

Granted that turning off Augmented Reality makes capturing easier, which seems contradictory and I don't understand why they made Pokemon move faster with the Augmented Reality on because that only incentives players to turn off the Augmented Reality, which is a major part of the fun of Pokemon Go.

I also had a blast seeing all the locations chosen as Pokestops. However, some Pokestops added seem intentionally vulgar, and that needs to be eliminated from a game that appeals to children. I don't know if these were added by player request or not, but they aren't family friendly.

This and the design of some characters were the things I thought Pokemon Go did the worst. That said, some places were just normal stores, but other Pokestops were actual landmarks I didn't even know existed. This also made it feel like my world was the world of Pokemon, because visiting these historic locations also helped me in the game.

That's really the most important positive aspect of Pokemon Go, actually finding and catching Pokemon in the real world, and to be fair, this aspect was incredibly well done. The developers deserve full credit for making catching Pokemon in the real world as fun as it sounds.

This concept could have easily been done badly, from how Pokemon appear on the map to how they were animated while you try to catch them, but this was all done incredibly well. As a free to play game with in-app purchases, I think Pokemon Go does a great job of balancing free gameplay with purchases.

There are plenty of items that can help you, including Pokeballs which are necessary for the main function of the game that is catching Pokemon. You can purchase these items, but you can also get them for free by going to Pokestops. Which items you get when you go to a Pokestop are random.

You can keep going to the same Pokestop, though you need to wait a few minutes before returning to a previous Pokestop for more items. I think this system works quite well. If you can't wait, you can simply pay and get the items you want. Or you can walk around and go to Pokestops, and that will refill your inventory.

I think this is fair and that it shows respect for gameplay, something that occasionally is missing in cellphone games designed to keep you spending money rather than designed to be good video games. The only problem is that I've heard there are places where Pokestops are relatively few, and in that case, the game rapidly becomes unbalanced and focused more on forcing you to pay.

I feel Pokemon Go relies so much on finding Pokemon that it didn't develop enough what you do once you have captured the Pokemon. With battling, it's mostly swiping to avoid attacks and tapping to attack. Given that Pokemon has a robust battling system with a variety of statistics and attacks, I thought more of this could have been implemented.

I don't expect Pokemon Go to be a replica of the Pokemon main games, but I did expect it to be more that simply catching Pokemon of the same species to get candies to evolve that Pokemon. There is some strategy, for instance by looking at which Pokemon to evolve by the moves they know .

I just wish there was more to the process. In terms of other problems regarding Pokemon Go was the problems with the servers. It was just too easy to be thrown out of the game and then not be able to play until you managed to log in again. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to play for an entire day.

I really think the servers should have been a bit stronger to deal with the player base, though admittedly I don't know if anyone expected Pokemon Go to become as popular as it did. That said, because Pokemon appeals both to older and younger players, I see a potential here for problems.

I think in regards to Pokemon Go, especially because of its emphasis on GPS, parents need to be careful of what their children do. For example, there are two types of in-app purchases to make Pokemon appear so you don't have to walk around. There's the item called incense, and it makes Pokemon appear at your specific location.

There are lures, and these make Pokemon appear at a physical location not just for your system but for anyone around that location. Usually this second mechanic is a wonderful thing, allowing people to help each other. It creates a sense of community.

But I've also looked at the map and seen lures active on the game map late at night and I wonder if there was some bad purpose to bring kids or anyone to a specific location late at night. Because of this, Pokemon Go definitely needs to put safeguards in place for younger kids, parents need to be very attentive to their child's cellphone use, and people of all ages need to use common sense.

This is not a bad video game, but like many technologies it can be used for harm, and we can't allow that. Now, I have a Pokemon Trainer Club account, which you can use to create your account. But you can also use your Google account, and some problems there seemed to be that instead of granting Pokemon Go limited access to your account, this application seemingly granted Pokemon Go very broad permission to access your account and private information like where you live or credit card information.