[Game Review] Pokemon X and Y

Hello folks and folkettes, Eoin (aka Spudd) here to give you the review to a game I’ve been yuckin’ on about in almost every episode of the Podcast since it started. Pokemon X and Y, the long awaited Generation 6 of the loved handheld franchise. So lets get started and dive into the world of this Pokemon Review! I just have one question left. Are you a boy or a girl? Ahhh, Professor Oak you senile old coot~

We begin the game immediately being attacked by a Fletchling that appears to belong to your mother. You and your mother have moved to the Kalos region for a fresh start, and once again the father is missing even though many of the things in your room were bought by him it seems. Leaving your front door you meet two friends that will accompany you throughout your journey; Shauna who is a spunky and energetic young girl who is a bit of a ditz, and Calem/Serena depending on what gender you chose at the beginning of the game for your trainer. They bring you on to the next town where you meet Tierno and Trevor who bestow upon you your starter Pokemon and the Pokedex. Chespin the Grass type, Fennekin the Fire type and Froakie the Water type.

From there on you start your journey across Kalos and take on the challenges of the gyms as well as figure out the secrets of Mega Evolution which you gain access to after defeating the third Gym Leader in Shalour City. Throughout your journey you are also involved in a struggle against a new criminal organization known as Team Flare. While Team Flare’s plans involve gathering huge amounts of money and aiming to create a beautiful world, their methods and intentions for doing so are what makes them such a dangerous force to deal, moreso than they are on the surface.

Enough of the story, let’s talk about the game itself. In terms of battles of all sorts, it’s still the same old formula for Pokemon. Single battles, double battles, triple battles and rotation battles, however now in glorious 3D! Every Pokemon has their own little personality in battle, and it shows during attacks. When they do special attacks, physical attacks and status attacks, each one prompts a new animation that can either be cool or awesome, to okay and standard. Two new battle styles introduced into the game are Sky Battles and Inverse Battles. Sky Battles involve Pokemon in your party that fly or have the abiltity Levitate to participate in them. However, there are some exceptions to this such as the new bird Pokemon Hawlucha and the classic Gengar, who cannot Sky Battle due to standing on the ground. Inverse Battles are an interesting twist but nothing amazing, reversing the element typings so rather than Fire being strong against Grass, it’s the other way around. Horde Battles are also new but are not very common, and involve the lead Pokemon in your party being ambushed by 5 opposing Pokemon that are much lower level than other Pokemon in the area.

Along with the brand new region of Kalos comes 69 brand new Pokemon, the least of any Pokemon thus far but they make up for it with quality. I honestly can’t say there’s a Generation 6 Pokemon I dislike completely. There’s some ‘Mehs’ and ‘Its okay’, but not utter dislike like I do towards some from previous generations. To be fair, a lack of Pokemon is fine considering the jump to full 3D Pokemon game so honestly it doesn’t matter too much for me. To account for their only being 69 brand new Pokemon, you have a massive 450 Pokemon Pokedex before updating to the National Dex, a catchable Mewtwo in Post-game and depending on your starter you can encounter one of the three Kanto birds; Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.

Pokemon-Amie is a feature I have found myself putting hours into as it’s just exceptionally fun to build bonds with your Pokemon by petting, feeding and playing games with them. It also offers up plenty of reasons to do it, as it gives Pokemon some gains in-battle. An increase in experience earned, the chance to survive fatal hits and chances to make itself remove status ailments like Paralysis.

Super Training is a form of EV training that can be done without needing to battle or requiring particular items in advance to boost them. It involves shooting soccer balls into small nets and earning stat boosting punching bags. Often it takes about 30 minutes per stat to boost, taking around an hour per Pokemon to max EV training. It’s not all that fun, but it’s easy and is a nice enough time sink.

Now, in terms of the bad parts of the game as far as I’m concerned. The Experience Share is the first offender. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the new Experience share, but I hate how early you receive it. Beat the first gym leader, the game essentially becomes super easy mode. When I went against the Elite Four in my first playthrough, I had a near full team of level 75+ Pokemon, when the Pokemon League was more levels 62-68 or so. Personally when I restart my file, which will be soon (after transferring my best Pokemon to a friend of mine) I’ll likely be leaving the Exp share turned off until after either the third or fourth Gym has been beaten.

The other bad part is the post game, and the lack of it. You gain access to one new area that holds the Friend Safari, Generation 6’s Safari Zone but based on your 3DS friend list, and the Battle Maison. You gain access to catching Legendary Pokemon like Mewtwo and a Kanto bird, along with the Z Legendary located deep within the Terminus Cave. Last but not least is the hunt for the Mega Evolution stones, which can only be done between 8pm and 9pm every day, and thats... essentially it. There isn’t much left to the Post-game, but I am willing to forgive it simply for everything else that has been delivered through the game.

I for one found this to be my favourite Generation of Pokemon by far, more so than Generation 3 which had been my favourite until last weekend. But now, time for the Good, the Bad and the Verdict.

The Good:

--3D Pokemon! Amazing to finally have it in a handheld game rather than only having it be available on console games.

--Pokemon Amie and Super Training are worthwhile and welcome additions to the Pokemon franchise.

--Team Flare continue the trend of interesting criminal organisations in Pokemon that take things one step further for how devastating they could be towards the world itself.

--If you don’t speed through the game and enjoy everything to do with it, you can easily get 35+ hours played before even reaching the Pokemon League.

The Bad:

--Experience Share is obtained far too early in the game.

--Lack of Post-game content means it’s easy to get bored.

The Verdict:

--The small bad parts aside that I personally had issues with, they bare detract from how good the game felt. Defeating the Elite Four and the Champion with a team I grew to love thanks to Pokemon Amie, and the moment where I actually got upset when the Champion’s Tyrantrum took down my Mega Aerodactyl. Playing this game has been a joy, and personally this is my favourite Pokemon game now (at least until Pokemon Z comes out ;P). In my opinion, this game, despite the very minor flaws I have with it, wholeheartedly deserves a 10 out of 10.

Thank you for reading my long rambling about my love of this new Pokemon game, and I’ll see you guys next time!

Eoin "Spudd" O' Mahony