Victor Parker

Considering this game lived in a time before wii sports and after Mario kart 64, the game lives up to exceptional standards. This game was my childhood and as a child I found the story and the challenge this game poses as something lacking in many Pokemon games today. The dark twist on the Pokemon world also gives the game a grittiness that makes the game more adult while still catering for the Pokemon lover inside. A criticism I often hear about the game is the lack of Pokemon, however I would disagree. This is not designed to follow the generic “got to catch them all” code and instead places you in the shoes of Wes on a very personal and predictable journey. Since this is not a generic Pokemon game, there is a lack of wild Pokemon, and instead the only Pokemon you can gain are stolen from trainers when you find that their hearts have been darkened. This gives an interesting narrative of having to purify these Pokemon and ultimately gives the story more of a “saving the world a step at a time” feel. Because of this, although there are noticeably few Pokemon to catch and use, the journey you go on to purify and utilise all these Pokemon means you get a chance to grow fonder of Pokemon you would have otherwise thrown into storage and grow a stronger emotional attachment to them. Even from the start there is a sense that your Espeon and Umbreon have a story and a close connection to your character. In regards to quality, it’s obvious that the character models haven’t aged well, although saying this the Pokemon models seem polished retrospective of the time and come to life with their beautiful animations. Playing Pokemon Sword recently, you notice how far backwards the Pokemon series has gone in animations and even camera views. From starting Pokemon Colosseum again in 2020, the first thing I notice is the Ariel camera with a realistic sway and very human zooms in and out from what is going on. Paired with the animations that would be fit for a NEXT GEN Pokemon game and you wonder why Game Freak didn’t take inspiration from this in games going forward. If you haven’t played this, pick it up before it’s price inflates too high. It’s a worthwhile experience and seems a lot more playable than the game boy games in the 2020s. And let’s be honest, 2020 needs a pick me up and this game can fill that hole with abundance.