The Pokémon franchise champions evolution, whether it be the creatures themselves
or the nature of the games that we see on a nearly annual basis.
While the series is most commonly centered around portability,
the most recent entry, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!
brings together elements from its handheld pedigree
and attempts to present them as something also suited to a console experience.
It’s a hybrid dynamic that taps into the very essence of the Switch hardware.
It’s clear that Let’s Go wants to appeal to newcomers, and despite it being a throwback to the original games,
it does introduce several new features.
The inclusion of motion controls to catch Pokémon is something we haven’t seen before,
let alone the key decision to upend the very nature of random encounters
that were a core tenant of previous entries.
These new alterations certainly breathe new life into Pokémon.
Simulating the act of tossing a Poké Ball is really fun.
The precision of the motion controls is more than passable with only a few misread inputs here and there.
Meanwhile, being able to see which wild Pokémon you will encounter from the field screen
is a feature that some of us have wanted for a long time.
It appears to be a perfect combination that alleviates the slow and dull nature of fighting
in old-fashioned random encounters.
Going hand-in-hand with these features is the fact that
you can only play this game with a limited number of control options.
When undocked, you tilt the Switch around to aim at a Pokémon
and then hit a button to toss your ball.
In docked mode, you can only use a single Joy-Con or the Poké Ball Plus, which is sold separately.
There is no support for the pro controller, nor can you use the Joy-Cons together.
Using a single Joy-Con or the Poké Ball Plus feels foreign at first.
The natural inclination is to want something in your other hand,
and navigating with an analog stick on the same side as your primary button inputs isn’t common.
However, it does come together after a short time.
It also offers up some surprising benefits, like being able to play comfortably while lying down.
One other nice advantage of keeping the Joy-Cons separate
is the ability for a second player to quickly jump into your game.
With the shake of the Joy-Con, another player appears on screen and can join you in exploring environments.
More importantly, they can also assist you in battles and capturing wild Pokémon,
leading to a lot of fun situations only possible when playing with friends.
Even mid-battle, a second player can drop in to help you out of a tight spot.
You can also simply do this solo if you please.
Pokémon: Let’s Go isn’t necessarily challenging outside of a few specific battles,
especially if you are well prepared with a good stock of items.
However, adding an extra trainer is a nice option for those who might need a little help.
Another new change for the series is getting to see the world of Pokémon brought to life on a console.
With that comes higher expectations for the visuals,
and while Let’s Go certainly looks nicer on the big screen,
it isn’t much better than taking the recent 3DS games and rendering them at a higher resolution for the Switch.
Everything looks clean, but details are very simple with a lot of flat textures.
The faces of many characters suffer the most and come off looking very cheap.
The animations for almost every humanoid character are so stiff that they’re borderline robotic.
On the other hand, the Pokémon animations look much better.
The detail and intense effects of their various moves really dazzle.
Normally after a few hours, we prefer to turn off the battle animations to speed up combat, but
it took much longer this time around to hit that point.
Despite any assertions to the contrary,
Pokémon: Let’s Go is essentially a re-imagining of the Gen 1 games.
You travel around the Kanto region along familiar routes to familiar locales
to fight the same gym leaders veterans know very well by now.
It takes liberties here and there and obviously isn’t exactly a beat-for-beat recreation,
but it relies heavily on nostalgia at nearly every turn.
This game certainly recaptures much of what made us fall in love with Pokémon in the first place,
and it’s a solid RPG.
Yet, for all the streamlining and changes it makes in attempt to be a better game,
Let’s Go’s greatest fault is that it’s still stuck in the past.
Yes, it’s easy to simply say these games don’t change very much from installment to installment,
but that type of criticism usually misses the mark.
Instead, what holds this game back is its failure to cut out, or at least evolve, some of its worst vices.
You can only go through Team Rocket’s headquarters or some trainer-infested route so many times
before you question what you’re really getting out of this.
The bigger issue here is that these encounters offer little more
than remedial battles that hardly require any real effort to succeed.
That’s not to say being hard would make it better.
It’s just that Pokémon: Let’s Go, like some of its predecessors,
doesn’t really encourage you to aspire to the series’ motto of "Gotta Catch ‘Em All."
Instead, you usually find yourself with a starter Pokémon
that quickly becomes so overleveled and overpowered
that even ineffective moves take out opponents in one shot.
Obviously, if you are so inclined, you can spend a lot of time mixing, matching, and raising your Pokémon
to tap into the mentality of building a strong team to counter what lies in front of you,
but it only goes so far in a game that clearly strings you along an intended path.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though.
Let’s Go still features some light puzzle solving here and there to mix things up,
and there are a few opportunities to go down slightly different routes.
There are also a handful of optional objectives, some from in-game characters
who will give you worthwhile rewards like a new Technical Move,
and others are off-the-path locations that may house rare Pokémon you would otherwise never see.
Let’s not forget that between battles you can simply go into the menu
to play with your starter Pokémon, whether it be Pikachu or Eevee.
Petting a cute Pokémon never gets old,
and it’s hard to feel anything but pure happiness in these moments.
Sure, some will pass it off as a gimmick, but for those with a gentle soul,
it’s an absolutely precious addition that needs to be expanded to every other Pokémon in the game.
One other fantastic new feature is the ability to have any Pokémon come out of its Poké Ball
to join you on-screen as you travel.
Some of these creatures will trail behind you, while others can be mounted and ridden.
All of them will occasionally alert you to hidden items you would otherwise miss,
and a few of the mountable Pokémon will increase your ground speed, so
there’s plenty of incentive to keep your pals out and about.
Pokémon: Let’s Go features a bit of post-game content,
but it’s not as significant as in past games.
There’s an added bonus tied to one classic objective,
and you can rebattle any of the gym leaders or the Elite Four again,
though this time they’ll have stronger Pokémon at their side.
Perhaps the most intriguing and appealing post-game feature
is the option to take on trainers who are masters of a single type of Pokémon.
It’s a one-on-one battle against them using your own raised version of that Pokémon
with special rules like prohibiting items.
They’re all set to an extremely high level,
and your opponent’s Pokémon can use any move that it can possibly learn.
There is one last small disappointment with this entry: the online functionality.
The option to trade and battle online is here, but it comes with one very serious restriction;
you can only battle and trade with registered friends via a link code system.
Both players must input the same password on their screen,
and then they will be matched up together to battle or trade.
There is no option to battle with random people online, and the game is not compatible with the Pokémon Bank.
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! does introduce several good new features, but
it fails to address some long-running issues.
Though it’s nice to see Kanto brought to life again in this fashion,
especially with some really nice new arrangements for the classic soundtrack,
the game relies too heavily on nostalgia.
It succeeds in making Pokémon more accessible than ever,
but aside from the shift away from random encounters, it doesn’t take enough risks.
This is a good entry point for newcomers to the series, but it ultimately leaves veterans yearning for more.
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