Yet another Pokémon Go Review
It has been about a week since I downloaded the Pokémon Go! app and overall its a pretty solid game. I love that it encourages you to venture to the great outdoors and actually “hunt “ Pokémon. I’ll admit, I am not and never was a die hard fan of the shows or games, I was raised on G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters and He-Man. But that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the new mobile game for what it is, a fun interactive time.
Here are some of the things I do and don’t enjoy about the game.
- The crashing, the freezing and the loading.
One of my biggest frustrations is the crashing, freezing and the loading. I have to keep reminding myself I can’t get that upset, after all this game has just been released in Canada and this is a world wide issue. We’ve all read the article and heard the stories that the game crashes constantly. It is frustrating, sometimes the app crashes if I get a text, or call. It’s annoying if I’m in mid capture, hunting or powering up. The game doesn’t close, it just freezes and doesn’t let me do anything.
- Battery, Battery, where for art thou battery?
Aside from the freezing and crashing, the battery draining is BRUTAL. Pokémon Go! destroys the battery. I made sure to have a fully charged battery when I left home and within 3 hours it was dead, and basically a brick. Granted I had the app on and in the forefront the entire 3 hours, but it was still a shock to have a battery drain that quickly.
- Up and running
This gripe is a nuisance more than anything, but it’s frustrating none the less, I don’t like how the app has to be open and on the screen. This is really a big deal when it comes to incubating the eggs. When you are at the “PokéStops” you can collect items like, PokéBalls, Power Ups and eggs. To hatch these Eggs the game requires you to walk either 2, 5, or 10km, which is cool and one of the things I love about this game, but in doing so the game must be on and displayed. I walked to the bus stop, about a km away with the App on in the background, while on the phone and it didn’t register the walk.
- Wait what happens?
The number of Pokémon you can catch is capped, like every game. The most you can have at any one time is 250, so to manage your Pokémon you can “Transfer” them to the Professor. But what does that mean? You cannot get them back when you transfer them, but you do get the experience points for collecting them
All of my complaints about Pokémon Go can be fixed with updates. So hopefully they will be addressed in future versions. I have other issues but these are the big three in my opinion.
If you take away the app stability, the battery drain and the constant need for the app to run on the screen it’s still, as I said a nice solid game, and this is what I like about it.
- Geo-cashing for nerds.
The biggest unexpected surprise of the game is that it forces you to move. The game is limited in its enjoyment if you stay at home. You need to get out into the world and do things. That in itself is worth the “price of admission”. I love that I can give my phone to my 9 year old and tell him to go in the back yard and catch Pokémon, its fun to go on the hunt with him. I love that it also works as a pedometer and tracks your steps.
- Power, Evolution and Renaming
These little guys are pretty cool, you can rename them, power them up, evolve them and fight them and to me that’s pretty awesome. As I said, I’m not a Pokémon purist so I have no problem renaming them to match my personality. There is something gratifying about seeing an egg hatch and then powering them up, evolving them and turning them into a kick ass fighter. Its like having a kid without the temper tantrums and diapers.
- Anywhere, anytime gotta Catch ‘em All
The augmented reality is cool. Seeing various Pokémon in the “wild” is fun, and so far in my limited exposure it seems that the monsters are native to certain areas. In and around my house I see a lot of “Ratta”, “Pidgey”. and “Zubats”, but when I at the mall I saw “Spearow” and “Jynx”. Again forcing you to move around and get more from the experience. Since this is a location base app you have to be in a close proximity to have the ability to check into a gym or a PokéStop.
- Tough on battery, light on data
Though the app kills the battery, I find it is very data friendly. As I said earlier I was out for about 3 hours running errands and the app used a just over 40 MB, compare that to my pebble which uses over 70 MB. I will be honest with the location turned on I was worried that I’d max out my data in a matter of days but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how little data was used.
After all is said and done, I do like the app. Not sure if its one I will keep on my phone for an extended period, but it is a fun time. My son and I have been out catching Pokémon for most of the weekend and its created some great memories. I feel if they address some of the universal issues that people have addressed than the app could be amazing and change the way we use our phones. Have you played Pokémon Go? What do you think about it?
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