Pokémon Go review – nearly ten years on and still going strong

I was there the day the phenomenon began. It was July 6, 2016. I was in my early twenties and recall the hot sun beaming through my bedroom window as I eagerly watched Pokémon Go download on my phone. As a lifelong fan, I had been anticipating this day; little did I know that soon 232 million others would join me on this journey to catch ’em all.

If you weren’t there, or have somehow missed the Pokémon Go hype train, this title is a location-based AR mobile game that tasks you with venturing out into the world around you to catch different types of Pokémon. On the way, you can spin PokéStops to receive items, battle in raids with your friends, or take on the Team Rocket Go leaders for a challenge, among other things.

That’s a very surface-level explainer, so let me go into a little more detail about my favorite aspect of the game, collecting things. I’ve played Go casually every single day since launch, and outside of a regional exclusive or two, I’m only missing a small handful of the available ‘mons. However, if you want to really catch ’em all, you’ve got to consider picking up all of the shiny, shadow, purified, lucky, 100%, and size variants, which, despite maybe feeling a little impossible, is part of the game’s charm.

I think the in-game Pokédex does a great job of keeping tabs on absolutely everything, so if neat, organized methods of tracking tickle your brain in the same way they do mine, this collectathon is perfect. Yes, I’m also an Excel spreadsheet nerd, don’t @ me. The only issue I’ve had so far is regarding the aforementioned regional exclusives; Pokémon like Tropius, Torkoal, and the Tatsugiri forms are exclusive to different regions of the world, so without going on plenty of long-haul holidays or finding a friend to trade with, they’re very hard to add to your dex.

That slight annoyance doesn’t bother me all that much as a casual player, but if missing out on a Tropius sounds painful, I can see you putting this game down in frustration. I’d say the second largest aspect of the game is battling. These come in the form of Pokémon Go raids, max battles, fights with Team Rocket Go members, and the Go Battle League. I lightly dabble in this side of the game, as I’m much more into the collection side, but the bite-sized battles are pretty fun and don’t take up much of your time.

If you choose to partake in a raid, you get to pick a team of six Pokémon and team up with other trainers to defeat varying difficulties of ‘mons. There are one-star raids that feature easy enemies like Pikachu or Piplup, all the way up to five-star raids that generally house the toughest legendaries and can require a large group to defeat. Max battles are similar, but you can only take three Pokémon along with you, and they can sometimes be even more difficult than five-star raids.

I mostly battle against Rocket Go members as they drift past you in hot air balloons and offer some quick and easy rewards. Much like max battles, you can only use a team of three for these fights. The grunts are generally pretty easy, but if Pokémon Go’s Giovanni, Cliff, Sierra, or Arlo show up, you really need to curate your team and make sure you use your charged attacks at the right time.

Back when the game first came out, there definitely wasn’t as much to do as there is today, and some fans even seem to have the opinion that there are, in fact, too many Pokémon Go events. I personally don’t have this opinion, as I’m happy to dip in and out of the fun and not collect every single reward, but I can see how it feels like a lot to someone who wants to do every little thing.

Events can range from encounters with costumed Pokémon (my favorite thing), challenges that task you with completing missions such as catching a certain number of ‘mons or using different items, and extra difficult or sought-after raid battles. I feel like every few days I open the game there’s something new and fun to participate in on my silly little walks to the shop.

If you dabbled in the game many years ago, I recommend you hop back on from time to time to see the updated graphics, fresh-faced avatars, and new challenges to sink your teeth into. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s like a brand new game now, but it’s definitely improved a lot in the last nine years, and is great for casual players to dip in and out of.

Have you been around since day one? If not, you may want to grab some of these Pokémon Go codes for free stuff, or if location-based games aren’t your vibe, here are some of the other best Pokémon games you can give a try.