Pokemon GO is out today in the UK, and you can find our first thoughts here!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have likely heard of Pokemon GO, the recently released app that is taking every corner of the world by storm. If you’re in the UK, and haven’t yet downloaded the game prior to its official release here, well, now is your chance – it has released today!
I was cheeky enough to download the game when it first hit the internet, so I’ve been playing it solid for about a week. In its current state, the game seems basic, with a lot of potential there to build into – regardless of this, the game is incredibly addictive, especially for those of us (myself included) who grew up with Pokemon, and dreams of one day being able to catch them all and become that Pokemon Master. It’s no wonder then that in the US alone, it has become the most
The game is pretty self-explanatory; you walk around with the game open, and it vibrates every time you encounter a Pokemon that you then try and catch. You flick your finger across the screen, which throws a ball at the Pokemon, and you catch it (hopefully!). Other than a few Poke Stops and Gyms added to this finger flicking, that is the extent of gameplay. You can tap Pokestops for items such as Potions or more Poke Balls, whilst the Gyms serve as a way of holding territory for one of 3 teams; Red, Blue or Yellow. Whilst it is a nice idea to battle other players Pokemon, in reality this feature is a bit of a mess, as in my experience so far, keeping hold of a Gym for your team lasts little longer than 10 minutes before another team comes and takes it over, making the concept of Gyms to build up your Pokemon rather mute.
So far, the rarest of Pokemon have not yet been found, including the Legendary birds Zapdos, Articuno & Moltres, along with Mew & Mewtwo, with rumours that these are to appear at public events. I guess for the moment I’ll have to stick with catching Pidgeys. Hopefully in time, Niantic will release updates for the game, expanding on the gameplay in order to keep it fresh. This game is certainly worth trying, especially if you love Pokemon or walking around your local area, but as much as I’ve always wanted to be a Pokemon Master, and have all 151 Original Pokemon in my collection, I can’t see myself achieving that without a change to the game – and despite the incredibly huge success the game has had since its launch around the world, I’m unsure how long the phenomenon will continue as it is now.
By Matthew Timberlake
