Videogame review: Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO is a video game of the adventure and augmented reality genre that was developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. This is a game that is usually free, however some things can be purchased for the player to advance quickly in the adventure and get a high level in a shorter time. As we all know the story and the objective of this game is like the Pokémon saga which is to look for different characters to fight against them and thus pass the different missions that the game presents us; that is to say, we can define this game in a few words as Catch, take care and even fight in the real world. This is a very entertaining game because as I said we must move around a city and various places to meet pokemon and other players in the real world, something that was quite innovative at the time. A game that brings us field missions, raids, real weather, community days to share with various people in our city or close environment, the shinys and now the exchanges the game is at its best, the concept of the game is simple go out to the street to capture pokémon and make them strong to fight in gyms, conquer and leave them in these, plus other things that make this game is quite entertaining and interesting.

Niantic is an American software development company based in San Francisco, California, known for developing and publishing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon GO. It takes its name from a whaling ship that arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. The company was created in 2010 by Keyhole founder John Hanke as Niantic Labs, as an internal Google 12 startup before becoming an independent company in October 2015.

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Starting with the gameplay of this game, I can tell you that it consists of a player searching for pokémon and trainers in a real city. The player must walk the streets of his city to find a variety of pokémon of various rarities, from the most common to the rarest. The player is shown a map where he can see the different locations of the city, who are the trainers to which he can challenge and also the pokeparadas that allow to know museums, art installations, monuments and historical places, among others, being the pokeparadas or Pokéstops something that is interesting in the game. In general terms I can tell you that Pokémon Go in terms of gameplay is a very interesting concept which is augmented reality but it is inaccurate although when you catch a Pokémon on the street it gives you some satisfaction and reminds you of the first time you caught a Pokémon from a Nintendo game.

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As we all know the game is for Android so it can be used by many people in the world or at least it was so in the first year the game was released. As I said before the game uses augmented reality so that trainers can capture pokemon and form their team. By using the GPS of the cell phone the game will notify when we are close to a pokémon or another trainer. While with the use of the camera to find the pokémon we can see it in a virtual image and so we can use our pokeball to try to capture it. As for the resources of the game we have the pokemonedas that serve us to be able to exchange them for other resources that will congratulate the player the adventure within the game.

The mechanics of this game is based on the player must move through a city where he is in real life, where we see streets, squares and water mirrors, the place where we find both trainers and pokemon. The trainers are represented by an avatar which can be female or male. The most important thing we also see in this game is the variety of menus among which are a menu where we see all the player profile, a second menu which is listed as the main menu which in turn is divided into Pokédex which is where we have all the pokemonones we have acquired, Pokémon as its name suggests shows us all our team of captured pokemon, Shop which is where we can buy with our pokemonedas, Bag, Fight which is the game mode where we fight with other players. A game that is quite complete in terms of gameplay, game mechanics and resources that we can find in this distinguished video game.

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Graphically it is one of the things that I am not so pleased with because I like games with more graphical details, however for the style of the game I think it is good. The game lacks a bit of animations, they are quite discreet. The scenarios do look good, but as I said they don't have a lot of details. The gyms are used to compete against other pokémon and the centers are used to get pokeballs and other items. Another thing I didn't like is the lack of sound effects. However, both the modeling and the artistic part of the characters and pokemon are very good. In short Graphically I find it decent, just can not ask for more, are the basic designs of Pokémon and are well without any failure, and the map and the character does not look bad, the animations are also decent and little more to say, the latter being what most disappointed me as I expected a little more from the developers of the game.

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The sound could be improved quite a bit, the music is very Pokémon, and personally I like it, but the sound effects are very basic for my taste as I am fascinated by the best in the different sections of the games, and most of the sounds of the pokémon sound like robots something that usually disappoints many players, only the Pikachu sounds good. But otherwise it is fine in this regard.

In conclusion, Pokémon GO is a game that lacks many things but in the part as a social phenomenon was splendid and very nice, in addition to the gameplay that from my point is the best of the game, as players we must move around the real city with the use of our smartphones to live the best adventure of Pokémon. The gameplay and mechanics of the game is quite simple and variety to the liking of the players. Now the technical part and sections both graphic and sound is not the best of the game, some things like but others are very simple or basic from my point of view. The best thing about this game is that it allows us to make social life and even helps you to exercise because you will have to walk km and km to find everything full of pokemons. Finally I am proud of Pokémon GO because thanks to this game, people who were not interested in the franchise have been able to contemplate the greatness of it. For what I said above is that I give a 9.5 to the gameplay and a 6.5 to the graphics, a 7 to the sound and other aspects an 8.

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For all the above, I give a 7.5 out of 10 to Pokémon GO. It is always important to remember that my reviews and ratings are from the point of view of a normal user or gamer and not a professional videogame critic.