First Glance

This new game from the popular ®Nintendo universe of Pokémon, creates a unique marriage between the familiar universe with an unexpected game type.

At the time of writing this, the game has been available and free to play on Nintendo switch for a just over 2 weeks. Releasing soon for mobile devices and hopefully allowing for cross platform play. As soon as you start the game up you’ll see some familiar faces. This is true regardless of which generation of Pokémon you can relate to. At this time there are 21 different Pokémon that you can choose to play as, each with different move sets. Matches take place in 1 of 4 different maps and range from 3v3 to 5v5. A great thing about this game is the “quick battles” are only 5 minutes long. This makes it very easy to pop into a game for a few minutes of fun!

What is Pokémon Unite?

This is a pretty straightforward multiplayer online battle arena, or “MOBA” type game. Originally I remember this game type gaining traction with games like “League Of Legends” and “DOTA”. The game type did eventually make it’s way into other genre’s like first person shooters with the huge success of “Overwatch”. Although the connection between these different games aren’t exact, there are very strong aspects that lend themselves to all of them. I really enjoy the lighthearted feeling that Pokémon Unite has captured though. The focus is basically to gather energy by capturing wild monsters or defeating other player controlled Pokémon. You then have to make your way down a lane and into enemy territory to slam dunk a ball of energy into one of your opponents goals. You gain experience from capturing monsters, defeating other players and by scoring goals.

Pokémon and their abilities

Pokémon are categorized into 5 types. Attacker, speedster, all-rounder, defender, and supporter. There is also the differentiation between either melee or ranged type attackers. Each Pokémon has a unique set of abilities which consists of a passive trait, 6 different activated abilities to choose from, and an ultimate. The caveat is that you can only choose 2 of the activated abilities per match. These different abilities come in different forms. A movement type which would deal damage but also move you in a chosen direction. Buffs to increase speed, damage, defense etc. Disables to restrain your opponent. There are several types of moves and the roster of Pokémon continues do grow, but I think you get the idea.

Before and after the match

The central hub where you can customize your avatar, purchase new Pokémon and increase the strength of your items. You can also customize which abilities you use for Pokémon so that it’s automatically chosen in the match. Each Pokémon can hold up to three items which are used to give you an extra advantage during a match. Items give you basic stat increases or passive abilities like automatically healing when outside of battle. As you can imagine these items are essential to your Pokémon’s chances of success and survival!

The issue

Unfortunately this is where the game takes a hit. It is free to play but you can pay for in-game currency. This can be used to purchase and upgrade held items. This gives the game an automatic stamp of “Pay to win”. in my time playing I haven’t felt that it’s unbalanced that often. When you play an online game there’s always a chance you’re going to run into a player that’s significantly better than you. In these case there’s also a chance you’ll run into someone that paid way to much money for a free game just to win.

In conclusion

As I said earlier, one of the coolest things about this game is how short and sweet the matches can be. Even if you have a terrible match where someone “paid to win” The match will only be at the longest 10 minutes. Then you’re off to another match! The other thing that’s great about this game is even though it’s played online there’s no voice chat. This makes it safe for younger audiences and less annoying for everyone that doesn’t care to hear people on the other end complaining about everything. Overall this is a fun and simple game. Easy mechanics make this accesible. It may not hold your attention for months but it is nice to hop into for a quick match!

Upgrade yourself!

Still using a Joy-con for your Switch gaming? Time to level up with one of these awesome Pokémon themed, wireless controllers. Like all things Pokémon? Of course you do! Check out these accessories! I’ll bet you never knew you needed a Pokémon themed terrarium did you?