Pokemon X & Y (3DS)

At the age of 8 I pretty much lived and breathed Pokemon like a lot of kids back in the day. I remember promising myself "I WILL LOVE POKEMON FOREVER!!"... and whilst I don't still wake up every morning eager to watch the TV show or admire my card collection, the sight of Pokemon will always release a powerful nostalgic wave. So what better game to treat my new 3DS to (admittedly amongst not much choice) than the new Pokemon game?!

Pokemon x/y vs Pokemon red/blue.

After playing Animal Crossing to death with my girlfriend, we preordered the new Pokemon with great anticipation. Not since Gold and Silver had we played the franchise - although I hear the games in between are almost identical? When the day finally came we loaded it up in excitement and, yep, that wave of nostalgia suddenly hit us as it all felt so familiar. Waking up in your mum's house. Meeting the team and your rival. Picking your starter Pokemon. Getting a buzz from your first pokemon evolution - which was especially exciting not knowing what the new ones would look like. Seeing the old 150 rendered in 3D was also a joy and I soon found Mr. Mime and Poliwhirl, my two childhood favorites (for unknown reasons. I guess the swirl was cool or something? Who knows!)  

 

Pokemon Amie feature - petting Pikachu

Too familiar? For me and my girlfriend certainly not. Whilst we probably would have been entertained purely by an exact copy of the originals with nicer graphics (if it's not broken why fix it?), there are enough new features to keep it feeling relatively fresh. There's a whole in depth petting/ mini games section which is great fun and transferable to the battlefield. A host of online features. You can customise your character and explore the huge Lumiose city (although I'm not keen on the strange camera angle when you visit). There are mega evolutions which are a little pointless but fun to see.

New features aside the foundations of the game are practically the same. However, it's such a winning formula who cares? Catching. Battling. Levelling up. Customising. Discussing with your friends. It still feels as entertaining as back in the Pokemon Hay days but with a fresh glossy shine.

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