Pokémon Moon - 3DS [Digital Code]

I've played Pokemon since it first came out (my favorites still being between OR/AS and X/Y) and Pokemon Moon doesn't live up to its predecessors in the same way. It gives you a new area to explore, and gone are the gyms of yesteryear. Pokemon Moon introduces you to Trials, something of which each island has. You get a good story and an antagonist that you love to hate and in terms of the "Team Rocket" of Moon/Sun, you have Team Skull which is probably the best part of the game.The Good-Team Skull: If you've ever watched One Punch Man (if you haven't, shame on you I recommend it highly. You're missing out on something purely amazing), then I could relate Team Skull to the Paradisers. A Punk (Punk being that they're punks, but also that they're punk... like the music and way of life) gang that doesn't want to work, they just want to kick back, fight Pokemon and have a good time. Ya boy Guzma is undoubtedly the best part of Moon/Sun.-The Legendaries: So, the poster children of the game are Lunala and Solgaleo, exclusive to Moon and Sun respectively. They've got a really cool story to them being legendary Pokemon, but they're (in my opinion) outshined by the Tapus and the Ultra Beasts. The Tapus are guardians of each island you visit throughout the game, and accept you as a trainer worthy to catch them after you beat the Alola League. (Yes, there is a Pokemon League, even though there aren't gyms. We'll get into that when I talk about the story) The Ultra Beasts are basically harbingers of destruction that come about in the story because of your main Antagonist. They look funky, but they have a sense of urgency that's explained well in the story that you NEED to either catch them or defeat them (and being Pokemon, who isn't gonna catch some crazy new Pokemon?)The Story: A quick synopsis without spoiling too much. You and your Mom move to Alola from Kanto to start fresh. You meet Professor Kukui and Lilly, who pull you into getting your first Pokemon (which are some of the better starters we've had in a while between Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio). From there you find out that Lilly has a special Pokemon called Cosmog, that has the poor, stupid name of 'Nebby'. After getting your basic Pokemon rundown of how to play and whatnot, then you travel between the four islands that make up Alola to complete your Alola Trials. Professor Kukui travels the world and has a dream of starting Alola's very own Pokemon League to bring in a new era of Pokemon to Alola. Along the way, Lusamine, President of the Aether Corporation brings the Ultra Beasts to Alola, and starts an end of the world scenario. It's got some good twists in the story that I didn't expect from Pokemon; nothing earthshattering (ala Would You Kindly?) but, still pretty great considering Pokemon.The Trials: The Island trials are spearheaded by a captain, and after you complete each trial, you do your Island Trial in which you face off against the Island Kahuna. In all reality, it's not your typical Gym, you complete the trial and face off against what's called a Totem Pokemon which is a superpowered basic Pokemon. The trials are a pretty good idea and bring about a fresh reinventing the wheel to Pokemon, but when you get to the brass tacks, the Islands themselves are just a big, long gym. So it makes it new while feeling familiar. Each captain is the dude you fight before you get to the Gym Leader (Hakuna)The Bad-Difficulty: Now, I know that Pokemon is technically for kids. But if you put Pokemon Red, for instance, next to Pokemon Moon it's night and day. In Pokemon Moon/Sun, you're pretty much handed everything on a silver platter. The entire thing feels rather dumbed down. By the end of the game it wouldn't be uncommon for you to have well over 1 million Pokedollars.-Alolan Pokemon: Part of me thinks this may just be 20 years worth of nostalgia, but the new "Alolan Pokemon" just look dumb. Part of what makes Pokemon cool is the Pokemon themselves look cool. While you have gems in the rough like Solgaleo, who looks cool as hell, you also have Pokemon like Meowth/Persian, Exeggutor, and so on that are just ridiculous.-Endgame: Yes. You still have the Pokedex to fill out, but after beating the League. I caught the Tapu Pokemon and the Ultra Beasts, and I wasn't enticed to go back for more. I bought Pokemon Red and played that to completion, including the dex.All in All:Should I play this one? With Pokemon Ultra Moon/Ultra Sun being out, I'd recommend those two over Moon/Sun. But, if you're like me and haven't missed out on a Pokemon game, then yes. At the end of the day, it is a good game. It's not the best Pokemon game by any means, but it does give Pokemon a nice, new, refreshing face while feeling familiar.

With each new iteration of the series, the difficulty level seems to keep going down. The "rival" (friend) in this game, Hau, is a joke. After your 3rd battle with him he is still only holding 2 pokemon to fight you. To make it worse, the "rival" now picks his starter pokemon to favor you, meaning that if you pick Rowlet, a grass/flying starter, he will go with Popplio, a water type, pick Litten (Fire) and he goes for Rowlet.What ever happened to challenging the players? If you truly played since Red/Blue (unlike some other reviewer here...) you would appreciate the game design that went into those games where you had to think (just a little) to get through some of the trainer/gym fights. Gary sure challenged you when he caught you off-guard heading out of a town, or suddenly appeared when your team was not fully healed, THAT was a good rival. In Sun/Moon they heal you before basically any battle you are about to have (not that you even need it). A good rival in the game makes you improve and think about your strategy. Now it is more of a button masher where you can send any pokemon to do the job, even if it is a bad match-up in terms of pokemon type. I get this is a game for children, but children were playing Red/Blue and there was no problem in throwing in a little challenge. The developers really missed out on the chance to finally add a difficulty option.The game looks great, as other reviewers already commented. The mechanics are perfect, everything is smooth but the battles are dull and extremely easy. Not much fun to be had there. Still, the basic Pokemon formula for collectors works well and offers some interesting new pokemon to catch.

This 5-star rating is only based on how I got the game. The actual game is kind of disappointing though. Unfortunately, the game is mostly cut-scenes and tutorial. If you are expecting a common Pokémon game, this game is not for you. Leveling up your Pokémon is so easy that you barely have to grind, which is the whole point of a Pokémon game. Cut-scenes happen way too often for my liking. One minute you are actually progressing, then a cut-scene happens. The game also holds your hand too much as well. There is a icon for where you need to go even though someone has already told you where to go. If you want a first experience into Pokémon and haven't played Gold/Sliver or Ruby/Sapphire, I highly recommend you start with one of those. Or save your money instead of purchasing Pokémon Sun or Moon (or Ultra Sun/Moon).

Pokemon Moon offers quite a bit of changes up to the long running monster raising series. Quite honestly if you turn off the experience share this is one of the most difficult pokemon game, not to say that it's hard like Monster Hunter or Etrian Odyssey. Poke Pelago is a great addition making it easy farm berries, raise stats, gather useful items and raise your pokemon affection in one easy place. The new pokemon have pretty unique type combinations and useful abilities that has the possibility to mix up the competitive battle seen. There are many other improvements, such as story, no HMs, etc. As for the negatives, there weren't that many complaints for me but here is what I disliked. The Alola region is relatively small and can be heavily segmented at times compared to the previous generations.

I admittedly haven't played Pokémon since Leaf Green and Fire Red so this review might provide some insight for the 20 something gamers that just got their hands on a 3DS. First let me say, wow. The improvements they've made to the graphics in this are amazing. I love the actual gameplay and the change up as far as boss battles go. The best part is the ability to free roam a little more than previous games. If you're a previous Pokémon fan from your childhood, it's a buy.