I don't have any nostalgia for the original Pokemon Snap on the N64, but being fed up with the stiff, lifeless, recycled animations in the mainline Pokemon games was enough reason for me to get excited for this game. I wanted to see Pokemon in their natural environments, acting like actual, real creatures. In that regard, this game went above and beyond, with a few gameplay stumbles.

New Pokemon Snap is an on-rails shooter-styled game, except your weapon of choice is a camera and a few other contraptions. Interact with your environment/the Pokemon in creative ways, and take some creative pictures on a variety of stages. The "Illumina Pokemon" stages in particular even serve as unique "boss fights" to break up the pace.

The game's biggest stumbling points are the game's length, and its progression system. It's often unclear what criteria you need to meet in order to unlock the next stage. The game has a decent selection of stages, plus variants for each stage. You unlock these via increasing the "research level" for a specific stage, by playing it several times over. That's something you'll be doing naturally anyways, but it still feels like it takes FOREVER for a research level to go up.

Minor grievances aside, this game is excellent. It may not be for everyone, but it's breathed new life into a series that I had begun to think wasn't any good anymore. I like it.