I will clarify this now this was the Pokemon game I grew up with so I will have nostalgia bias towards it.

I love this game so much back when it came out and now still today. The balancing feels a little off I will say with most trainers having 3-4 Pokemon even the Elite Four and final rival battle so it was pretty easy.

The story was a little weak up until after the 7th badge where something started happening (the Pokeball Factory, Ice Cavern and Power Plant still felt week but that's because the admins and Team Flare members were mostly nameless nobodies.) with Team Flare and Lysandre did more than just talk about the perfect world. That being said the finale of this arc and the game overall is beautiful especially the credits.

Gameplay wise we recieve the first proper gimmick in the form of mega evolution. Now this is probably one of my favourites because of the new forms but man is it criminally underused. It fits perfectly with the story discussing the bonds we share with the pokemon but we only go against mega evolved Pokemon 3 times in the main story which is a bit of a shame. I didn't really utilize it my self because my on my team only Pidgeot and Lucario could use it and they didn't get much use.

The environment of this game is pretty being a take on France and being the first mainline 3D pokemon game they captured the feeling of normal Pokemon in 3D well. My favourite city is probably Ambrette Town because of the ocean view and the verticality they made use of with the different sections of the town. It's impossible to talk about nice environments without bringing up the Pokemon Leauge. Has to be one of the best looking in the series probably only behind Black and White.

The new Pokemon in this game which there wasn't many are some of my favourites. You have pokemon like Greninja and Goodra being added in this generation but you do still get some uglier ones as per usual.

I have to say this may be one of my favourite Pokemon games of all time. I may have to make a ranking list because I give most of these 5 stars because I think most of the mainline games deserve 5 stars. But this one really does deserve to be towards the top.

Reviewed on May 22, 2024


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