Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! Review

Elsewhere, though, Let’s Go shines – literally. There’s a huge emphasis on Shiny-hunting this time around, with some really fun new mechanics to get those off-colour variants to appear, and a swathe of post-game activities keep the fun going long after the Elite Four is toppled for the first time. Whilst the main campaign can be dispatched in ten or twenty hours, depending on how ruthless you’re being with skipping battles, it can carry on for much more than that after the credits roll.

Multiplayer:

A lot of the games ease can be attributed to Nintendo’s design philosophy that Let’s Go was designed as someone’s first Pokémon game. You can see that everywhere in the game, from its soft difficulty curve to the ability to hop in as a support character and help out player one.
In this mode you can walk around the Overworld, help out in battles and even throw extra balls when catching Pokémon. You can’t directly interact with anything however, or build your own team of battle monsters – instead you use one of your buddy’s. You’re here, as the name implies, simply as support – and it’s a smart way for parents to help younger kids without ever taking control away from them. It’s a great addition with a couple of curious caveats, but usually it works very well.

Battling in co-op makes nearly every fight a 2 on 1 affair, meaning that the simple game is made simpler still. My partner and I steamrolled everything with our combo of Eevee and Mew (we were a truly multi-typed powerhouse) but we had a blast doing so. Weirdly, the 2P mode is taken away when… engaging in double battles? Yes – when the game is finally offering a proper 2 on 2 mode, the second player is booted. The same goes for surfing, weirdly. If you’re on a route and hop into some water, 2P vanishes – and can’t even help out in battles out on the high seas. It’s moments like this – and annoying quirks where 2P constantly disappears and reappears in every scene transition, eating up good chunks of time with the animation – that left us scratching our heads. Regardless, I’m thrilled that this mode exists, and it really made the experience a wholly original one.

Presentation:

Let’s Go is a gorgeous game, taking the chunky artstyle of the original Gameboy games and bringing it to beautiful life in 3D. There’s plenty of tricks that show off these new visuals, including a wonderful function that allows any of the 151 (153, with a couple of cheeky additions…) to follow you on the overworld.

Most of the charm of the game, however, comes from Pikachu or Eevee respectively. They’re the stars of this show, and they appear often to endear you to their cute avatars. They give you gifts, ride on you as you explore Kanto, and demand you play with them, pet them and even dress them up. Do so, and you’ll be rewarded with an absolute powerhouse of a Pokémon – and a ridiculously cute relationship.

The music is also brilliant, with remixed tunes from the Gameboy games bursting beautifully with new life. I especially like the twisted, creepy Lavender town music – it was always standout, but here it works especially well.

Conclusion:

“Pokémon: Let’s Go” often feels like a game caught between generations, stuck in the past whilst desperately clawing forwards despite it all. At times, it straddles these two competently and offers gamers something nostalgic and fresh all at once. Occasionally, however, this balance wobbles. There’s plenty to love here, with some absolutely excellent additions and smart changes to the core formula of Pokémon. But sometimes, the unsightly parts of that formula rears its head unabated. I’m really hoping that the ‘Let’s Go’ spinoff remakes continue, because I’d love to see the Johto games appear in this style – I just hope that, if they roll around, Nintendo are willing to get a bit more risky with the tried-and-true stylings of the past.