REVIEW: Pokémon X

As your Pokémon level up they want to learn new moves. The game will ask you if you want to let the Pokémon learn its new move by forgetting an old move, or forgo the new move all together. To do this you view the five moves your Pokémon has to pick from and select which you would like to forget. Since I tend to like moves that do damage and not ones that wreak havoc on the stats I usually forgot those types of moves and kept the attack ones. I did have a secondary group of Pokémon that I used from time to time and would allow them to keep some non-attack moves, just in case I ever needed them.

Aside from leveling up through experience gained in battle, you can also give your Pokémon better stats using the Super Training feature. I enjoyed doing the training, it was set up nicely, and was fun to do. After you do a training session, your Pokémon will find a punching bag. They can also find these randomly if you have the training screen pulled up on the bottom screen of your 3DS. The punching bags offer you fun ways to gain smaller stat boosts than the training exercises do. Tap the punching bag on the bottom screen, and watch as your Pokémon attacks it. Once you have used the punching bag enough, which varies based on which size bag you are using, your Pokémon will hit it one last time, and your stat will increase. You can use the training features to make your Pokémon fully trained and ready for battle!

There were a few times throughout the game, at a Gym or near the end when I had to level my Pokémon up, or use the Training feature to get through a battle or two, but, for the most part, I kept my Pokémon leveled up enough, and kept enough items on-hand that the game didn’t give me much trouble. There were a few times when I thought the game was a bit too easy, but then I realized I had leveled my Pokémon up a bit more than the wild Pokémon I was encountering.

The 3D feature is utilized during battle only, and looks really good. It’s fun to see your Pokémon “pop” in 3D as they unleash their attacks. The battle animations look great, as well. Everything runs smoothly, and the animations are a joy to watch. Sometimes, after seeing a move over and over, you can grow quite tired of it, but this didn’t happen to me with Pokémon X. I enjoyed watching them each time to see how much of an impact it would have on the opposing Pokémon.

If you have read any of my reviews in the past, you know that I have a weird approach to music in a game. I listen to it enough to know if I like it or not, and then I put headphones on with whatever music fits my fancy at the moment. I did this some with Pokémon X, but I found myself keeping the game music turned up more often than not. It was kind of light and fun, and kept me in the Pokémon mood as I played! The beeping sound when your Pokémon are very low on health is super helpful if you don’t pay as close attention to your stats as you should!

I’ve not caught all of the Pokémon yet, but I am confident that I will return to the game to see what Pokémon I missed out on– the ones I couldn’t catch because the Pokémon I was using were too leveled up, and the ones I have not seen at all for whatever reason. Anything I spend around 40 hours playing, and am still willing to go back to to finish things up, or just experience everything the game has to offer, is worth the $40 price tag, in my opinion.

Pokémon X, when looked at as a stand alone game and not part of the Pokémon series is, quite simply put, fantastic. The game has this cool flow that keeps things moving along, paths that are set up where you need to wander around a bit, and can find new Pokémon, but not so much that you feel lost. There are plenty of fun things to do in addition to the main story. Most things were explained well enough that I was able to jump right in with confidence that I was utilizing every tool available to me to enjoy the game.

Overall, I am really glad that I was drafted into playing Pokémon X. I set aside my reservations as soon as I started playing, and I enjoyed nearly every second spent with the game. Being that I had no experience with the series, and was able to pick it up and jump right in, understand everything that was going on, and not feel lost or like I had missed out on something, I would definitely recommend the game to those who have not yet experienced this wonderful series. I have even thought about going back and playing the older games, sometime in the distant future when I’ve got the time. Which would you recommend I start with?