So back in February -- just as the glow of Pokemon Black and White was beginning to fade, my younger son caught wind of Pokemon X and Y and he has been OBSESSED waiting for it to come out. I pre-ordered it for his birthday and POKEDAY is finally here…
I have NEVER EVER waited in line for anything in my life… until how. Our local game store was open at midnight to hand out Pokemon to the die-hard poke maniacs. Fortunately (for a number of reasons) the lines for the new Pokemon games were nothing like the throngs you hear about for the Harry Potter series or the iPhones (I don't do well in crowds and frankly, I'm glad more people are excited about reading a book than playing a video game … though that is probably just THIS particular video game!).
The crowd was small and most of them were college students. Some of them were a little surprised to see their friends there and as they greeted each other, they said #You never saw me here!# -- being embarrassed to admit that they are waiting in line for a #kids# video game. I (being the only card-carrying AARP member in the crowd) was definitely the odd-person out. I was number 16 -- and that was with letting some high-schooler #cut in front of me#… (so much for respecting your elders)
So what about the game itself?
I'm happy to say that it has been well worth the 6+ months of waiting, youtube watching, speculating, and daydreaming about the game.
Just like last year where I purchased both versions of the game -- this year I purchased Pokemon X and Y. X is a #happier gentler# pokemon. Y is a dark #we will DESTROY YOUR WORLD and everything in it# version (frankly, I'm a little worried about the son that chose that one… I'm sleeping with my doors locked from now on!
The graphics make this the most significant upgrade ever. Instead of pixelated antiquated graphics where you can only move like checkers on a chess board, you can climb on your favorite pokemon and fly around in circles. The square pixelated renderings of the pokemon have matured to more sophisticated and realistic (as realistic as anime can get) forms.
Both kids love the fact that you have old and new characters together in one big pokemon family reunion of sorts. Both had their teams picked out for weeks and instantly started in on their Poke-domination. Both have not been heard from since the game was inserted in to the DS consoles -- I have spare battery packs lined up in case of some catastrophic power failure that would prevent recharging the 3DS.
If you aren't already aware, you must have a 3DS console in order to play this generation of the game. A #2DS# won't cut it. Response time is a bit sluggish and I think Nintendo is going to have to up the specs of their consoles to keep up with the new resource intensive renderings.
This particular version of Pokemon is based on Norse mythology and based heavily on Paris (not sure what the 2 have in common)… Since both of my boys have loved ancient mythology (greek and Norse, in particular, this was a big selling point for both kids… it also provides some slight educational redeeming quality to the game (though truth be told, I still wish they were more interested in reading books!)
All in all, if you have a Pokemon fan, this is a must-have upgrade as it brings pokemon into the next generation of video gaming where it has lagged significantly behind other newer games. I suspect that this version will also be successful in attracting a whole new generation of Pokemaniacs -- which seems to be Nintendo's ultimate goal since the original Pokemon demographic is now apparently embarrassed to be seen at the midnight launch of their games. Old Pokemon lovers will love this version because of the nostalgia factor. While newer ones will be drawn into the stories and strategy and battles that created the original Pokemon fans.
BTW, a word about the educational value of Pokemon… some would say there is no redeeming educational value about this video game. However, the game does teach critical strategy and problem solving skills. AND it actually helped me teach my son multiplication. If you search the inter webs, you will find the actual mathematical models for calculating the catch rates associated with various pokemon. These mathematical models are quite complicated but (being a math geek myself) by holding several of the variables constant, you can actually create a times table based on the catch rates for various pokemon characters. So if you have a kid who is a pokemon fan but not a fan of math -- do some googling and you may wind up turning your poke maniac into mathematician. Any game that can bridge that gap is PURE GENIOUS, in my humble opinion!
[NCJAR]
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