Game Freak Game Reviews
Review Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension (Switch 2) - Repetition Takes The Shine Off
I am the Alpha and the Mega
After hopping into my 20th Hyperspace in Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s DLC, Mega Dimension, I realised something. I’ve been doing the same things over and over again for the past few hours. Now, I know the series isn’t exactly known for varying things, but it feels particularly egregious within a condensed DLC...
Mini Review Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch) - Mostly Stable, Much Less Shiny
An evolution on Switch 1, but not a Mega one
Pokémon Legends: Z-A on Switch is 'fine'. For a lot of people, that'll be enough. And certainly, even I'm surprised it's as stable as it is after Legends: Arceus and Scarlet & Violet had more than their fair share of performance woes — the latter of which is almost a completely different game with the...
So that puts it at an M, right?
I honestly never thought I’d fall in love with Pokémon battles. That’s not why I play Pokémon – I don’t play competitively either – because I play a ton of RPGs where combat is the draw. I can get my fix elsewhere. But Pokémon Legends: Z-A may have done the impossible; in Kalos, I can’t wait to get into...
Review Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! (Switch) - Game Freak's 3DS Gem Is Still A Prize Pony
Yay or neigh?
When the 3DS eShop closed back in March 2023, we were sad for a number of reasons. We were sad at the thought of losing the wonderful Virtual Console library. Sad at the prospect of never seeing the little orange bag mascot again. Sad at the understanding that we'd soon be returning to the silent eShop of the Switch without a...
That's why they call it the blues
What is The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero? That was probably the question on most players’ lips after the Expansion Pass for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was revealed. Part one, The Teal Mask, was just an appetizer, taking players to a new land in Kitakami and introducing new characters who might just end up being...
Review Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - The Teal Mask (Switch) - DLC That Offers More, But Not Enough
Matcha the mood
As a series, Pokémon is one that has held onto tradition pretty firmly. In the 25+ years since Red & Blue’s release, the fundamentals of the game haven’t really changed – you explore a world, you fight Pokémon, you catch Pokémon. Last year’s Pokémon Scarlet & Violet was the mainline series’ first big attempt to...
Review Pokémon Trading Card Game - A Cracking Adaptation That Still Holds Up
A rare source of fun or just an uncommon?
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy / Game Boy Color library. It’s almost surreal nowadays to think that there was ever a time when portable gaming didn’t have Pokémon. When Red and Blue...
The world is your Cloyster
If there’s one thing we always hope for with a brand-new Pokémon generation, it’s a sense of childlike wonder. Of course, it’s not always a guarantee, especially with a formula that has been followed consistently for the last 26 years, but we always start a new generation with our fingers crossed that we'll be...
Review Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch) - One Of The Greatest Pokémon Games Ever Made
We all live in a Pokémon world
A century before it became the land of Sinnoh, the Hisui region was a dangerous place where humans and Pokémon didn’t share the close bond they have today. In fact, Pokémon were treated like dangerous creatures to be avoided, and in Pokémon Legends: Arceus it’s up to you and the Galaxy Expedition Team to...
Review Pokémon Sword And Shield (Switch) - A Solid Start To Gen 8, Despite The Hate
Dynamaxing expectations
If there’s one thing everyone knows about Pokémon Sword and Shield is that they have been talked about. They have been talked about a lot. Whether it’s the controversy surrounding the omission of individual Pokémon or a tree that looks a bit too low-res for people’s tastes, chatter about these games has been incessant...
Review Little Town Hero (Switch) - A Quirky, Small-Scale RPG For The Time-Poor Player
Homegrown heroism
It must be quite the daunting task for a studio best known for one of the most well known game franchises of all time to brave the ire of its considerable audience, branch out into pastures new and release a new IP. Especially when you happen to be Game Freak and that ‘well known game franchise’ just so happens to be the pop...
Review Giga Wrecker Alt. (Switch) - A Puzzle-Solving Mega Man-alike From Pokémon Masters Game Freak
She's gonna wreck it!
Despite the fact it's often working on the next entry in the eternal cultural phenomenon that is Pokémon, Game Freak every so often takes the time to cleanse its creative palette with something that doesn't involve pocket-based monsters. The most recent of its side forays was Giga Wrecker, which smashed its way onto PC two...
Revisiting Kanto 20 years on
With the Switch gearing up for its second holiday season on the market, the time has finally come for the hybrid machine to get its first taste of core series Pokémon action. Acting as a reimagining of Pokémon Yellow – an already enhanced version of the series’ first titles Pokémon Red and Blue – Pokémon: Let's...
Review Pokémon Quest (Switch eShop)
Gotta (pay to) catch 'em all
Pokémon Quest is a traditional mobile collect 'em up that's launched early on Nintendo Switch ahead of its mobile release in about a month's time. It doesn't quite offer enough to fill the Pokémon-shaped void on your Switch, but it's more than good enough to plug the gap between now and November, when Pokémon: Let's...
Review Pokémon Crystal (3DS eShop / GBC)
Crystal clear
Akin to Pokémon Yellow's existence to Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Crystal is the next critter-catching adventure to round-off a generation of main series, handheld Pokémon games – that being Pokémon Gold and Silver. But what could Crysta
Review Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (3DS)
Ultra fantastic
Just like games such as Pokémon Emerald was to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, or Pokémon Crystal was to Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are intended to be the definitive v
Review Pokémon Gold And Silver (3DS eShop / GBC)
Golden oldies
Pokémon Gold and Silver are the second generation instalments in the Pokémon series; released at the turn of the millennium, the games arrived just a few short years after their predecessors, Pokémon Red and Blue. Boasting a whole new world to explore, 100 new monsters (bringing the total to 251), and an entirely new cast of...
Review Pokémon Sun and Moon (3DS)
The difference is night and day
The Pokémon series has been through a lot, and a casual observer would be forgiven for assuming that the developers must be out of fresh ideas after twenty long years. Thankfully people who spend far too much time playing video games, like us and many reading these pages, know better. Enter Pokémon Sun and Moon,...
Review Pocket Card Jockey (3DS eShop)
Horsing around
Sometimes mash-up concepts can bring us delightful gaming experiences, and occasionally they simply leave us scratching our heads in confusion. Pocket Card Jockey does both, and is in turns fun, irritating, exciting and unfair. Some may have a love-hate relationship with it as hours slip by and, when all is said and done, little in...
Review Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (3DS eShop / GBC)
First generation Pokéfun. IN COLOR!
Twenty years since the franchise began and after numerous games, TV episodes, movies, trading cards and plush toys, Nintendo has given Pokémon fans a chance to travel back to where it all began with Virtual Console releases of the first Game Boy titles. 3DS owners can purchase the original Red or Blue versions,...
Review Pokémon Red and Blue (3DS / GB)
Twenty years ahead of their time
When these games were released back in the late nineties, the air around younger Game Boy owners was one of excitement and rivalry. Nintendo is clearly trying to capitalise on the nostalgia factor for all of us who were within the target age group (and some who weren't) when these titles were originally released,...
Review Drill Dozer (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Not likely to make you doze off
Game Freak is a developer known for its work on titles such as Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Black and White. It does occasionally put out games that don't feature the pocket monsters, however, and one of those is Drill Dozer, a Game Boy Advance action platformer set across six...
Review Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
A Mega Evolution
When Nintendo announced that the third generation of Pokémon games would finally be getting re-made for the Nintendo 3DS, many fans could barely contain their excitement; yet after the truly excellent Pokémon X & Y, what could Game Freak do — besides feed nostalgia — to possibly improve upon it? It seems the Poké-dev...
Evolution or revolution?
Do you remember that first time you rushed home with the latest copy of Pokémon, gleefully slotting it into your handheld and dreaming of becoming the next Pokémon Master? Everything was new, fresh and exciting. Every time that pixelated grass flickered and you encountered another never-seen-before monster you held your...
Review Yoshi (Wii U eShop / NES)
Not very eggciting
With so many tile-matching games available on so many different gaming platforms, it’s surprising to see that, despite the Wii U launching six months ago, there have yet to be any released on the new console. Nintendo has finally decided to fill that empty gap with the Virtual Console release of Yoshi, an NES era puzzler...
Review HarmoKnight (3DS eShop)
Big beat
When you think Game Freak, you instinctively think Pokémon. It’s hardly surprising; the Japanese studio has been behind the million-selling franchise since day one, and the evergreen popularity of “catching 'em all” has ensured that the firm has little reason — or time — to explore other avenues. Apart from side-projects like...
Review Yoshi (3DS eShop / NES)
Soft boiled
Mario's loyal dinosaur companion Yoshi may have made his debut in the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World, but one year later Nintendo gave him his own title on the rapidly fading NES. That game was Yoshi, and it's now come to non-Ambassadors on the 3DS eShop. It's a falling block puzzler, which is a genre every video game...
Review Pokémon Black and White 2 (DS)
Pokémon used Sequel! It’s super effective!
It's fitting that the franchise typically relied upon to sell Nintendo handhelds is also the swansong that bids farewell to the mighty Nintendo DS. The enormously popular Pokémon series graces the highest-selling handheld console of all time for one last hurrah and the result is nothing short of...
Review Pokémon Black and White (DS)
Black and White and good all over
Last year’s Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were just stopgap games to tide eager trainers over until the launch of Generation Five: Pokémon Black and White. Now the latest iterations in the series are here to eat up DS gamers’ spare time once again with a stack of new monsters and features. Set in the...
Review Pokémon Emerald (Game Boy Advance)
Some things, it seems, never change
In Japan in 1996 a craze started; by the turn of the century, it had worked its way around the world capturing the hearts and minds of gamers as easily as a level 3 Rattata is caught in a Master Ball. That craze was Pokémon: Nintendo’s pocket monster catching/training/battling powerhouse. The two Game Boy...
