Pokemon’s first fully open-world title has a lot of ideas but never quite manages to stick the landing with any of them
I’m roaring across the countryside of what looks like the Iberian peninsula, wind whipping through my hair as the roar of my motorcycle sends wild hogs and olives scattering in all directions. I screech to a halt before a small pond, already thinking about my picnic luncheon, and observe a group of mud-brown axolotls frollicking in front of me. I switch off my motorcycle’s engine and watch as it transforms back into a robot-panther-dragon hybrid. Yes, that’s right. It can only be the arrival of a brand new Pokemon adventure just in time for Christmas.
After spending three years exploring mountains and rivers of Brit… ahem, I mean Galar, Pikachu and his pals have grown weary of our little island and decided to set off for the sunnier climes of Paldea, a sort of Pokefied version of Spain and Portugal.
As with every new entry in the series (we’re on the ninth generation of new Pokemon since the originals were first released in 1995) the developers at Game Freak are aiming to reinvent the wheel once again.
Things start in the familiar order of things: you play as a young person who has just moved to the Paldea region with your mother, ready to start your first Pokemon adventure. In a minor twist, this time you’re not simply being turfed out to go and wander the wilderness on your own but have been enrolled in the local boarding school. Of course, you can’t head off to school without a Pokemon pal of your own to keep you company, can you?