Pokemon X & Y Review

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y are the latest installments in the Pokemon franchise and were developed by GAMEFREAK and licensed by Nintendo for release worldwide October 12th 2013, making it the first Pokemon game to ever have a worldwide launch on the same date.

If I could go back to my 7 year-old self when I was first bought my own Pokemon game - Pokemon Yellow Version and I could dream up exactly what Pokemon "could be". Pokemon X & Y is exactly that. Over the last 17 years Pokemon as a franchise has evolved into something that I'm not entirely sure anyone anticipated when Red and Blue were first released. After 23 main-series titles and a huge amount of spin-offs the game is still going as strong as it did back when I was a child. The game as a whole is still the traditional game we all know and love, but there is something different about X and Y, something that just feels exciting, for years the franchise has fell under attack for "releasing the same game" and I can to some extent agree, but as a fan of the series I willingly accept anything that they throw at me because I for one love to learn about the stories and competitive scene, its something that excites me. X and Y give us what seems like a joke of a story with the new team "Team Flare" a fashionable and quirky take on the traditional "team rocket". Not everything is "flare" and they have a much darker purpose which took me for complete surprise as I didn't know what to expect. There are a couple of "facepalm" moments as expected, for example the king that is 3,000 years old who brought his Floette back to life.. But I guess this is the world of Pokemon and we can't really expect complete reality. But none of this matters as we can now sit on benches. BENCHES!

Graphically the game has taken a mammoth leap forward into the future giving us for the first time on hand-held versions of the games fully 3D Pokemon Battle and awesomely made 3D models. However, the game is still very much behind in the terms of graphics if we look at the likes of Beyond: Two Souls and the Fable series. Pokemon wouldn't be the same if it looked like this though, and I personally see the graphics now how they should be, and I fully enjoy the new look! The 3D only effects the in-game fights which to me personally is great. I don't really get the whole 3D-hype and after the initial shock of the 3D on my 3DS I turned it off never for it to make a reappearance, however I appreciate that for some people who really enjoy the 3D this may seem like a cheap cop-out for Pokemon not to be 100% 3D, considering it is a 3DS title...

Not only has the game evolved, but the whole soundtrack to Pokemon has changed too, we are no longer restricted to the polyphonic sounding music that we previously experienced in the games, but are not treated to some wonderfully created fully finished soundtracks. The cut-scenes in the game also use the music extremely well, without spoiling anything there is are a couple of scenes in the game that involve the 3,000 year old crazy man that are very moving, especially with the added soundtracks it makes for a nice package.

Pokemon always has, and always will have a huge replay ability factor, with the huge number of Pokemon, closing in on 800 you have so many choices, with the game becoming more and more online, the competitive scene is thriving and you can pick up a random wi-fi battle almost instantly no matter what time of the day. I completed the game in 33hours game time and I have recently just hit 100 hours post-game raising various Pokemon and testing out new ideas, and I am sure people around the world do that and above. It is incredible how a game that is completely the same in concept can go on to remain a household name and can create the same excitement for each release. For me personally a Pokemon release date has become a calender date and I ensure I have no other plans. For me X and Y deserves no less than 10/10. However I am biased, but I don't care.