Rick and Morty, the demented combination of Back to the Future, Doctor Who, and Futurama, is one of the best mature cartoons currently on the air. Besides being a hilarious writer and artist, co-creator Justin Roiland is a huge gamer. In addition to being a TV channel, Adult Swim is a surprisingly decent video game publisher. So with all that in mind, Pocket Mortys, the free Rick and Morty tie-in iPad game shamelessly based on Pokemon , sounded incredibly promising. The final result feels like an ambitious fan project, with the expected disappointments that implies, but surprising successes, too.

Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind

The story of Pocket Mortys is ridiculous, so it's perfectly in line with the source material. Once again, drunken super scientist Rick Sanchez drags his sheepish grandson Morty Smith into some interdimensional shenanigans. This time, Rick introduces Morty to the back alley Morty fighting circuit, in which trainers capture alternate versions of Morty from across dimensions to battle it out. Called before the Council of Ricks, a cabal of parallel universe Ricks who don't appreciate one of their running around unsupervised, Rick must build his own team of Mortys and prove his fighting prowess to return home.

The premise does more than create an excuse for a parody of Pokemon (called Pocket Monsters in Japan). It also conveys the show's uniquely dark sense of humor. Every facet of Pocket Mortys feels lovingly crafted by passionate admirers of the show. Players guide tiny Rick and Morty throughout the overworld, and battles display big images ripped straight out of the show, even though they don't animate. Voiced dialogue snippets from Roiland and fellow co-creator Dan Harmon add to the authenticity, and as you read the text you can't help but subconsciously add Rick's trademark belching mid-sentences. Even the music was carefully chosen. There's a retro remix of the show's theme song, but also new versions of one-off tracks like Jemaine Clement's trippy David Bowie homage and the soulful soundtrack to Rick's attempted suicide. One nitpick I had with the presentation was the haphazard use of polygonal elements in an otherwise 2D world, but those are hard to notice when I'm chatting it up with Bird Person next to a pathetic Morty daycare center.

Rick Hyper Potion #9

Pockets Mortys isn't quite as strong as a Pokemon clone, as it is an interactive piece of Rick and Morty fan service, but the difference isn't as dramatic as you might think. Basic Pokemon rules apply. You scour environments for wild Mortys, weaken them, capture them, and make them stronger by winning battles against other trainers. You can combine Mortys to make stronger ones through genetic engineering, similar to Pokemon evolution. And instead of advantages being determined by elemental affinities like fire and water, Morty types are literally rock, paper, and scissors, which is a really funny deconstructive game design joke.

Discovering a new Morty is always a joy. You start off with a basic Morty, but soon recruit a roughed-up Scruffy Morty. Later on, I encountered a Skeleton Morty, a No Eye Morty, a Rabbit Morty, Morty as designed by body horror master David Cronenberg, and a Spoon Morty (who is just regular Morty, but holding a spoon). There are nearly 100 Mortys to collect and their designs a lot more entertaining than Pokemon at this point, excluding literal living garbage Pokemon, obviously. Taking the inherently troubling cockfighting-esque conceit of Pokemon and ratcheting it up to forcing children to nearly kill each other is black comedy totally in the spirit of the show. It makes the mashup feel purposeful, not some cynical cash-in.

Something Ricked This Way Comes

As impressive as Pocket Mortys is with how far it carries its joke, unfortunately it doesn't quite cross over into being a legitimately great game. The different Mortys all feel derived from the same template, which is maybe thematically appropriate, but dull gameplay-wise. The overall structure is also disappointingly repetitive. Go to some dungeons, beat some boss Ricks, collect enough badges, return to the hub world, and beat a member of the Council of Ricks. It doesn't help that the dungeons are indistinct and too small for real exploration. Encountering the colorful boss Ricks, like the stylish Shibuya Rick or a full-on fascist Rick, breaks up the monotony, but only so much. Multiplayer Morty fights might have helped, but alas, they're nowhere to be found.

At least Pocket Mortys eschews exploitative freemium mobile game mechanics. You can buy tickets with real money to cash in for prizes like material for crafting items or new Mortys to add to your posse, but these goodies appear often enough as you play the game that you shouldn't feel pressured to purchase them. The only item I felt didn't drop often enough was the Poke Ball-like mind control chip you use to capture Mortys. Like Fallout Shelter (Free at iTunes) , another mobile game that makes surprisingly good use of its license, Pocket Mortys strikes the right free-to-play balance. It's certainly better than Pokemon Shuffle Mobile (Free at Apple.com) , an official Pokemon mobile game. I played the game on an iPad Air 2 ($445.00 at eBay) , and it's also available for iPhone and Android devices.

Total Rickall

When I say Pocket Mortys feels like a fan game, I mean it feels like it was created by people with expert knowledge of the show, but only competent game design skills. Depending on your priorities, Pocket Mortys is just a raunchy, shallower version of Pokemon. But as a fan of the show, I appreciated how thick the Rick and Morty atmosphere was applied. The gameplay, while relatively weaker, held up more than enough of its end of the bargain. Now where's my House of Cosbys game, Roiland?

Pocket Mortys (for iPad) 3.5 See It Free at Apple.com MSRP Free Pros Effectively apes the Pokemon formula.

Maintains the show's look and sense of humor.

Limited free-to-play elements. Cons Little exploration.

Repetitive structure.

No multiplayer option. The Bottom Line Pocket Mortys, the Rick and Morty Pokemon clone for iPad, feels like it was created by people with expert knowledge of the show, but only competent game design skills.

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