Game Info Platform iOS, Android Publisher The Pokemon Company Developer Niantic Labs Release Date Jul 6, 2016

If you can say nothing else about Pokémon Go, at the very least you must admit that it's a phenomenon to a degree that's rarely seen in gaming. In a matter of a week, this new mobile take on Nintendo's long-running role-playing game series has grown astoundingly popular. It has consumed social media conversation, flooded into mainstream news reports and had an impact on the everyday life of many players, in a physical, outside-the-game way. So ... is it any good? To help answer that extremely difficult question, we've enlisted the aid of two Polygon staffers: Pokémon expert Allegra Frank, who has spent every waking hour of the last week playing Pokémon Go, and Phil Kollar, who has taken a more casual approach to the game. Pokémon Go doesn't exactly have a lot of gameplay

Phil Kollar I think we need to address the elephant in the room, the thing that makes this one of the weirdest reviews we've ever had to write: Pokémon Go doesn't exactly have a lot of gameplay, in any sense of the word. The mechanics of Pokémon Go, insofar as they exist, consist of tapping on Pokémon on your phone's screen and then flicking a ball at them to capture them. Likewise, you will tap on PokéStops — special locations scattered around the world — to collect items. If you're getting really serious, you can tap on gyms and engage in a mostly automated battle for control of these important landmarks. Longtime fans of the Pokémon series expecting more of the same in mobile form may find themselves disappointed at first. Yes, the Pokémon games have always been about exploring the world and collecting cute creatures, but they've also always featured a surprisingly deep combat system with tactical choices to be made as you grind. The closest Pokémon Go comes to offering this is giving you the chance to overtake much stronger enemies at gyms if you pick Pokémon of the right types (e.g., using water Pokémon to attack fire Pokémon). Pokémon Go's super-lite approach feels like a role-playing game with the "game" part removed, or a walking simulator minus the simulator. Before we get into some of the other, more intriguing aspects of Pokémon Go, have you been bothered by how little actual game there is to this game, Allegra? Allegra Frank That has definitely affected my enjoyment of the game. When I began my Pokémon Go adventure, I was struck by how different it felt from the role-playing games I've played religiously for more than 15 years. Although the game introduces you to a Pokémon professor who claims to know all there is about Pokémon, he — and Pokémon Go as a whole — explains very little about what you need to know, gameplay-wise. He walks you through catching your first starter Pokémon, but that immediately loses all meaning as soon as you head out into the real world. Much of this can be chalked up to the nonlinear nature of the game, which lacks an overarching plot. There's nothing compelling you to play Pokémon Go other than, well, catching Pokémon. Because there are few tutorials, directions or tips on how to catch them, the game also de-prioritizes these more typical game elements. Catching a Pokémon, unlike in the handheld games, involves swiping at the monster once you find it on the map. This is deceptively simple. A good aim and perfect timing is required to ensure your catch, but the game never showed me how to do this, or even bothered to explain that the circles that appear around a Pokémon during a random encounter are important. But this poor explanation also, strangely enough, leads to one of Pokémon Go's best features. Pokémon Go is most interesting to me as a social experience. Many of the features that are mechanically obtuse, like catching and the even more simplistic one-on-one battles, are best learned through trial and error and anecdotal observation. I've learned a lot from asking friends who are also playing, and struggling through, Pokémon Go. We've come together by commiserating over our fumbled catches, our failed attempts at claiming gyms. Does the sense of community around the game factor into your reception of it? Or does that not play a part in how you assess the game overall? Phil The social experience is everything in Pokémon Go. It's the reason the game has blown up, and it's the reason I'm interested in sticking with it. Obviously I've played games that have forced me to interact with real people before. I love massively multiplayer games, for example; I met people in my time with World of Warcraft whom I'm still friends with today. But I've never played a game where I've been compelled to interact with other people in the real world.

Technical Issues While we've been able to get in a lot of time with Pokémon Go over the last week, it hasn't been without frustration. Niantic's servers have been inconsistent on the best days, often freezing up or dropping us just as we're about to capture that Pikachu we were so excited about. Other times, it simply won't let players log in at all. Even when the servers are functioning, Pokémon Go doesn't appear to be the most thoughtfully designed app. Between its always-online status and use of GPS, it sucks battery life faster than most game apps. Niantic promises that incoming updates will address the battery issues. Here's hoping that more resilient servers aren't far behind.