New Pokemon Snap is the sequel to the beloved original Pokemon Snap that was released back in 1999. The 22 year-long hiatus was filled with requests for Nintendo and Game Freak to resurrect this subseries. The announcement came out of nowhere, and the pokemon fandom was excited about the new game.
A simple story for a simple game
The player is tasked with conducting research for Professor Mirror in order for him to learn more about the Lental Region and the mysterious Illumina pokemon. This research is conducted by taking photos of the numerous pokemon in a variety of unique locations. The game keeps light on the story and gameplay variety.
The main appeal of this game is taking pictures of Pokemon in various habitats. If you are a pokemon fan then this may have already sold you. However, the core gameplay is fun enough for people who are not pokemon fanatics. Despite this, if a game about taking pictures of animals doesn’t appeal to you then it is of course a skip.
The world of the Lental region feels lived in. The pokemon interact with each other in cute ways, and finding new ways to interact with them was a joy. As a fan of the series, I loved seeing my favorite pokemon run about.
The character rides on rails through different courses where they must take pictures of pokemon to unlock more courses. The courses felt different from one another. However, you have to redo courses a couple of times in order to get the score necessary to move forward. This made the game feel repetitive at times. Despite this, I was able to get past this as I wanted to see what was next.
Not everything is picture perfect
The game is short and doesn’t have a lot of replay value. Once you have unlocked all three levels of each course you have seen everything. However, if you are a completionist the game will fill your time completing your photo book.
New Pokemon Snap works best as a love letter to fans of the series, but if you are hoping to take pictures of your favorite you might be disappointed. The game has around 200 pokemon featured with plenty of repeats. This can make the game feel repetitive. The only big break in gameplay style is the pseudo-boss battles. The bosses challenge you to use your tools in unique ways. However, the mileage varies in terms of how memorable they are.
In Conclusion
The game feels very uninspired, but not every game needs to be. It is a fun little game for fans of the franchise. However, I do think casual fans might have a lot of fun. I genuinely do like this game, but it has plenty of flaws that are hard to ignore.
7
A great game for fans of the franchise and lovers of cute animals doing cute things.
