Pokémon Unite (2021)

I was inspired to finally try this out after one of the most prominent content creators in autochess games over the last couple years jumped ship to focus on it instead. I've been playing most of the random Pokémon spinoffs for well over 20 years now, so why not.

So far in terms of pure gameplay, I don't enjoy it as much as similar games like League of Legends or Smite, but I do like its simple take on the MOBA formula (plus, I still haven't tried all of the Pokémon yet, so who knows). It makes good on the Pokémon IP with a fun cast of playable characters and some smart adaptations of the series' mechanics to the MOBA genre. I found it uncomfortable to play in handheld mode for much time, but it does work pretty well on a gamepad for a genre that you'd generally want to play on a PC.

I can't say that I plan to devote a ton of time to fully master its ranked mode or anything, but I definitely will keep playing it, particularly in the wait for the new 4th gen Pokémon remakes coming out.

I'll start by saying I'm not much of a MOBA person. I don't like the high levels of competition and toxic communities that come with games like LoL and HotS. So I don't know much about the meta of those kinds of games and how this one compares to the more popular ones. However, the game is fun, especially when playing with your friends.

I have two main complaints with the game. The first is Zapdos, the catchup mechanic. Matches are ten minutes long, and at two minutes remaining a Zapdos spawns in the middle of the map. Whichever team kills the Zapdos gets a short window where all goals scored are instant, on top of all points being doubled in the last two minutes. This basically means that whichever team kills Zapdos has caught the golden snitch, and can go from having zero points to winning the game in the last ~90 seconds of the match. Now add to this the fact that the last hit is the only thing that counts. One team can do 98% damage to Zapdos only for a member of the enemy team to snipe the kill, and their team gets credit. This makes for a very frustrating mechanic that values lucky timing over skill.

The second is the somewhat pay-to-win aspect of the game. Many things you can spend real-world money on are cosmetic, and of course you can buy characters like any popular MOBA. But there are also "held items" which are this game's equivalent of customizing your loadout. They can each be upgraded to level 30+ and it takes 2800+ Item Enhancers to upgrade one item from 1 to 30, after which it can still be upgraded but doesn't get any big bonuses. Playing a few hours a day, you can expect to get a few hundred item enhancers per week. However, you can buy as many as you like with gems. This means people who are willing to drop a couple hundred bucks can have a full list of level 30 held items despite barely knowing what they're doing in the game. These stat bonuses are a large advantage early game, which feels great when you worked for it but is frustrating when playing against people who didn't.

Those complaints aside, the game is very fun. It's simple enough that people who haven't played much can still contribute to the team, but still requires enough skill and strategy that it's probably got hundreds of hours of replay value and the pros won't get bored. Each playable Pokémon has a very unique moveset and stats, so everyone can find a few that fit their playstyle. Each character has great animations and sound effects to really make each one feel different, as well as giving you a chance of knowing what's going on during hectic team fights. Ults have special sounds, CC moves make your character react based on the status inflicted, etc., so following the flow of combat is pretty intuitive. The roster is respectable, and one character has already been added despite the game only being out for 9 days at the time of writing. Only a few characters feel overpowered to the point of being nearly impossible to fight - looking at you, Zeraora - but for the most part any character can be effectively countered if you know what you're doing.

The UI is a little clunky and has too many currencies and rewards you need to collect, each with their own screen and menu, and the balancing could use some tweaks. But overall, the game is a lot of fun, a colorful spectacle, and retains the iconic whimsy of the Pokémon world that will have you saying "okay just one more game" until the early hours of the morning.