From the start, Pokemon Unite clarifies that it isn’t trying to compete with famous MOBA games. Enjoy League of Legends or DOTA. Instead, it wants the player to relax and enjoy a more casual but fun experience. Instead, Pokemon Unite puts most of its chips into making the game easy to play and easy to understand. The game doesn’t have a ridiculously complicated UI or stat counters, and units for every little bit of ground covered or damage done.
There aren’t many other MOBA Games as inviting as this one. Because of that, the game might get more people to play it. It’s easy for a casual mobile player to get excited about Pokemon Unite because it’s so well-known, and they’ll have a good time because the game is so easy to pick up, understand, and play.
Pokemon Unite isn’t worth their time if they’re fans of MOBAs. It’s casual and simple at best and usually not worth their time. Yet, the developers don’t want to make League of Legends players into Pokemon Unite fans. Instead, they want to introduce a whole new group of Pokemon fans, both new and old, to the franchise’s first MOBA game.
Pokemon Unite – A Multiplayer Online Battle Arena for Everyone
Full disclosure: I don’t know much about MOBAs because I haven’t played many games. Regardless, Pokemon Unite greeted me at the gate with open arms and let me in to check out everything it had to offer without making it seem like it was too hard.
In the tutorial, it does a great job of explaining the core gameplay loop, which is very simple and easy to understand:
- Players from two teams of five each start the match in two different places on the map.
- The map is divided into three lanes filled with NPCs that keep coming back (Wild Pokemon, in this case).
- People play the game to get points by capturing wild Pokemon (deaths and moves) and putting them in the towers of their opponents.
- Depending on how many wild Pokemon they capture, the player’s Pokemon get better over time. If they kill other players, they can get even more points for their team (Aeos Energy).
- A Zapdos will show in the center of the map near the end of the match. If you defeat it, you’ll get a lot of Aeos Energy.
Playing Pokemon Unite is different from other MOBA games like DOTA because the games only end when the timer runs out. Because there is no final tower to destroy in Pokemon Unite, the match ends when the timer runs out, and the team with the most Aeos Energy wins. That’s because it is. There are, of course, a lot of moves that the player can use.
Each Pokemon has its skills, moves, and unique traits. It doesn’t matter that some Pokemon are more agile than others. They can be easily taken down by stronger Pokemon that can do more damage per hit. To get the best from each Pokemon, players will need a long time playing with each one. They will also require to know how to use them in the match.
The goal could use some work
While the game is easy to learn and play, the biggest problem for people who play Pokemon Unite is no good target. It often comes down to what looks like luck, and the settings are often too complicated for my taste.
If the player character instead locks on to a wild Pokemon instead of an enemy character, that can often be the difference between games. When Zapdos comes down from the heavens and gives points to one team, it’s like Dumbledore giving Gryffindor 5000 points out of nowhere. This is another big problem with the game.
When Zapdos shows up, the games seem fair until he comes out. Because of Zapdos, a losing team can often turn the tables on their opponent in a matter of seconds when they show up in a match. They get a lot of Aeos Energy if they beat the legendary Pokemon. They can then slam one of the opponent’s towers with it.
While the mechanic itself might be useful in balancing the match, its use leaves a lot to be desired. It can be hard to tell which team did the most damage, leading to an unfair amount of points being given to a certain team. Plus, it can make the rest seem less important because most games are decided in the last few seconds. Thus, giving players no reason to be aggressive in the early stages of a match.
The last impressions
Despite its flaws, Pokemon Unite is always fun and rewarding, and it still has a great sense of challenge. Throughout my time with the game, the matchmaking was always fair. The Practice game mode also deserves a shout-out because it carefully breaks down the 6 main things that players need to learn to get better at the game and gives players a great structure to follow.
If Pokemon Unite does a lot of handholding, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get into, but not so easy that it’s too easy or boring. Pokemon Unite is still fun even when the game isn’t very interesting. The targeting system could work, and the Zapdos needs to be closely examined. Other than that, there’s no reason for Pokemon fans not to jump right in and enjoy this charming and fun MOBA.
