overpadded and surprisingly boring on-rails checklist game. feels hollow compared to the original.
underwater level is a highlight and a lot of pokemon are cute
underwater level is a highlight and a lot of pokemon are cute
A great game that oozes personality with every mon featured. Environments are extremely varied and full of life. The new star system helps encourage repeated playthroughs of older levels in order to see all the actions of each mon, which are often times a real treat to witness. Definitely would recommend for anyone who's a fan of the original as it's a stark improvement.
this is the greatest game ever created
The original is better but this was still great
An absolute delight from beginning to end. I love Pokemon games that really just let the animals be animals, and this does that in spades. For 22 years I've just wanted another Pokemon Snap with more Pokemon in it, and this is exactly what I got. I usually wait a while before getting a game when it comes out, but this was a minute 1 buy for me. If you love Pokemon as just wild animals, you're gonna be so engrossed in this honestly addicting game. Half a point off because I wanted a mansion or some kinda steel plant as a course and that wasn't there.
I had a good amount of fun with this! At it's core it's about viewing Pokemon as living creatures and just letting them be at home in their environment, something the main series does a shockingly poor job of. I also felt that the level variety and number of new discoveries you are constantly making to be really enjoyable.
The re-snap feature is supremely important - for those who complain about the game incentivizing "boring" shots re-snap was created to solve this problem. Take a shot that plays by the game's rules for points, then go back to that moment frozen in time to reframe the shot to your artistic sensibilities. This lets the game have things both ways very elegantly, the alternative would be trying to get the scoring algorithm to "objectively" judge the artistic value of shots (lol) and also would move the core gameplay away from its more rail shooter like elements (at it's core Pokemon Snap has always just been a slow-pace rail shooter). I also appreciated the depth of field edits, they really help make the shots look a lot better.
All that being said, I think the game's strengths are also some of it's big weaknesses. Namely, the Pokemon still don't quite feel alive enough for my liking. Oftentimes playing the melody did absolutely nothing, even when right next to sleeping Pokemon, and in general the way you can interact with the world often seemed finicky. I also would have appreciated more unique animations and interactions, as while what's there is great, it often feels too few and far between for this sort of game.
The re-snap feature is supremely important - for those who complain about the game incentivizing "boring" shots re-snap was created to solve this problem. Take a shot that plays by the game's rules for points, then go back to that moment frozen in time to reframe the shot to your artistic sensibilities. This lets the game have things both ways very elegantly, the alternative would be trying to get the scoring algorithm to "objectively" judge the artistic value of shots (lol) and also would move the core gameplay away from its more rail shooter like elements (at it's core Pokemon Snap has always just been a slow-pace rail shooter). I also appreciated the depth of field edits, they really help make the shots look a lot better.
All that being said, I think the game's strengths are also some of it's big weaknesses. Namely, the Pokemon still don't quite feel alive enough for my liking. Oftentimes playing the melody did absolutely nothing, even when right next to sleeping Pokemon, and in general the way you can interact with the world often seemed finicky. I also would have appreciated more unique animations and interactions, as while what's there is great, it often feels too few and far between for this sort of game.
Great refresh on a classic. Lots of content and replayability. Pokemon look GREAT, better than a mainline game from Gamefreak... of course.
Here's a long overdue update to one of the strangest and most memorable oddities of the N64 era. It's a rail shooter through and through with the crucial subtle tweak where instead of bullets you're shooting digital photos. I don't think this set-up works for any other franchise than Pokémon, and yet it works wonders with Pokémon. This is probably four or five times as big and long and full as the old game, but that also means it began to wear out its welcome just a little, little bit by the end of it all. Would love to revisit this over the years and keep fleshing out the Photodex, but we all know how rare a revisit is in this day and age. Hey, even if I never touch this again, I enjoyed this all the same.
Pokemon, for me, is at its best when it focuses on its conservation science and ecology theme, allowing their cast to feel like a part of their living world in ways more meaningful than random encounters materialising out of tall grass. With every mainline entry, it feels like they make the world map first and drizzle Pokemon on top like a complete afterthought, their inclusion almost never feels cognisant to the way the human inhabitants build their cities or live their lives - we're STILL fixated on collusiums. New Poke Snap takes advantage of this to charming extent and is the prettiest of the 3D games imo in part because of it. It's so nice to just passively glide by and be reminded that Pokemon can just vibe in a forest, any step away from constant tedious battles and cold hard stats is a step closer to primo.
Kind of weak as an actual photography game, though, but I've yet to find a game that has any idea how to gamify effective employments of elements of composition like the rule of thirds or whatever. You want one (1) pokemon in dead-centre of the frame, looking like an idiot, for max pointz.
Since this game is all about Looking, my most tedious complaint would probably that the human characters look fucking weird man. Bizarrely high quality clothing textures and soft plastic lighting on their faces making them look like uncanny Sylvanian Families dolls??? Cel shading is a dirty word these days I think, this weird toy rendering is all anyone does. Look, I just think Herdy Gerdy was on to something and we've been regressing ever since.
Anyway, this is fun! A little grindy, but this is a comfy game I'll be returning to for months to come.
Kind of weak as an actual photography game, though, but I've yet to find a game that has any idea how to gamify effective employments of elements of composition like the rule of thirds or whatever. You want one (1) pokemon in dead-centre of the frame, looking like an idiot, for max pointz.
Since this game is all about Looking, my most tedious complaint would probably that the human characters look fucking weird man. Bizarrely high quality clothing textures and soft plastic lighting on their faces making them look like uncanny Sylvanian Families dolls??? Cel shading is a dirty word these days I think, this weird toy rendering is all anyone does. Look, I just think Herdy Gerdy was on to something and we've been regressing ever since.
Anyway, this is fun! A little grindy, but this is a comfy game I'll be returning to for months to come.
Charming game that rewards Pokemon fans for their love and joy for these little creatures. I mainly grabbed it to watch my partner hyperfixate on cute animals for ten straight hours, so its a success for me.
While the central mystery of New Pokemon Snap may not have been resolved (nothing ever is), I like to think I learned a little something about myself and my Pokemon friends along the way. The central mystery of course being "what the fuck are these people talking about?" I gather there was something about a famous explorer, except maybe he didn't get everywhere. There are ruins in a lot of places and sometimes the Pokemon glow. That's fine I guess. I really wish there was actually something to do in the levels with the glowing Pokemon though, those were boring.
I'm surprised at how well this game captures the spirit of the original. There are Pokemon! Hey, take pictures of em! Oooo ahhh! You can throw shit at em and make em do stuff. They can sometimes mess with the course and open up new paths. There are natural puzzles aplenty; the game invites you to experiment and figure out how to manipulate the Pokemon into interesting behavior for high point shots. There's maybe something disturbing there, something Pavlovian, maybe even Slothropian, there, but in game it's a pleasant time. Don't think about it too hard.
The game is better than it has any right to be. Yes, the "story" or whatever is a snoozefest, and in fact ok sure the gameplay in general is a snoozefest. You just take pictures mostly. It's fun though! A chill time.
I'm surprised at how well this game captures the spirit of the original. There are Pokemon! Hey, take pictures of em! Oooo ahhh! You can throw shit at em and make em do stuff. They can sometimes mess with the course and open up new paths. There are natural puzzles aplenty; the game invites you to experiment and figure out how to manipulate the Pokemon into interesting behavior for high point shots. There's maybe something disturbing there, something Pavlovian, maybe even Slothropian, there, but in game it's a pleasant time. Don't think about it too hard.
The game is better than it has any right to be. Yes, the "story" or whatever is a snoozefest, and in fact ok sure the gameplay in general is a snoozefest. You just take pictures mostly. It's fun though! A chill time.
This game is better than the original in almost every way, though I would advise against attempting 100%, as it's um.
Infuriating
Infuriating
This is everything I wanted a NEW Pokemon Snap game to be and it's a good step in the right direction for a possible sequel or hell I'd buy an expansion for this without complaining because honestly the game is just a blast. 5/5 for great design, wonderful bright graphics, and fun additions to something already nostalgic.
An endearing blast from the past. Tons of Pokemon across every generation are represented in this game, and not just the popular ones. Snap pictures of Pokemon and have them rated. Lively animations and Pokemon behavior gave me new appreciation for mons that I didn't even pay attention to previously. Tons of unique courses in different biomes, most with branching paths to discover. Short but sweet game.
Well worth the wait for this sequel to the original N64 title!!!
It improves upon nearly every aspect of the original while keeping most of the charm intact.
I'll quickly get my two main disappointments out of the way:
1) The music is the most bland and forgettable stuff they could've picked. Maybe they did that not to distract from the Pokemon in their habitats but the original managed to have catchy tunes so..... yeah
2) A lack of the evolutions mechanic. The original had some nice puzzles with knocking a Charmeleon into lava for Charizard to pop out or Magikarp up a waterfall for Gyarados to pop out. It's a shame they didn't do that here but it's not a deal breaker.
In every other aspect though, this is a superior sequel. The courses offer multiple routes to show off Pokemon in different areas. They also have research levels to build from your scores unlocking more interactions and Pokemon as you replay levels keeping things from getting stale.
The Illumina Pokemon act like bosses in a similar way to Mew in the original where you have to figure how to get them to glow to take a photo of them. Speaking of the Pokemon, the roster choice is a fantastic show of Pokemon across all generations. No Gen 1 bias here as Pokemon like Milotic, Meganium, Vivillon, Joltik and many more are given the chance to shine while a lot of the more prominent Gen 1 Pokemon of recent games (cough Charizard cough) take a while to show up and aren't given any special focus. In fact the final Illumina Pokemon is an inspired choice and fits the theme of nature very well.
What this game does incredibly well (and something that has been missing from the series for a while now) is show off Pokemon in their natural habitat just being themselves. Whether it's Squirtle riding on a Lapras, Grookey and Pichu playing in fields, Wailord emerging from the ocean, Kecleon camouflaging itself, or Froslass creating blizzards, the Pokemon are given a chance to shine and make you smile as you see the many interactions they have. It gives them a way to imprint on people's minds that has been sorely missing since the earlier days of the franchise.
Finally, the game offers a ton more content than I expected. There's over 200 Pokemon to see, each with 4 different star levels of pic to snap, multiple varieties of courses, and even bonus objectives to complete if you so desire. It took me around 15-20 hours to get a picture of every Pokemon and I'll gladly revisit it someday to try and fill out more of the 3 and 4 star entries.
A brilliant sequel and well worth the wait! We can only hope there's more to come because there's so many Pokemon deserving of a chance to shine!
It improves upon nearly every aspect of the original while keeping most of the charm intact.
I'll quickly get my two main disappointments out of the way:
1) The music is the most bland and forgettable stuff they could've picked. Maybe they did that not to distract from the Pokemon in their habitats but the original managed to have catchy tunes so..... yeah
2) A lack of the evolutions mechanic. The original had some nice puzzles with knocking a Charmeleon into lava for Charizard to pop out or Magikarp up a waterfall for Gyarados to pop out. It's a shame they didn't do that here but it's not a deal breaker.
In every other aspect though, this is a superior sequel. The courses offer multiple routes to show off Pokemon in different areas. They also have research levels to build from your scores unlocking more interactions and Pokemon as you replay levels keeping things from getting stale.
The Illumina Pokemon act like bosses in a similar way to Mew in the original where you have to figure how to get them to glow to take a photo of them. Speaking of the Pokemon, the roster choice is a fantastic show of Pokemon across all generations. No Gen 1 bias here as Pokemon like Milotic, Meganium, Vivillon, Joltik and many more are given the chance to shine while a lot of the more prominent Gen 1 Pokemon of recent games (cough Charizard cough) take a while to show up and aren't given any special focus. In fact the final Illumina Pokemon is an inspired choice and fits the theme of nature very well.
What this game does incredibly well (and something that has been missing from the series for a while now) is show off Pokemon in their natural habitat just being themselves. Whether it's Squirtle riding on a Lapras, Grookey and Pichu playing in fields, Wailord emerging from the ocean, Kecleon camouflaging itself, or Froslass creating blizzards, the Pokemon are given a chance to shine and make you smile as you see the many interactions they have. It gives them a way to imprint on people's minds that has been sorely missing since the earlier days of the franchise.
Finally, the game offers a ton more content than I expected. There's over 200 Pokemon to see, each with 4 different star levels of pic to snap, multiple varieties of courses, and even bonus objectives to complete if you so desire. It took me around 15-20 hours to get a picture of every Pokemon and I'll gladly revisit it someday to try and fill out more of the 3 and 4 star entries.
A brilliant sequel and well worth the wait! We can only hope there's more to come because there's so many Pokemon deserving of a chance to shine!
I realize that going off on a kid's game about touting itself as a photography game but not encouraging any interest in the actual act of experimentation and composition in photography sounds absurd, but I detest how these game largely reward centered subject boring portrait shots above anything else. Given that it's way too bare as an actual photography game, what's really the purpose here? Is this game where a core mechanic is throwing apples at animals' heads to stage shots for extra points supposed to be about appreciating nature or capturing a larger world around you as a bystander?
I love this game! It oozes charme and the interactions with the Pokémon are lively and just fun! It's also looks quite nice at and I have multiple fotos I just absolutely enjoy looking at!
The game itself is, however, not really a creative photography game? Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely be creative in how you align and edit shots (especially after you gain the ability to move faster), but the game gives you the most points for the fotos that just look at the Pokémon in question from the most boring angle possible: front-facing with not much else to it. Which is fitting for the game's (quite ok) story, but doesn't really allow for creativity if you want to get the most points. This is more so a rail shooter with a photography gimmick! And a very good one at that.
But I also have some minor problems: I do not like the quest system at all. It feels arbitrary and the quests don't always unlock correctly - I would have preferred hints. Also the editor mode has A LOT of stickers no one will ever use, because they... really don't work in the context? And the stickers that do work are few and far between sadly. Oh yea and the online features just feel tacked on and I'll never understand why every screenshot of this game features an incredibly ugly watermark. But I think my biggest problem is the decision to make one of the four star-variants the "I throw an apple at the Pokémon and it's now in pain"-variant, which feels very much out of place!
But in the end, I actually think this type of game is what Pokémon should focus on in the future. It highlights the individual (character) traits of the Pokémon and understands how these mascots can create fun interactions. Please make more spin-offs, the main games have become quite exhausting as of late.
The game itself is, however, not really a creative photography game? Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely be creative in how you align and edit shots (especially after you gain the ability to move faster), but the game gives you the most points for the fotos that just look at the Pokémon in question from the most boring angle possible: front-facing with not much else to it. Which is fitting for the game's (quite ok) story, but doesn't really allow for creativity if you want to get the most points. This is more so a rail shooter with a photography gimmick! And a very good one at that.
But I also have some minor problems: I do not like the quest system at all. It feels arbitrary and the quests don't always unlock correctly - I would have preferred hints. Also the editor mode has A LOT of stickers no one will ever use, because they... really don't work in the context? And the stickers that do work are few and far between sadly. Oh yea and the online features just feel tacked on and I'll never understand why every screenshot of this game features an incredibly ugly watermark. But I think my biggest problem is the decision to make one of the four star-variants the "I throw an apple at the Pokémon and it's now in pain"-variant, which feels very much out of place!
But in the end, I actually think this type of game is what Pokémon should focus on in the future. It highlights the individual (character) traits of the Pokémon and understands how these mascots can create fun interactions. Please make more spin-offs, the main games have become quite exhausting as of late.
This game has been an absolute delight to play. As a Pokémon fan, and especially after the disappointments of SWSH and the announcements of BDSP, it's incredible to see passion and life in a Pokémon game again. Each of the 200+ roster has different interactions with you, other Pokémon and their environment over 24 unique tracks (with minor variations as you level up). Locations are vibrant and gorgeous, and include forests, caves, deserts, volcanoes, and even underwater (my favourite).
The photography part is very straightforward - you basically want to place the Pokémon in the centre of the frame and snap away. The real fun is in encouraging and documenting different reactions that Pokémon have, to get higher and higher scores and fill out each of the Photodex's 4 rarity slots.
Discovering new areas, Pokémon and interactions as I progressed was very exciting and rewarding, and the delight of finding one of your favourite Pokémon sleeping in the corner or flying past you is again, an absolute delight. The amount of love and attention to detail in this game was truly impressive. I can't recommend this game enough to any Pokémon fan, or anyone who is fond of more 'chill/cute' games like Animal Crossing. Try it - you will like it.
The photography part is very straightforward - you basically want to place the Pokémon in the centre of the frame and snap away. The real fun is in encouraging and documenting different reactions that Pokémon have, to get higher and higher scores and fill out each of the Photodex's 4 rarity slots.
Discovering new areas, Pokémon and interactions as I progressed was very exciting and rewarding, and the delight of finding one of your favourite Pokémon sleeping in the corner or flying past you is again, an absolute delight. The amount of love and attention to detail in this game was truly impressive. I can't recommend this game enough to any Pokémon fan, or anyone who is fond of more 'chill/cute' games like Animal Crossing. Try it - you will like it.
The original Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo 64 is what I consider as an underrated classic when it comes to Pokemon spinoff games. Being able to roam different landscapes and taking pictures of all the Pokemon you can find. I loved the hell out of it and for over 20 years, we never got a sequel... until now. A long awaited sequel for the Nintendo Switch that fans of the original game were hyped for. I was honestly hyped for this game more than the Gen 4 remakes. Now the question is will this sequel hold the same charm as the original after so long? Well let's dive right in.
You explore the region known as Lenthal where you meet with Professor Mirror and her assistant Rita. They tell you to help them with their research of Pokemon. How they behave, where they appear, and discover ancient mysteries regarding the Lenthal Region.
Like in the original, you set of on a photographic journey through grassy fields, sandy beaches, scorching deserts, and more to help the Professor with his research. You can use your trusty camera and it has the basic functions a camera has like zooming in and of course snapping a picture.
And let's just say, for a Pokemon game, this gives a lot of eye candy like man is gorgeous. I can't remember the last Pokemon game that looked THIS good. There's a lot of detail and it makes taking pictures so much more relaxing.
When it comes to the variety of Pokemon, there's a lot that even I haven't completed the Photodex. The original game only had Pokemon from Red and Blue but now we're on Gen 8 and now there's a WHOLE LOT MORE than 151 now. It makes me want to complete the dex more than the actual main games and I haven't completed a Pokedex in my life.
There's very specific things you have to do in order to make certain Pokemon come out. You have two items. One is called a Fluffruit which is a food item you can feed to the Pokemon. The other item is called an Illumina Orb which can make Pokemon glow and it can make them look shiny and can trigger certain events with certain Pokemon like giving a Scorbunny blue flames.
With the photodex, you need to get four different photos of each Pokemon. From one-star photos to four-star photos. Basically, the cooler the picture, the higher the rating. Some are easy to get four stars but there's a lot where they need certain events you need to capture in order to get four stars. You have to be very thorough with your search.
Now while I like a lot of stuff about this game, there are some things I felt could've been worked on. For example, to progress in the main story, in order to unlock new areas, you need to backtrack to previous areas to see what you missed. But they don't tell you specifically on what you need to find in order to progress other than a quick message on the bottom left and then it disappears. There's no objective box or something for you to check or anything.
And the thing is when you backtrack, it starts to get familiar and eventually becomes a chore. Now when your research level goes up for an area, it'll be different and more Pokemon will show up. But it takes a lot to gain XP to level up so a lot of the time, you'll be exploring the same areas the same way. There's secret passageways but you don't really know where they are and how to trigger them sometimes. I got stuck on two specific areas to unlocking secret paths: The seafloor and the ruins. So it becomes a slog when you have to do that for the main story but after that when you're free to do whatever, then it's less of a mission.
And when it comes to the story, I felt like it ended abruptly and felt pretty short. I mean yeah, the original didn't have much of a story either but still. I was interested in the lore behind this region and once it was done, I was just surprised on how quick I beat it. I mean I know the whole point of the game is to snap pics of Pokemon and stuff but I was getting interested. I'm sorry. I'm a guy who plays games for good gameplay and good stories.
But overall, I say this is a solid sequel. It's beautiful to look at, it's a relaxing game to play, and I'll be playing it until I find every little secret I can find.
In the end, New Pokemon Snap for me gets a 7/10.
You explore the region known as Lenthal where you meet with Professor Mirror and her assistant Rita. They tell you to help them with their research of Pokemon. How they behave, where they appear, and discover ancient mysteries regarding the Lenthal Region.
Like in the original, you set of on a photographic journey through grassy fields, sandy beaches, scorching deserts, and more to help the Professor with his research. You can use your trusty camera and it has the basic functions a camera has like zooming in and of course snapping a picture.
And let's just say, for a Pokemon game, this gives a lot of eye candy like man is gorgeous. I can't remember the last Pokemon game that looked THIS good. There's a lot of detail and it makes taking pictures so much more relaxing.
When it comes to the variety of Pokemon, there's a lot that even I haven't completed the Photodex. The original game only had Pokemon from Red and Blue but now we're on Gen 8 and now there's a WHOLE LOT MORE than 151 now. It makes me want to complete the dex more than the actual main games and I haven't completed a Pokedex in my life.
There's very specific things you have to do in order to make certain Pokemon come out. You have two items. One is called a Fluffruit which is a food item you can feed to the Pokemon. The other item is called an Illumina Orb which can make Pokemon glow and it can make them look shiny and can trigger certain events with certain Pokemon like giving a Scorbunny blue flames.
With the photodex, you need to get four different photos of each Pokemon. From one-star photos to four-star photos. Basically, the cooler the picture, the higher the rating. Some are easy to get four stars but there's a lot where they need certain events you need to capture in order to get four stars. You have to be very thorough with your search.
Now while I like a lot of stuff about this game, there are some things I felt could've been worked on. For example, to progress in the main story, in order to unlock new areas, you need to backtrack to previous areas to see what you missed. But they don't tell you specifically on what you need to find in order to progress other than a quick message on the bottom left and then it disappears. There's no objective box or something for you to check or anything.
And the thing is when you backtrack, it starts to get familiar and eventually becomes a chore. Now when your research level goes up for an area, it'll be different and more Pokemon will show up. But it takes a lot to gain XP to level up so a lot of the time, you'll be exploring the same areas the same way. There's secret passageways but you don't really know where they are and how to trigger them sometimes. I got stuck on two specific areas to unlocking secret paths: The seafloor and the ruins. So it becomes a slog when you have to do that for the main story but after that when you're free to do whatever, then it's less of a mission.
And when it comes to the story, I felt like it ended abruptly and felt pretty short. I mean yeah, the original didn't have much of a story either but still. I was interested in the lore behind this region and once it was done, I was just surprised on how quick I beat it. I mean I know the whole point of the game is to snap pics of Pokemon and stuff but I was getting interested. I'm sorry. I'm a guy who plays games for good gameplay and good stories.
But overall, I say this is a solid sequel. It's beautiful to look at, it's a relaxing game to play, and I'll be playing it until I find every little secret I can find.
In the end, New Pokemon Snap for me gets a 7/10.
Some areas get a little tiring, and there is some forced repetition. But other than those small hiccups it's a nice improvement in all areas for what this sequel should be.
my favorite game ive played in a very long time. i did not expect to get addicted to this. its very rare for a game to live up to two decades of hype. tons of small secrets, behaviors, and paths to find. great variety of pokemon. as a gen 2 fan, im glad to see this many gen 2 pokemon in a game like this. replayable til the end of the earth trying to get the perfect pictures and all the behaviors. however its lacking evolutions, the menu sounds bug me, and the characters look off, not to mention how cringe they are
Well, that was quite fun.
I didn‘t expect more than „more of the original“ and got pretty much exactly that.
And boy, it looks so gorgeous.
When I started playing, I was eager to 100% it, but now after completing the story, I‘m not sure if I‘ve got enough energy for that. Maybe someday...
I didn‘t expect more than „more of the original“ and got pretty much exactly that.
And boy, it looks so gorgeous.
When I started playing, I was eager to 100% it, but now after completing the story, I‘m not sure if I‘ve got enough energy for that. Maybe someday...
This review contains spoilers
Simple concept, excellent execution.
I remember playing Snap 64 as a kid; it was only brief and I had a lot of fun, and looking back on it, the game was janky as hell and kind of not good, but that was the fun of it. New Pokemon Snap takes all of the elements of its predecessor and improves them tenfold.
This is not a spoiler-free review, so proceed with caution.
I'll be the first to admit I was dubious about purchasing this game. I wasn't confident in it and I'd put the idea of it on the backburner - but it was a last minute preorder, and something I'm glad I decided to play.
New Pokemon Snap is graphically gorgeous. With expansive environments and lively models, it brings the Pokemon world to life like no game before. Every new interaction between different Pokemon or them and their environment got me excited; seeing Skorupi murdered in multiple ways in the Sands, or seeing Tyrantrum and Charizard throwing hands, or picking apart the little pieces of worldbuilding - everything came together so well, and resulted in an engaging and fascinating experience.
I have not started to 100% this game. I know I'm going to be spending many more hours on this game. The main campaign being finished isn't even the start of things to come; interactions with Pokemon are so varied and sometimes so convoluted that you wouldn't think to try something until someone else does it. The handholding completely ends after the initial segment of the game and multiple times I got a little baffled, but it's a matter of trying things until something happens.
It's also basically a horror game. Do you know how many times I got jumpscared by something throwing itself in front of me, or just standing behind me? Menacingly? At one point I got eaten by a giant fish. To say that Pokemon Snap is mildly terrifying at all the wrong moments is an understatement. But that's the fun of it.
I have to circle back to the graphics again, though. There's just so much life in the models and texture in the littlest things - Arbok having scales, the fur on Houndoom and Bidoof, everything about the water... I could go on about the environments at all times. There's weight and beauty to the entire region, and the colours are so vibrant. Finding ruins and pieces of worldbuilding is exciting and fresh - puzzling together who could've been here before you, what certain things mean. The underwater level is understandably terrifying (not just because of my phobia of the deep sea) because there's such a well-made atmosphere; when things are empty, it feels ominous because the rest of the world is usually so vivid and alive. The boss section where you Literally Get Eaten By A Fish is honestly up there in my Top Ten Scary Moments in Games That Aren't Meant To Be Scary. In this game, empty means that something bigger than everything else is around, and that's also true for real life. Have you ever been in an area with a mountain lion? That shit gets so quiet. You know you're going to die.
Maybe I'm just naturesexual and maybe I also just think that wildlife photography is one of the sexiest occupations, but the New Pokemon Snap is a must-play for people who enjoy fun.
4.5/5 because I'm not joking when I say the underwater parts are scary as shit. I don't trust like that.
I remember playing Snap 64 as a kid; it was only brief and I had a lot of fun, and looking back on it, the game was janky as hell and kind of not good, but that was the fun of it. New Pokemon Snap takes all of the elements of its predecessor and improves them tenfold.
This is not a spoiler-free review, so proceed with caution.
I'll be the first to admit I was dubious about purchasing this game. I wasn't confident in it and I'd put the idea of it on the backburner - but it was a last minute preorder, and something I'm glad I decided to play.
New Pokemon Snap is graphically gorgeous. With expansive environments and lively models, it brings the Pokemon world to life like no game before. Every new interaction between different Pokemon or them and their environment got me excited; seeing Skorupi murdered in multiple ways in the Sands, or seeing Tyrantrum and Charizard throwing hands, or picking apart the little pieces of worldbuilding - everything came together so well, and resulted in an engaging and fascinating experience.
I have not started to 100% this game. I know I'm going to be spending many more hours on this game. The main campaign being finished isn't even the start of things to come; interactions with Pokemon are so varied and sometimes so convoluted that you wouldn't think to try something until someone else does it. The handholding completely ends after the initial segment of the game and multiple times I got a little baffled, but it's a matter of trying things until something happens.
It's also basically a horror game. Do you know how many times I got jumpscared by something throwing itself in front of me, or just standing behind me? Menacingly? At one point I got eaten by a giant fish. To say that Pokemon Snap is mildly terrifying at all the wrong moments is an understatement. But that's the fun of it.
I have to circle back to the graphics again, though. There's just so much life in the models and texture in the littlest things - Arbok having scales, the fur on Houndoom and Bidoof, everything about the water... I could go on about the environments at all times. There's weight and beauty to the entire region, and the colours are so vibrant. Finding ruins and pieces of worldbuilding is exciting and fresh - puzzling together who could've been here before you, what certain things mean. The underwater level is understandably terrifying (not just because of my phobia of the deep sea) because there's such a well-made atmosphere; when things are empty, it feels ominous because the rest of the world is usually so vivid and alive. The boss section where you Literally Get Eaten By A Fish is honestly up there in my Top Ten Scary Moments in Games That Aren't Meant To Be Scary. In this game, empty means that something bigger than everything else is around, and that's also true for real life. Have you ever been in an area with a mountain lion? That shit gets so quiet. You know you're going to die.
Maybe I'm just naturesexual and maybe I also just think that wildlife photography is one of the sexiest occupations, but the New Pokemon Snap is a must-play for people who enjoy fun.
4.5/5 because I'm not joking when I say the underwater parts are scary as shit. I don't trust like that.
A really fun game over 20 years in the making! This game completely invalidates any chance of me returning to the original as this game is just strictly better in almost every way.
I do miss evolutions and there are parts with obtuse direction, and yeah, some high-scoring images don't feel like high-scoring images, but this is still a beautiful, fun rail-shooter. I'm so happy this game turned out so well.
I do miss evolutions and there are parts with obtuse direction, and yeah, some high-scoring images don't feel like high-scoring images, but this is still a beautiful, fun rail-shooter. I'm so happy this game turned out so well.
This review contains spoilers
New Pokémon Snap has some of the most questionable and infuriating design choices for such a simple, basic game that they're not oversights, they're straight up ways to force the player to put more time into the game to make it feel longer.
For one thing you can only show the professor a single picture of any Pokémon after each run. Why is that bad? Because the photodex has 4 spots for each Pokémon at varying stars, with 1 star being just a basic pose and 4 stars being some kind of special action you need to get the Pokémon to do. You could literally have 4 perfect photos for each rank on one run, but are forced to only use 1 of them and thus have to play the course a minimum of 3 more times. It also means you often have to choose between completing a request, or getting a new rank stamped into the photodex. Speaking of which...
The request system is soooooo bad. They're essentially side quests, or even just hints on how to get certain 4 star shots in some cases. The problem is you don't unlock any given request until one run AFTER you can first get said photo. So if a request involves the secret route of a stage? You won't get that request until you've been down the route once already. A huge problem with this is that requests don't unlock retroactively. You could have snapped that perfect shot that fulfilled the request the first time round, but since you don't get requests the first time round, the professor won't count it, EVEN IF IT'S THE PHOTO USED IN THE PHOTODEX. And you can't just snap the request shot either, it has to specifically be the single photo you choose to show the professor, and it doesn't even tell you which photos you've taken happen to have meet the criteria of an active quest. So you may even end up redoing that request, sacrificing the chance at getting a new star photo, only for it to not even beat the request now because the timing is off by half a second or some crap.
Requests are also vague as hell and often don't give nearly enough info. Sometimes it's as generic as "look for this Pokémon doing this thing in a course and take a photo of it with no other interaction. Other times it involves a very convoluted series of events across an entire stage that involve using any combination of the 4 tools for interacting with Pokémon at your disposal. Maybe you need to throw an orb at a Pokémon here so it'll appear later, then you can feed it a fluffruit in the next section so it'll appear in the NEXT section to interact with another Pokémon - and you think hey that's the shot I need since the description talks about Pokémon A interacting with Pokémon B? But no! Taking a photo of THIS moment won't beat the quest, you also had to play the Pokéflute to have them dance despite the request description giving zero indication that anything more than having the Pokémon meet was needed.
It doesn't help that the items aren't even consistent. They're basically a coin toss on if it will even affect the Pokémon, and if it does it's still a coin toss on HOW it'll affect them - will it be a minor reaction to get you a 2 star rank? Will it be the first step in a long ladder of actions to get a big event? You'll never know because there's so many Pokémon at any given time that to perfectly understand the mechanics of how any single one works you'd basically need to put your focus entirely on them, and then try out every combination of interaction to see what happens. Of course you might not even realise if something does or doesn't work because that Pikachu you saw earlier than you interacted with may or may not be the same Pikachu later in the course ready for the next step of its flowchart of bullshit, or it might just be another random Pikachu who is always scheduled to be here because many Pokémon appear dozens of times in a stage, yet that won't stop the game expecting you to know which exact one is needed to play scavenger hunt with.
Oh and if you think just trying every item out will be enough to get there through trial and error think again. Sometimes it takes multiple actions of the same thing to activate an event. You try throwing fruit at it? Nothing. Try throwing an orb? Nothing. Try playing music? Nothing. Try taking a photo? Nothing. So I guess this Pokémon doesn't do anything? Well no it's because you actually had to throw 6 fruit at it, so have fun trying out every combination of every interaction multiple damn times just for a CHANCE at hopefully getting the shot you need.
You can ignore all these requests but then the game is basically just a boring, slow, tour through a bunch of pre-set Pokémon animations, which do look nice, but... it's barely even a game. It's a showcase of what they can do with the technology.
Other things that suck: Fluffruit and orb throwing distance is pretty pathetic (orb less so). Have fun trying to hit a moving target in a small time window while you yourself are moving and can't seem to throw the fruit more than 3 feet in front of you.
The camera can barely even function properly when there's more than one Pokémon in a small space. A Squirtle riding a Lapras? Well surely if you put the cursor directly over Squirtle it'll count as Squirtle, right? Nope. It still thinks it's Lapras. This will become a huge pain when you need to get a shot of a specific mon for a request, because you can't just get a shot that completes the request btw, it has to be focused on that specific Pokémon that game determines is the only one able to complete the request. Like there's a request to get a shot of Pancham and Bulbasaur on top of Drampa. First of all it doesn't even give any real hint of which Pokémon should the photo be taken of, because the request only says "A Pokémon riding Drampa" whereas in the actual game there's two Pokémon riding it. Anyway turns out it's Pancham, so you aim your camera and snap a pic of Pancham on top of Drampa's head, and the game decides to count it as Drampa, so you have to struggle with the camera until it recognises Pancham as the focus and take another shot (in a very brief time window). Even though the game has 2 identical photos that show the exact same thing, it's ONLY the Pancham one that will meet the request.
The most enjoyment I had from the game probably came from the photo editing. It's not super indepth or anything, but you can create a lot of fun photos with it (some filters feel insanely broken though and just make a picture a blur of ugly pixels without giving the intended effect). But when you try getting to the sharing portion more problems prop up. Like you can only ever have 6 photos on your online profile at a time, so you'll be waiting through a lot of deleting to get new ones you want to show off. But whether anyone will see your photos or not is entirely up to RNG, and even if they do get seen, it'll only be for a few minutes before they're kicked off for the next set of highlighted photos. I could upload some photos and sometimes they'd get 0 interactions, other times they'd get 500 in minutes, but after that initial burst it'll disappear from basically everywhere on the game except your own personal page (which no one except friends will ever have a reason to visit). It feels super unrewarding to put the time into creating a photo just to throw it into the wind and hope it gets its literal 5 minutes of fame before it becomes as good as not even existing.
So the game is lacking in basic quality of life features that make me wonder if the people behind the game have ever even played a video game in their life. Basic gameplay is boring and super slow until you unlock the booster about 90% of the way into the game. The deeper level of gameplay is overly vague and convoluted, with inconsistent mechanics. The photo editing portion is fun if super simplified, and the photo sharing portion is underutilised.
Oh yeah and the story is dull, full of nothing characters with only the most incredibly simple personality traits and somehow still manages to put out too many text boxes of useless dialogue while the models play flat animations each time you go to the next line.
The game does do a great job at being a graphical showcase of making nature areas for Pokémon to live in, and in that regard I can say it improved my opinion on certain Pokémon thanks to filling them with so much more life than they've ever had before. But the worst part is people will forever use this game as a comparison of graphics and animation to say why the mainline games suck, even though this game can only look so great because it’s so basic in gameplay, and with so few variety in things they even need to program.
For one thing you can only show the professor a single picture of any Pokémon after each run. Why is that bad? Because the photodex has 4 spots for each Pokémon at varying stars, with 1 star being just a basic pose and 4 stars being some kind of special action you need to get the Pokémon to do. You could literally have 4 perfect photos for each rank on one run, but are forced to only use 1 of them and thus have to play the course a minimum of 3 more times. It also means you often have to choose between completing a request, or getting a new rank stamped into the photodex. Speaking of which...
The request system is soooooo bad. They're essentially side quests, or even just hints on how to get certain 4 star shots in some cases. The problem is you don't unlock any given request until one run AFTER you can first get said photo. So if a request involves the secret route of a stage? You won't get that request until you've been down the route once already. A huge problem with this is that requests don't unlock retroactively. You could have snapped that perfect shot that fulfilled the request the first time round, but since you don't get requests the first time round, the professor won't count it, EVEN IF IT'S THE PHOTO USED IN THE PHOTODEX. And you can't just snap the request shot either, it has to specifically be the single photo you choose to show the professor, and it doesn't even tell you which photos you've taken happen to have meet the criteria of an active quest. So you may even end up redoing that request, sacrificing the chance at getting a new star photo, only for it to not even beat the request now because the timing is off by half a second or some crap.
Requests are also vague as hell and often don't give nearly enough info. Sometimes it's as generic as "look for this Pokémon doing this thing in a course and take a photo of it with no other interaction. Other times it involves a very convoluted series of events across an entire stage that involve using any combination of the 4 tools for interacting with Pokémon at your disposal. Maybe you need to throw an orb at a Pokémon here so it'll appear later, then you can feed it a fluffruit in the next section so it'll appear in the NEXT section to interact with another Pokémon - and you think hey that's the shot I need since the description talks about Pokémon A interacting with Pokémon B? But no! Taking a photo of THIS moment won't beat the quest, you also had to play the Pokéflute to have them dance despite the request description giving zero indication that anything more than having the Pokémon meet was needed.
It doesn't help that the items aren't even consistent. They're basically a coin toss on if it will even affect the Pokémon, and if it does it's still a coin toss on HOW it'll affect them - will it be a minor reaction to get you a 2 star rank? Will it be the first step in a long ladder of actions to get a big event? You'll never know because there's so many Pokémon at any given time that to perfectly understand the mechanics of how any single one works you'd basically need to put your focus entirely on them, and then try out every combination of interaction to see what happens. Of course you might not even realise if something does or doesn't work because that Pikachu you saw earlier than you interacted with may or may not be the same Pikachu later in the course ready for the next step of its flowchart of bullshit, or it might just be another random Pikachu who is always scheduled to be here because many Pokémon appear dozens of times in a stage, yet that won't stop the game expecting you to know which exact one is needed to play scavenger hunt with.
Oh and if you think just trying every item out will be enough to get there through trial and error think again. Sometimes it takes multiple actions of the same thing to activate an event. You try throwing fruit at it? Nothing. Try throwing an orb? Nothing. Try playing music? Nothing. Try taking a photo? Nothing. So I guess this Pokémon doesn't do anything? Well no it's because you actually had to throw 6 fruit at it, so have fun trying out every combination of every interaction multiple damn times just for a CHANCE at hopefully getting the shot you need.
You can ignore all these requests but then the game is basically just a boring, slow, tour through a bunch of pre-set Pokémon animations, which do look nice, but... it's barely even a game. It's a showcase of what they can do with the technology.
Other things that suck: Fluffruit and orb throwing distance is pretty pathetic (orb less so). Have fun trying to hit a moving target in a small time window while you yourself are moving and can't seem to throw the fruit more than 3 feet in front of you.
The camera can barely even function properly when there's more than one Pokémon in a small space. A Squirtle riding a Lapras? Well surely if you put the cursor directly over Squirtle it'll count as Squirtle, right? Nope. It still thinks it's Lapras. This will become a huge pain when you need to get a shot of a specific mon for a request, because you can't just get a shot that completes the request btw, it has to be focused on that specific Pokémon that game determines is the only one able to complete the request. Like there's a request to get a shot of Pancham and Bulbasaur on top of Drampa. First of all it doesn't even give any real hint of which Pokémon should the photo be taken of, because the request only says "A Pokémon riding Drampa" whereas in the actual game there's two Pokémon riding it. Anyway turns out it's Pancham, so you aim your camera and snap a pic of Pancham on top of Drampa's head, and the game decides to count it as Drampa, so you have to struggle with the camera until it recognises Pancham as the focus and take another shot (in a very brief time window). Even though the game has 2 identical photos that show the exact same thing, it's ONLY the Pancham one that will meet the request.
The most enjoyment I had from the game probably came from the photo editing. It's not super indepth or anything, but you can create a lot of fun photos with it (some filters feel insanely broken though and just make a picture a blur of ugly pixels without giving the intended effect). But when you try getting to the sharing portion more problems prop up. Like you can only ever have 6 photos on your online profile at a time, so you'll be waiting through a lot of deleting to get new ones you want to show off. But whether anyone will see your photos or not is entirely up to RNG, and even if they do get seen, it'll only be for a few minutes before they're kicked off for the next set of highlighted photos. I could upload some photos and sometimes they'd get 0 interactions, other times they'd get 500 in minutes, but after that initial burst it'll disappear from basically everywhere on the game except your own personal page (which no one except friends will ever have a reason to visit). It feels super unrewarding to put the time into creating a photo just to throw it into the wind and hope it gets its literal 5 minutes of fame before it becomes as good as not even existing.
So the game is lacking in basic quality of life features that make me wonder if the people behind the game have ever even played a video game in their life. Basic gameplay is boring and super slow until you unlock the booster about 90% of the way into the game. The deeper level of gameplay is overly vague and convoluted, with inconsistent mechanics. The photo editing portion is fun if super simplified, and the photo sharing portion is underutilised.
Oh yeah and the story is dull, full of nothing characters with only the most incredibly simple personality traits and somehow still manages to put out too many text boxes of useless dialogue while the models play flat animations each time you go to the next line.
The game does do a great job at being a graphical showcase of making nature areas for Pokémon to live in, and in that regard I can say it improved my opinion on certain Pokémon thanks to filling them with so much more life than they've ever had before. But the worst part is people will forever use this game as a comparison of graphics and animation to say why the mainline games suck, even though this game can only look so great because it’s so basic in gameplay, and with so few variety in things they even need to program.
Turn mainline Pokemon into a photography series, there I said it.
This is genuinely the most immersive, and graphically impressive pokemon experience out there. The levels actually feel like you're naturally stumbling upon pokemon just living in the world, and interacting with one another. I'm also excited that it's an incredibly much longer game than the original, with plenty more stages, and lots of photo opportunities to discover. The game does have an issue where you'll have to repeatedly play stages to unlock more pokemon in the stage. So while it's a different experience almost every time you jump in, it can sometimes feel like tedious busy work. Overall, it does a great job of moving along smoothly, and making sure you're snapping lots of new and exciting pokemon constantly. If you're a fan of the old one at all, this will defenitely not disappoint.
A worthy successor to the original. It's more then just a nostalgia trip, as the game is genuinely fun, with beautiful courses, a great soundtrack and cute pokemon!
Even with its short play through time, it became a bit tiresome and repetitive towards the end.
Even with its short play through time, it became a bit tiresome and repetitive towards the end.
4 stars alone for luvdisc's heart-shaped scales and for lapras looking gorgeous against a sunset <3
Pokemon Snap is far and away my favorite Pokemon game. It was a flawed photography experience in that you were attempting to please an AI that didn't know what photography was but insisted on judging photographs anyway, and the on-rails format wasn't ideal, but the best part of Pokemon to me has always been the charming creature design and friendly vibes. I get some joy out of the standard RPG series, but I was endeared to the world through the original Snap on N64.
I've always wanted a sequel but I envisioned the franchise moving to a downloadable budget format, perhaps every few years, with new locales to explore and Pokemon to see. The biggest compliment I can offer to New Pokemon Snap [great title guys!!] is that this is visually what this concept has always deserved. The scenery is gorgeous, the Pokemon are as cute as ever, and it's nice to see the photo sim expand beyond the original Pokedex. That is an unquestionable improvement over the 1999 original. However I think nearly every other choice they've made--the vast majority of which were made in honor of Value--is detrimental to what this experience is to me.
It's not enough that you aim for a high value photograph of each Pokemon and are rewarded for fun poses--now there are four different "star" categories for each one that are often defined by those poses and actions, each with varying "ratings." It's not enough that you have X number of courses--each course has to have a leveling system where new, incredibly minor scenarios are unlocked at different levels, and also sometimes there is a night version to double the grind. It's not enough to have one "special" course to cap off the game--there are now quite a few of them sprinkled throughout the campaign, and they're about as tedious as the original one which only succeeded through its novelty.
Not much has changed about the core experience of the game though, which is only a blessing insofar as I really wanted another one of these and that was enough to have a decent time. It's such a wasted opportunity though. I wish they spent the last two decades thinking about how to actually evolve this concept, maybe looking at the indie space or games like Afrika. Why is this still on rails? Why did you guys just make this longer? Ugh. Oh well, thanks for including my boy Emolga at least.
I've always wanted a sequel but I envisioned the franchise moving to a downloadable budget format, perhaps every few years, with new locales to explore and Pokemon to see. The biggest compliment I can offer to New Pokemon Snap [great title guys!!] is that this is visually what this concept has always deserved. The scenery is gorgeous, the Pokemon are as cute as ever, and it's nice to see the photo sim expand beyond the original Pokedex. That is an unquestionable improvement over the 1999 original. However I think nearly every other choice they've made--the vast majority of which were made in honor of Value--is detrimental to what this experience is to me.
It's not enough that you aim for a high value photograph of each Pokemon and are rewarded for fun poses--now there are four different "star" categories for each one that are often defined by those poses and actions, each with varying "ratings." It's not enough that you have X number of courses--each course has to have a leveling system where new, incredibly minor scenarios are unlocked at different levels, and also sometimes there is a night version to double the grind. It's not enough to have one "special" course to cap off the game--there are now quite a few of them sprinkled throughout the campaign, and they're about as tedious as the original one which only succeeded through its novelty.
Not much has changed about the core experience of the game though, which is only a blessing insofar as I really wanted another one of these and that was enough to have a decent time. It's such a wasted opportunity though. I wish they spent the last two decades thinking about how to actually evolve this concept, maybe looking at the indie space or games like Afrika. Why is this still on rails? Why did you guys just make this longer? Ugh. Oh well, thanks for including my boy Emolga at least.