For the last few weeks, I have been spending my nights (and any train journeys) playing the new Pokemon Moon on my husbands Nintendo 3DS. That’s right I stole his 3DS because I am the only person in the family who doesn’t have one (now if that is not a huge hint at what I want for Christmas I don’t know what is!).
I attended the special prelaunch event in London with my Mum a few weeks ago as we are both big Pokemon fans and it was there that I decided that I wanted to play Pokemon Moon instead of Pokemon Sun. This was a tough decision but as Moon is based 12 hours after our normal time I decided that this would be best for me as I mostly play games in the evenings. It was also at this event that I chose my starter Pokemon, the fabulous Litten.
Pokemon Moon (and Sun) are set in the Alola region and you have to travel around the islands completing trials and defeating the totem Pokemon before competing in the grand trails of the island. To do this you need to catch, train and battle with your Pokemon.
I am around 17 hours into the game and have completed the trials on two of the islands and have just arrived on the third island. There is a lot still to do and I know I will also have to travel back to the other islands to try and fill up my Pokedex as I will want to have caught all of the available Pokemon before moving on to Pokemon Sun. I am really happy that I have managed to evolve my Litten all the way up to the Incineroar although, to be honest, I thought that it was cuter as Torracat
If you have played the previous Pokemon games on the Nintendo handheld consoles then the gameplay will not be at all surprising and you will still see some of the monotonous language that I wish was easier to skip sometimes. They have however introduced some new elements to this game including the new Battle Royal where four trainers battle against each other and Poke ride which allows you to travel on the back of a variety of Pokemon. I love this feature especially riding on Charizard to get to somewhere you have already visited which saves an awful lot of walking.
As well as seeing some old favourites popping up in the different areas you will also notice some regional variants where the colour or shape of the Pokemon is slightly different. This is due to the distinctive microclimates of the Alola region.
As you wander around the Alola region you will also have to battle Team Skull who are the bad guys in this game, their fighting skills and Pokemon are pretty poor so you don’t need to worry about them too much but I am sure there is a good storyline waiting for me as I progress further through the game.
I have had an amazing time playing Pokemon Moon and I am afraid that hubby is not getting his 3DS back any time soon because I have many more hours left to play and then I will need to get Pokemon Sun too!