Pokémon Sun Review

(WARNING: This will spoil the main story of Pokèmon Sun, and will briefly cover some post game features.)

Pokèmon Sun and Moon have been teased since February 2016, and are the games that come out for Pokèmon’s 20th anniversary. Not to mention all the hype they have been given from everyone, so how does it hold up? Does it exceed our expectations, or does the hype train crash and burn?

Story

As with so many Pokèmon games before this, you’re the new kid in the region, but this time, you’ve moved to Alola from Kanto. You see a girl running into the woods to stop a Pokèmon. You decide to run and go help her, when you find her Pokèmon being attacked on a bridge. You run ahead to help it, but the bridge breaks, dropping you hundreds of feet towards spikes. You suddenly get saved by a mysterious Pokèmon, who you later learn is Melemele Island’s guardian, Tapu Koko. He then puts you back on land and gives you a Z-ring, which is one way someone will be allowed to take the island challenge.

After you are allowed to take the Island Challenge, the Professor of Alola, Professor Kukui, meets you and asks you to fill in the pokedex. You also find out that the girl you helped earlier, Lillie, is the professor’s assistant. She is also protecting a rare Pokèmon named Cosmog. You start your island journey, and along the way meet Team Skull and the Aether Foundation. Team Skull is a gang that steals and sells Pokèmon from trainers. The Aether Foundation is a nature preserve that helps all Pokèmon, especially those targeted by Team Skull. After you beat all the trials and then the grand trial on an island, you move to the next. Along your journey you keep meeting both groups, until you eventually end up at Aether Paradise, the base of operations for the Aether Foundation. You learn about this portal called the Ultra Wormhole, and how it let out these things called Ultra Beasts that the Island Guardians and the legendary Pokèmon of Alola, Solgaleo, had to fight off and send back into their world. After learning this you fight and beat UB-01, otherwise known as Nihilego, after it appeared out of an Ultra Wormhole.

Afterwards, you continue with your Island Challenge, until during one of your trials, a little girl gets her Yungoos stolen by Team Skull, and they make you go alone to Po Town, a town ruled by Team Skull. You go in their, take down the members and their leader Guzma, and get the girl her Yungoos back. While you were gone, Lillie and Cosmog disappeared, but were taken by the Aether Foundation. You find out that the Aether Foundation is working in tandem with Team Skull, and that their ulterior motive was to release the Ultra Beasts to wreak havoc on the entire Alola region. You don’t manage to stop the president of the Aether Foundation, Lusamine, from letting loose some Ultra Beasts, however the Island Guardians fight them off. You’re also told that Lusamine is the mother of Lillie and Gladion, a trainer who’s working for Team Skull for his own personal gain. Then, after fighting Lusamine, both she and Guzma disappear into the Ultra Wormhole, and then it closes. Lillie wants to see here mother again, so you go to Poni Island to help her, and to finish your Island Challenge.

When you get there you go to The Altar Of The Sunne to summon the legendary Pokèmon Solgaleo. He is transformed from Cosmog, and then takes you to the Ultra World, where all the Ultra Beasts live. You get there and find Guzma, who is scared of how Lusamine reacted when she was there. Lusamine then fuses with a Nihilego to become the final boss, and also giving her Pokèmon Totem-like abilities. When you beat her, she faints from exhaustion. Lillie decides to stay with here and take care of her, and you finish your Island Challenge, and make your way to the newly established Pokèmon League.

You fight the Elite Four, who are just the Kahunas of each island, and then you’ve become the champion…except for that Professor Kukui was the champion when he established it. If you beat him you become the first true champion of Alola. Back on your new home of Melemele Island everyone is having a festival for you, but Lillie and you decide to go back to Tapu Koko’s ruins, where your entire adventure started. He comes out to fight you, and you can either catch or kill him. After that, everything you do is up to you!

Gameplay

Pokèmon has always only really had two types of gameplay, the battles and the exploration. The exploration takes place on the overworld, and generally involves revisiting places, and being able to do more upon revisits. The most important type of gameplay is the battles, and since those are about 90% of the game, they’ve got to be done well. The battles succeed in what all other games set up, but then it goes beyond all others in its interface. The new and improved battle interface will show you how effective moves will be, show what the moves will do, show the other Pokèmon’s type, show any status effects, and show any stat buffs or debuffs. The other new feature is Z-moves. Z-moves are stronger than normal moves that can be used once a battle when a Pokèmon is a holding a specific Z-crystal.

During the exploration you’ll be given a quest to do, which kicks off the story. Every other main series Pokèmon game has followed the same formula of fighting eight type themed gyms, fighting a strong group of trainers called the Elite Four, then fighting the current champion. However, Alola wants to be different, so it decides that you aren’t on one solid land region, you’re on four separate islands. Each island also has trials instead of gyms. Each trial is based on a certain type, and is run by a certain captain. Each trial does end with you fighting a Totem Pokèmon, and then getting a Z-crystal. Each island also has one final Grand Challenge, where you fight the Kahuna, which is essentially a stronger captain. Each of the four islands’ Kahuna do become the Elite Four, which is the first ever Elite Four, as Professor Kukui made Alola’s first ever Pokèmon League while you were on your Island Challenge.

Graphics

The graphics in Pokèmon Sun and Moon are the best in the series, showing that the mastery of 3D graphics Nintendo uses on consoles doesn’t slip one bit when working on a less powerful system. There have only been two other 3D main series Pokèmon games, and those were Pokèmon X and Y and Pokèmon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Both of those games went for a more cartoonish character style, whereas Sun and Moon go for a more realistic look. All three games also share cutscenes that have pre rendered graphics, and look very realistic and well made. Whenever you cut back from one of those scenes, though, the characters would look a lot more simplistic. Well, that isn’t the case for Sun and Moon. The character models look similar to those in the cutscenes, but are still more simplified so that they don’t look too realistic in contrast to the actual Pokèmon.

Speaking of the Pokèmon, they look great both in and out of battle. The models of the new Pokèmon look great, and are very lively. “Very lively” also describes how battles have become. Aside from gameplay changes, the looks of everything has changed. Your Pokèmon are moving around, looking at the scenery, and have multiple animations for attacking and being attacked. Now you’ll also have a different background depending on where you’re fighting, and none of them are reused for different places. Another major difference from other games is that a 3D model of both trainers will be behind their Pokèmon, and will move around. The environment also moves around such as leaves falling or water rippling, which really makes the world feel alive.

Final Thoughts

I think that Pokèmon Sun may be the strongest game in the series. It was able to mix up the basic formula like fans wanted, but not too much as too alienate new or returning players. This is also the first Pokèmon game that has an engaging and enriching story that flows well and doesn’t feel rushed or shoved in. The new Pokèmon designs were great, the people and world felt real and alive, and the game could even be considered art.

9/10

Pros

• Great story
• Challenging, but not too hard, gameplay
• Beautiful and crisp animation
• Long playtime
• Lots of replay ability

Cons

• Lots of content could isolate some new players