Among the many franchises born in Japan, none has managed to achieve the same success as Pokemon. Pocket monsters have in fact managed to become a real hit over the years cult phenomenon which has managed to span across every multimedia genre, from video games to live action films. The next October 30th will be available worldwide on Pokémon Pocket Trading Card Gamea new application for iOS and Android devices inspired by the much-loved Trading Card Game that will allow us to collect hundreds of digital cards and use them to challenge friends near and far in Fast and fun fights.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to fly to Milan at the invitation of The Pokémon Company and spend almost two hours in the company of this new mobile title. After a brief introduction to the game and its mechanics, the software house gave me the opportunity to try it out first-hand, in this preview article I will reveal to you my first impressions on the Pokémon Pocket Trading Card Game.
Are you ready to unpack with me?
From the first minutes of the presentation held by the software house it was immediately clear how the collectible factor is one of the key elements of this new mobile title. Each player will have at their disposal two free Expansion Packs every day and, by opening them, you will be able to collect the five cards present within them. These will thus become part of its Cardexthe more complete the collection, the greater the number of missions that will be completed, thus guaranteeing the player many exclusive prizes. Among them we find Binder in which to collect your favorite cards and show them to your friends, icons for our profile and even the Bulletin boardsa series of exclusive backgrounds thanks to which we will be able to display a card.
The cards will be made by Creatures, Inc. and in every expansion they will be present both original illustrations and some nostalgic illustrations inspired by the Collectible Card Gameand will be categorized differently than those in the paper game. The rarest ones we can find will be the Immersive Cardswhich will give us the opportunity to dive into the illustration and discover what lies beyond what we can normally see in a map Pokemon.
I found it very interesting to see how, even through a screen, both the packs and the cards have a sense of realism and depth. Depending on how we slide our finger, in fact, we risk open the package imperfectlyor by rotating it the cards will be drawn in reverse thus allowing us to see the back first and having to turn them around to find out what we were able to find. I was amazed by the quality of the holographic effects present and found the idea of Immersive Cards is very ingenioussince it would be impossible to reproduce them in a physical product.
The first expansion of the Pokémon TCG Pocket will be Supreme Geniuses (A1)which will contain more than 200 different cards. The packs of this expansion will feature three packs with different illustrations: one dedicated to Mewtwoone to Pikachu and one a Charizard. Some of the cards we will be able to find will be exclusive to a specific type of sachetmaking the unpacking even more interesting. The software house has anticipated that the expansions for this mobile title will be released on a different schedule than the traditional GCC.
But unpacking will not be the only way we will have to get new cards. In fact, within the game there is the Mysterious Fishingmechanics that will allow us to get a random card from among those drawn by another player to its last opening. It will be possible to preview the latest packs opened by friends and players from all over the world, thus allowing us to carefully choose which one to try to obtain for our collection. This mechanic will harness the Mysterious Energywhich recharges over time, and the amount of energy used for each draw will depend on the rarity of the cards we are trying to obtain.
I think the idea of releasing three different variants for the expansions is a good choice, as it will allow us to to be able to aim more easily at our favorite cards if they are in a specific package. It is not clear at the moment whether this differentiation will be maintained for each expansion, the software house has in fact anticipated that not all of them will have the same number of cards inside them. I also found the Mysterious Peach interesting, it is a great incentive to interact with other players and make friends online so we can get additional cards without either of us losing anything.
Another very important mechanic of the Pokémon TCG Pocket is in his Fights rapids. For the occasion, in fact, the company has I’ve thinned out the rules of the gamecreating short fights in which the first player to earn three points wins. Energy cards will not be present, but one energy will be automatically generated each turn and it will be possible to freely assign it to both the Pokémon on the field and those on the bench, which will be three. Each deck will be composed of 20 cardsand we can either build it freely or get help thanks to the function automatic construction.
There are two types of battles, we can in fact decide to challenge the CPU using both pre-set decks and custom decks or challenge friends or players from all over the world. For those new to battle or for those who want to refresh the rules, there will be a Auto Fight function where the CPU will take our place, allowing us to discover new tactics and improve our skills. It will also be possible to acquire some very particular Decks for hirewhich however can only be used a certain number of times.
Personally I think that having thinned out the rules and rebalanced the battles is a panacea for this applicationsince we can’t always spend too much time playing with our mobile device. Having quick fights available, without losing that sense of challengeit’s definitely a plus for the game. I’m really curious to see like these rules will influence deck creationand if and how certain card archetypes will be integrated in the future. I’m not a big fan of Auto Battle mechanics, and a bit I wonder How this will impact online battles since I haven’t had the chance to try it out first hand.
Last but not least, I’ll tell you about the Premium Pass which will be present inside the Pokémon Pocket Trading Card GameThanks to it we will be able to obtain the possibility of open an additional booster pack every daythus bringing the free packages to three every 24 hours, and being able to Take on Premium Missions to earn exclusive rewards such as promotional cards and other in-game items. For now, promotional cards will only vary in the illustrationbut the abilities and power in battle will remain the same as those already present in the game. Players who subscribe for the first time will have a two-week free trial periodso you can decide whether to take out a full subscription or continue playing without additional costs.
After having tried it in preview I am of the opinion that The Pokémon Pocket Trading Card Game It will be tempting for a lot of players pocket monster lovers. I think the software house’s choice to focus the gameplay on collecting is really spot on, especially if combined with the possibility of sharing our personalized collections with friends from all over the world. During the event, the software house also anticipated that in the future he also intends to introduce player-to-player exchangesmaking clear the desire to support the application not only with new cards but also with the introduction of additional mechanics.
While I’m not typically a big fan of mobile games I have to admit that The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket could be the exception. The sense of community that could be created around the game is really great, especially thanks to the possibility of being able to share one’s loot thanks to the Mysterious Exchanges. I remain a little dubious about the Premium Pass functionalthough at the moment it is a question of purely aesthetic contents even for the cards I wouldn’t want this to change in the future leaving some of the rarest cards relegated to those who decide to purchase it. Unfortunately, at the moment it is a doubt that only time will dispel.
Are you excited to play the Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket? Do you have a favorite TCG card that you hope will be digitized in this new mobile title? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks again to The Pokémon Company for inviting me to the Pokémon Pocket Trading Card Game preview event.
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