Playing Pokemon TCG Pocket brought me back to my childhood

When the Pokémon trading card game Pocket was first announced, I wasn’t too sold on it. I avidly collected cards as a kid and spent literally hundreds of hours playing Game Boy Color games, but I wasn’t quite sure how gacha games could recapture that magic.

After playing for a few hours, I’m happy to report that I was wrong. By focusing almost primarily on the collecting portion of Pokémon TCG, it avoids most of the pitfalls of mobile gaming.

Of course, there’s still a lot of battle passes and monetization, but the overall experience is much better than expected and relaxing.

From the beginning of the game, it is clear that the main objective is to collect cards. When you open the app, the first tutorial will ask you to open a pack. In fact, you can’t even fight until you’ve explored the various menus and opened three or four packs.

By default, you can unlock two packs per day every 12 hours. Earning currency through gameplay reduces the time required and allows you to open more packs per day. However, after the first mission, don’t expect more than 2 packs per day. There’s also a Battle Pass, with the main reward being an extra pack per day, for a total of three.

This may sound strange to some people. A game where combat takes a backseat? Why would anyone play it? Isn’t this just a pack opening simulator?

The simple answer is that this is not a game for hardcore competition. That’s fine!

There is another Pokemon TCG title for more serious competition called Pokemon TCG Live. It’s been around for years, with clients on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Play (although the mobile app is objectively awful). The game provides you with many meta decks right away so you can join the battle.

However, Pokémon TCG Pocket takes a more relaxed approach. Opening a pack is more about admiring the card artwork than building a powerful deck. Swipe to open the pack. You can also flip the pack over so the cards are face down before opening. Once unlocked, you can drag it to see the 3D effect of your EX card.

Additionally, the language of the cards is also important. Nine languages ​​are supported, so if you’re dealing with someone from Japan, for example, you’ll have a Japanese version of the card in your collection. However, it will change to your default language during battle.

If you collect more, you can also make a display board or binder for your favorite cards. binder! It took me back to the 90’s.

I wish there was a way to zoom in on the art, but overall the system is satisfying for a casual (read: aging) Pokémon fan like me who isn’t interested in competitive play.

Once I unlocked the combat system, I was pleased to find that it wasn’t all that complicated. The deck only contains 20 cards, and you win if you get 3 points (rather than a prize card like in the standard game). You get 1 point for defeating a normal Pokemon, and 2 points for defeating an EX Pokemon.

This means that most games can be finished in a few minutes, but you can’t finish a match in one turn. I only played against AI opponents when I was playing this game, but if you want to play competitively, you won’t get destroyed on the first turn. That was what really turned me away from other card games like Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering.

As expected from a mobile game, there is also an autobattle mode where the game plays cards. The AI ​​makes a lot of bad decisions, but this could be a good way to farm resources and open more packs. Don’t rely on it in an emergency.

It’s too early to tell if Pokémon TCG Pocket will evolve into a more competitive game, but I hope there’s always a more relaxing solo aspect.

The initial release of Pokémon TCG Pocket is impressive, but there are still a lot of features missing. The biggest one is Trading, which is a shocking omission considering it’s the first word in the acronym. As something of value,[ソーシャル ハブ]It’s listed as coming soon on the tab.

I also didn’t like how long some of the animations took. You can skip it by long-pressing, but there’s no option in the menu to speed up the animation. This means everything from combat to opening packs takes longer than necessary.

The content of the game also feels a little light. There are no special events active at this time, although there are daily challenges to earn rewards. I don’t plan on spending more than a few minutes a day opening packs and looking at my collection. This is a nice change of pace from most mobile games that try to take over your life.

At the moment, there is only one set of 226 cards called Genetic Apex and a few trainer cards. Over time, you’ll see a world filled with collections containing too many cards for new players to parse. That seems to happen in any card game.

For now, I’m enjoying this relaxing journey down the nostalgic road.