A couple of days back, we covered a story on the release of the closed beta version of Pokémon UNITE. We said that it would be coming in March 2021. But what we didn’t expect was that it would arrive in the very first week of the month.
Now that Pokémon UNITE’s closed beta version is out in Canada, and it’s in our hands so why not let’s give the first impressions, or you can say an early review of Pokémon UNITE. However, please forgive us that we won’t be sharing any gameplay or screenshots from the game as the developers have strictly prohibited it. (But don’t worry, we will use the screenshots from the trailer to give you an idea, because that we can do)
Pokémon UNITE First Impressions:
Firstly, let’s start with explaining what Pokémon UNITE is – so it’s basically a strategic team-based Pokémon mobile battle game that is very different from any other kind of Pokémon game that ever existed.
1. Game Mechanics
In Pokémon UNITE, you play cooperatively in a 5v5 match, attempting to score points into your opponent’s goal zone. The team scoring the most when the timer ends is declared as the winner.
In the game, you choose your Pokémon partner by first obtaining a unite license in order to use them in battle. Initially, you only get five Pokémon options to choose from, namely: Eldegoss, Snorlax, Pikachu, Charizard, and Talonflame.
2. How to win?
In the starting, a player is forced to take some tutorial that helps you familiarize with Pokémon UNITE’s gameplay. The game seems simple enough, but from the 10-12 matches I have played, it looks like most of the players don’t understand the basic concepts. (nothing new for mobile MOBA players xD).
And what is that basic concept? The concept to win is to defeat the wild Pokémons that have a number above their head. Defeating these wild Pokémon gives you energy which you can then use to deposit in your opponent’s goal zones which will earn your team points. And this is how you win a game by scoring more points than your opponents before the timer runs out.
3. Gameplay
As you fight against wild pokemon and depending on your pokemon, you will evolve at different times, if you evolve at all. Standard battles are 10 minutes long. Though it is a short time for MOBA games, but in Pokémon UNITE it feels somewhat lengthy. The last 2 minutes are very hectic because you receive double points for each goal.
What I personally didn’t like about Pokémon UNITE is the slow movement speed of the Pokémons. Furthermore, the Pokémon slows down even more if you are not on the main track.
There are some jump pads in the game that you can use to sit on, and it will take you to different locations on the map. This really helps if you are just setting out from the base or trying to flee from an enemy.
4. Controls
Now moving towards the controls, it’s pretty much what has been showcased in the game trailer. You use a virtual joystick to move the Pokémon partner, and there is the main attack button. Other than this, with time, you will gain additional attacks (abilities) as you level up. The attack button has no cooldown, while different abilities come with different cooldown timer.
5. Voice Chat
I might have missed it, but the beta did not include the Voice Chat option. Whether it has been disabled in the beta or won’t be available in the game, I don’t know. But being a MOBA game, communication is a must in Pokémon UNITE. So the developers better bring this feature soon.
Quick Update: It looks like that the game have in-built voice chat feature, it’s just not enabled in the beta version. Hopefully it will work when the game is launched globally.
6. More Important Details To Note
Like in any other free-to-play mobile game, here in Pokémon UNITE also you get a gift at every level-up, which can be anything like coins, unite license, Pokémon avatar, etc. This is very good as it costs a lot of coins or tokens to get other licenses.
In the character selection screen, you will see what your teammates choose, and the game itself suggests a balanced team and a type of character you should use, which is an excellent feature, especially for the new players.
There are no type advantages, so you don’t have to worry about which type of Pokémon is good or bad against which type of Pokémon.
So that is all for our first Impressions on Pokémon UNITE. If you have any question for us, drop them down in the comments below and we will reply speedily.
