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+--- Thread: Pokemon Shuffle Review. (/Thread-Pokemon-Shuffle-Review)
Pokemon Shuffle Review. - Pokélander - Feb 24, 2015
Ahhhhh pokemon shuffle is here, and after a few days of playing this F2P game religously I thought I would share my thoughts with all of you. For any of you fraggles out there wondering what Pokemon Shuffle is, its a Pokemon themed puzzle based game in which you try to connect three or more pokemon pieces in a grid to try and lower the opposing pokemons HP down to zero at which point you then will try to capture that Pokemon. Sounds FUN, yeahhh lets get into that shall we.
On the outside shuffle looks like your standard Candy Crush/Bejewled type puzzler, but on the inside its soo much more. First off you are given a few pokemon which each possess a certain ability such as dealing more damage by connecting 4 in a row or attacks doing greater than usual damage. In addition to abilities types will also be playing a role in how each fight is carried out, obviously types that are effective will cause more damage and make the battle a bit easier. The game starts you out with the basics from a tutorial system that teaches you the ropes in a short but sweet manner, you will then venture forth on a linier path with the objective to pretty much Catch'em all, unlocking bosses and EX battles which are timed.
The "catch" is that your only given 5 hearts when you start out and a heart takes thirty minutes (Real World Time) to regenerate, one battle equals one heart. Hearts can also be purchased with crystals but we will get back to that later. Next up is gold, which is another hard to come by commodity which can be earned from either defeating pokemon, checking into the online services or again spending crystals. Gold is used for buying one time use items just before entering a battle, they consist of adding 10 seconds, adding 5 moves or multiplying experience you obtain by defeating pokemon, and so on. The last commodity thats on the list are crystals, these little blue jewels are the hardest to come by and certainlty the most valuable assets you can obtain in the game...why you ask? Because these crystals can be spent in a number of ways. Need more hearts? Spend 1, 3, 6 or 12 crystals and your hearts are replenished by 5, 13, 38 or 80. Need more Gold spend 1, 3, 6 or 12 crystals and your gold will increase by 3000, 10000, 22000 or 48000. They can also be used for extending time or moves should you lose a battle. Crystals are earned by defeating bosses which are represented with a silver base underneath them or can be purchased with real world cash. The last aspect of items are Mega Stones, which once aquired can be paired with the pokemon (if caught). These add a fantastic element to the game where once a meter is filled that said pokemon will mega evolve and an added ability will become available letting you finish up with a bit more force in most cases.
Now the plot thickens.
Let me start off by reading the last line that Nintendo has written as a description under Shuffle in the Eshop. "Purchasing Jewels isn't required to play or enjoy this title" While the first part of this statement is true its in the second part of the statement that litterally makes me sick to my stomach. The main reason this a joke is because to enjoy this game your going to have to overlook the fact that Pokemon Shuffle is one of the most blatent cash grabs in recent history...I know what your thinking Pokelander you were just praising this game a few paragraphs ago, and while thats true the fact that its an obvious cash in is what ruins the game for me.
Lets start off with the first major flaw which is using crystals. Sure on the outside they look harmless but its when you lose a battle when the first sign of CASH GRAB truly settles into your brain. You can spend one crystal to continue the fight but heres the catch, it adds only mere seconds or moves to the fight. Whats the issue you ask? simple, spending a crystal does not guarentee you a win nor does it guarentee a catch even if you manage to win. The point is, when that crystal can be used to to buy five more hearts which can be used to replay the same fight five more times it really serves no purpose to use it in that manner to begin with.
The next gripe I have are EX battles which are unlocked in segments the farther you get up the path, the major flaw here is that they are introduced way earlier to you than they should be...CASH GRAB... obviously this was intentional. For example I have fought Lucario 10 times, out of the ten times I have beaten him twice and got a 15% and 1% chance to catch him which I have failed both times. The comical part is that I cought a Mew at 22% on the first encounter which one would think should have been the harder catch right? I have been playing for 3 days now with moltres unlocked and yet I have this feeling there is no way to get him unless I grind for the next 2 weeks or cough up money to speed things up.
The last issue I have with shuffle are the way hearts are handled. If you purchase hearts when your empty they are instantly filled and you will automatically forefit any time you had on the next available heart. The biggest issue seems to be buying in bulk. There really is no reason to buy more than 3 crystals/eighteen hearts worth at a time and heres why, lets say you buy the 80 hearts which cost 12 crystals. You must get those 80 hearts down to at least 4 before you start seeing free hearts again, why is this bad? because the time it takes to spend 76 hearts you could have been gaining hearts. Lets say that each battle took you 2 minutes to complete that means it would have taken you 152 minutes to use up 76 hearts and lets add 15 sec between menus that puts the total close to 172 minutes which equals roughly 5- 6 hearts which you lose out on and thats being pretty speedy I might add. If you go my way and end up getting 4 batches of 18 hearts that equals 72 a loss of 8 but when you add the 3-4 hearts you gain from time, you end up with 9-12 more hearts making this system rather broken... Now thats logic Nintendo.
To be honest I have played other F2P games and most of the good ones such as Clash of Clans do not throw the micro transactions in your face the way this game does. I will never spend money on an endless digital game, sorry Nintendo. In the end Pokemon Shuffle is a great concept and had some really great mechanics but sadly is out weighed by the Cash Grabing that forces its self on you time and time again. 4/10