Pokemon Masters iOS
Publisher DeNA Co Ltd Developer The Pokémon Company Format Android, iOS (tested) Release Out now
Nintendo’s tepid streak on mobile platforms continues at leisure with this beautifully presented, mildly diverting new Pokémon game. A cheerful ARPG with realtime three-on-three battles, it’s a rare F2P game that gives you several easygoing hours of lightweight fun before insisting you pony up or grind your way to glory. It is a marked improvement on Dr. Mario World – though that, admittedly, is to damn it with the faintest of praise.
On the man-made island paradise of Pasio, catching ’em all doesn’t refer to Pokémon alone but rather their trainers – or, in the game’s parlance, Sync Partners. Each comes with a single monster and they’re all rather attached to their favourites, such that you can’t separate them – though you can evolve the Pokémon and, by accruing technical machines, teach them new moves. Some come with potions to heal themselves or wounded allies, while others give you the chance to boost speed, attack or defence stats for your group.
Combat, then, is not far removed from a standard Pokémon triple battle, albeit one viewed from a portrait mode that has to accommodate six trainers and six creatures, thus keeping the action at an unflattering distance. You don’t have to take your turn here, either – though each move takes energy from a collective pool that slowly replenishes in realtime, you can have one Pokémon that attacks relentlessly while the others keep their HP topped up.
Don’t worry if you’re not au fait with type advantages: in each of the story chapters, you’re given advance warning of the kind of trainers you’re about to face, along with suggestions as to which sync partners you should bring into your three-strong team. It at least reduces the chance of rocking up to a battle with a Pokémon/trainer combo that gets wiped out within seconds, but there’s little strategy in picking a team you know in advance is pretty much guaranteed a win. Even when the challenge starts to ramp up, your opponents aren’t exactly the sharpest Pawniards in the Pokédex: Whitney’s hardy Miltank proves such a popular target that we’re able to keep our glass cannons on either side in rude health for the duration of most fights.
For all the effort invested in the characters and environments away from the battlefield, Pokémon attacks lack the impact of most recent 3DS entries, let alone the Switch games. Aside, that is, from the powerful sync moves that become available after one partnership has used a certain number of moves, which each get their own grandiose title and often amount to a one-shot kill. As a breezy jaunt through a lively Pokémon world, this passes the time amiably enough, but once again we leave a Nintendo mobile game feeling a little underwhelmed.