Review: Pokemon Ultra Moon

Ever since we were first introduced to the Alola Region in 2016, it's been a largely beloved addition the Pokemon world. From the tropical scenery backed by a gorgeous new gameplay engine to the score of new faces and Pokemon that quickly became fan favorites, Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon reinvigorated the franchise with a lovely combination of elements both old and new. 

However, after launch, many wondered what their next step into the world of Alola would look like. Many speculated a Switch follow-up called Stars and even more weren't quite sure. The answer was finally given right before E3 2017 when Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon were announced via a Pokemon Direct presentation. Billed as an alternate take on your previous adventure in Alola, many with Switch-happy brains were underwhelmed. Months later, the game released and here we are today. How does Pokemon Ultra Moon stack up to the previous game? What's new to experience? All these questions and more I aim to answer in this review.

Pokemon Ultra Moon (or Sun, but I bought Moon, so yeah) begins just as the previous title did. You're a young trainer just starting out having moved to the Alola Region. You quickly meet both friends and foes, obtain a starter Pokemon, and get on your way to fulfilling an Alolan right of passage called the Island Challenge. While there are odd changes here and there, as far as the game's opening hours go, you'll have a hard time noticing much in the way of differences. However, things start to get more interesting when you're introduced to the mysterious Ultra Recon Squad and become tangled in a situation involving the Legendary Pokemon Necrozma.

As far as the story goes, Ultra Moon is a very interesting beast. While it builds upon the same elements and characters as the original games, you might see a very different amount of focus given to certain characters versus others. For example, while Sun and Moon put a TON of focus on Lillie's family and her growth as a person, in Ultra Moon, even though some of that stuff is still here, it feels overshadowed by the Necrozma plot. On the other hand, while Hau didn't receive much story focus in Sun and Moon due to the game really being Lillie's story, here he's a lot more noticeable and has a nice character arc. As soon as I finished the story, I got what the developers meant by this being an alternate take, as it truly feels like another universe's version of the same events.

My team. Can you guess what my naming theme was?

Moving on to gameplay, it's the same world and great battle system from Sun and Moon, only with some added areas, NPCs, mini-games, and additional little quality-of-life improvements. For example, while the unrelenting SOS Battles were one of the worst points about the original games in my eye, Ultra Moon completely fixes that issue by making it so a Wild Pokemon can only call for help ONCE. This makes encounters MUCH more bearable and makes the hunt for new team members all the more fun because of it.

Some of the most interesting additions are the Episode RR post-game scenario and a couple of brand new Ultra Beasts. Episode RR takes place directly following the main story as an interdimensional legion made up of previous evil team bosses from Pokemon games past called Team Rainbow Rocket seize the Aether Foundation for their own purposes. Being the upstanding young champion that you are, it's up to you to venture through their nutso base and beat each boss while squashing scores of identical grunts along the way. Episode RR was honestly a blast with all the fan service, the numerous puzzles, Guzma being a BOSS, and it overall feeling a lot meatier than the previous post-game from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Episode Delta. As for the additional Ultra Beasts, it's really cool to see a "third version" introduce entirely new Pokemon and a few are really cool like Naganadel, buuuuuuut that also transitions into my biggest disappointment with this game...

There are no additional Alolan forms. Despite it being an extremely cool concept and a big part of the original Sun and Moon's marketing, all you have are the ones from the last games, which is a bummer, especially after having most of them revealed pre-launch for the original games and having so few "surprises" left to discover. Here's hoping form variation isn't a concept Game Freak puts back in the closet for Gen 8, as it'd be an INCREDIBLE shame to see an amazing concept's potential used so poorly.

My only other real gripe about the game is the RotomDex being so needy. While RotomDex just served as an adorable companion to you in the original Sun and Moon, here you can interact with him to gain some neat extra powers that'll help certain parts of your journey along. However, the problem with it is HOW OFTEN he seems to want input from you. If you only ever chat with him a couple times every once and a while, he just sits there with sad eyes on your bottom screen, making you feel bad. I appreciate the added functionality to RotomDex's role in the game, but DON'T GUILT-TRIP ME BY MAKING IT SEEM LIKE I'M MAKING A POKEMON SAD TO PUSH YOUR EXTRA FEATURE. It's silly.

In conclusion, while Pokemon Ultra Moon features a TON of familiar stuff and story beats, it also features a nice bit of unique content in it's own right. While the amount of new stuff doesn't touch the likes of Black 2 and White 2, it's perfectly serviceable as far as a usual Pokemon "third version" game goes. Plus, just getting away from all the talk of "new stuff," it's still built off of the amazing Sun and Moon, so it's still a quality game regardless.

When it comes to whether or not you should pick it up, it's really a question of how HUGE a Pokemon fan you are. If you're a Pokemon nut, of COURSE you'll pick it up, wanting to experience the alternate story and new Pokemon and areas and stuff. If you adored Sun and Moon? Sure, I'd say it's worth a look, especially for getting kind of a different viewpoint on the plot and it works as a neat way to kind of "replay" the region without erasing your game or owning both versions. If you still play a lot of 3DS titles? Can't think of many better library additions than the latest Pokemon game. If you're looking for a totally new experience and mostly play Switch these days, however, I'd probably recommend just waiting for Gen 8.