Pokémon X and Pokémon Y extend franchise
Gotta catch 'em all: Create your own team of Pokemon that can take on the world's league champion in Pokemon X and Y. Credit: Handout
Pokémon X and Pokémon Y bring the popular franchise to the Nintendo 3DS for the first time, welcoming aboard a long-awaited suite of visual upgrades and enhanced features. The flat pixel art has been replaced with 3-D character models, enabling much-improved animation.
In both X and Y, you'll play a young Pokémon trainer out to prove he or she has what it takes to conquer the competitive world of cross-species animal combat. Your character is part of a team of kids, each with their own favorite thing about Pokémon. Naturally, your character's specialty is battling, and you will travel back and forth across a small continent, catching Pokémon and challenging everyone you see to a fight.
Pokémon improve and evolve over time, learning new attack moves and changing forms. X and Y introduce "mega-evolutions," which amount to a new way to make your favorite fighters look even cooler during a battle. As you work your way from town to town, eventually you'll have a hand-picked team of Pokémon strong enough to defeat the world's League Champion.
When connected to the Internet, you will get a live list of not only your online friends playing Pokémon but a fresh selection of players from all over the world. Your communication with other players is extremely limited, so parents need not worry.
It's a shame that the interface is so ugly and baffling. The game's menus and buttons take time to master, but when a series is so crushingly popular, interface issues are not something that stops most gamers. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y set another high-water mark.
RATING E for Everyone
PLOT You say you want an evolution?
DETAILS Nintendo 3DS, $39.99
BOTTOM LINE These Pokémon battles are revolutionary.
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
Sarra Sounds Off Ep. 35: EI baseball, girls lacrosse and plays of the week On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we look at East Islip baseball's inspirational comeback story, Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week and Tess Ferguson breaks down the top defensive players in girls lacrosse.
