Pokémon Duel Comes to iPhone and Android, And It Only Kind of Sucks
Spin to win could have been a lot worse.
There’s a game in here that could be worth playing, if I wanted to pay money for something that doesn’t quite feel like Pokemon, games weren’t decided by random ability spinners, and it didn’t crash after I finished the tutorial multiple times.
After an insane amount of time downloading the inside the game after you download the game from the Play Store, followed by connection/loading time, followed by glitching opening video that has another load screen…it was 15 minutes before I was in the opening menus.
And then there was a mandatory tutorial.
Pokémon Duel is a simple style strategy board game with board movement, random spins for attacks, and board modifying cards. You have game pieces (not REAL Pokémon!) that you defend your side of the board with while trying to advance onto your opponent’s side.
Everything seems to have a timer that can be bypassed with premium currency. It’s also basically filled with collectibles designed to make you want to spend money, which wouldn’t be bad if the game wasn’t slow and frustrating to play.
It’s unfortunate that my experience was marred by technical problems, because there IS a solid strategy game here, and assembling a team of beautifully rendered collectible Pokémon figures could bring some fun depth.
The board graphics and animations are great too, although the menus look like they’re cobbled together out of drunken skeuomorphic clipart.
This is a “try this and see if you like it” game…after the first few patches.
