New Pokémon Snap - Review

It has been too long waiting for a follow up to Pokémon Snap, one of several spin off games during the original Pokémon boom. Pokémon Snap not only turned out to be a genius idea, it was so good that it couldn’t be topped until 2021. Instead of the original 151 Pokémon, there are just under 900 Pokémon that could show up. So is this the next true PokeSnap, or is this just PokeCrap?

Welcome to the Lental region, a chain of islands of varying ecosystems and Pokémon throughout them. What makes the Lental region special is the phenomenon of Illumina, making Pokémon luminescent around Illumina crystals and orbs. Joining Professor Mirror and his assistant Rita, you’re tasked to take photographs as part of ecological surveys to uncover the cause of the region specific phenomena. Using the all terrain vehicle NEO-ONE you’ll be able to see the Pokémon in their natural habitats up close and observe how they all interact. You might even encounter some very rare Pokémon along the way.  

As you travel through the Lental region you gradually unlock a series of expeditions across the archipelago, with some of the areas explorable at day or night. There’s more courses than the original game, and the addition of different times of day effectively bumps that count up further. With the points you gain through taking photos of Pokémon you can also increase the research level of the location. With each level there are changes throughout the course, whether it’s new Pokémon or different interactions to help get those higher ranking pics. 

It’s not as simple as just taking a really good picture of a Pokémon, now there are star rankings for different kinds of pics. For each Pokémon you can find there’s four different rankings you can obtain. So you’re going to need to capture them in different situations, with the four stars usually being something pretty cool. This means you’re going to be returning to expeditions often to try and capture the four different interactions. Although it’s not required to get all four pictures per Pokémon, to move the game along, it does add to the end of course points which then increases the research level and help to move the story along.  

When you explore a new area you are given requests by the Professor and the team. These are photos with text that hints at what kind of photo they are looking for. If you can work it out and fulfil the request you get more fun things to add to your photos, if you like playing with filters and stickers. If you’re not interested in neat little unlockables it’s also good for giving you some extra goals to squeeze even more out of the game. If you get your hands on a Fujifilm Instax printer, you can download an app to easily print your PokeSnaps out onto a polaroid in no time at all. I didn’t get to try this out, but then I never got to print out my old Pokémon Snap photos at a Blockbuster Video Kiosk either. If you want to share your snaps for the world to see you can easily connect online to post your favourite PokePics and see what creative ways others are editing theirs. 

So now we’ve finally gotten what we’ve been waiting forever for, is it everything we hoped and dreamed of? Mostly, it definitely builds on the first game and of course consoles can make the Pokémon and their surroundings look better than the older handheld versions. Although it’s not without some negatives, mostly coming in the form of grinding for research level points. For the first level upgrade it’s possible to get it the first go, if not the second, but to get to the third it takes more. By the third level of each course chances are you’ve already taken a wide variety of ranked photos, so you’re going to be earning less points unless you’re taking the best scoring photos. It feels a little too grindy for some expeditions if you’re wanting to max out the research levels to see all there is to see.

There is also the limit on how many photos per Pokémon you can submit each run. While it would break the game to be able to flood the Professor with every photo you took, it also means you can’t submit two different star rank photos of the same Pokémon. You have the tough decision of selecting one, then going back and having to hopefully recapture any others. It means you’ll be returning to the courses more when you really shouldn’t have to, you’ve  already taken a perfectly valid photo. 

One last real issue I had was the game waiting until way too long into unlocking everything to give very useful upgrades. I won’t list them out in fear of spoiling too much, but they make repeat runs much more manageable, the boost should have been there much earlier. I know you might not want to let people go wild with all the good upgrades too early on, but people want to play through the game and find every Pokémon and get the best photos possible. In this case people won’t just give up because they got upgrades too early, it would at least take the edge off of the grinding for level XP. 

Now lets not forget all of the great things New Pokémon Snap does. For starters, it is very much the game you have been missing and pining for all of these years. With so many more Pokémon available, you get a very good range from across the different generations of games. Having not sunk as much time into the main series before Sword/Shield, there were a few I was embarrassed to not recognise at all. But I was happy to be surprised by these lesser-known Pokémon. In New Pokémon Snap the Pokémon are also looking better than ever. It's great to see them out in their world, like you’ve stumbled across a natural habitat. It is a joy to discover all of the different interactions you can have with each Pokémon, especially when they interact with others. While Pokémon games can include size scales, it is another thing seeing all of the different Pokémon to scale in the world. A run in with a Wailord is the best reminder in the game. 

Now while I had a few gripes about New Pokémon Snap, there is no ignoring the fact that it is still an enjoyable game. If you have a fondness for the original or are a big Pokémon fan, then you don’t really need a review. This is the game you’ve been waiting a long time for. If you’re more on the fence about the return of Pokémon Snap, just know that there is plenty to like about this game if you want a break from battling these creatures and want to take it easy and take cute and cool photos of them.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

+Pokemon Snap is back with a wide variety of Pokemon across generations

+The Pokemon look great and always entertain seeing them out in the wild

+Still enjoyable trying to take lots of awesome photos

The Cons

-Progress slowed down by grinding

-Useful upgrades are held back too long

-One photo per Pokemon limits add to the grind