Perhaps the headline is a bit of a stretch, but Niantic, the Pokemon Company and Nintendo’s Pokemon Go, the Pocket Monster collecting series’ first official foray into smartphones, has a tremendous amount of hype behind it.
Nintendo-infused cute messaging app Miitomo was Nintendo’s first entry into the world of mobile apps, with four other apps to follow by the end of 2017 through a partnership with DeNA. Augmented reality game Pokemon Go, however, will be the real test of how well the Japanese developer adopts to the world of mobile.
Nine minutes of footage from the Australian beta test of Pokemon Go has leaked on line, giving us our best look at how the game will play yet. Unlike Nintendo’s past Pokemon games, Go has players collecting Pocket Monsters in the real world through augmented reality.
Pokemon seem to be superimposed in front of the player and can be captured by hitting them with a Pokeball in the correct area. The game also seems to include gym leaders, but attacks are repeated automatically, indicating that the game likely doesn’t feature the same level of depth as past Game Boy and DS entries in the Pokemon series.
The main question surrounding the game, however, is whether or not it will live up to expectations. Pokemon Go Beta invites have have been sent out to users in Australia and New Zealand, with more regions reportedly set to follow in the future.
[source]Game Previews[/source]
