It’s a gutsy move that holds up surprisingly well. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are indisputably better than last year’s games, bettering the formulas. If you own the original Sun and Moon, there’s reason to get these titles for the additional Pokemon and the added frills. And if you don’t? There’s no better entry point into the Pokemon universe than Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
The upgrades are a mix of subtle and obvious. To quickly recap, the Sun and Moon games take you to the Hawaiian island of Alola, getting you outside the Pokemon gym. You’ll complete a series of trials and run into two evil groups, Team Skull and the Aether Foundation. There’s your typical basic story here, and a quest to catch them all, after a brief tutorial on the basics of Pokemon.
The Ultra line adds intrigue to that story, though, in the form of a new enemy, the interdimensional Ultra Recon Squad. This results in a more confusing story, but it also means more opponents to battle throughout the game. And later, you get a plot twist; even if you played Pokemon Sun and Moon last year, this creates a different late-game experience.
Quests and NPCs also see subtle change. Alola is a more vibrant place in this game; NPCs deliver more dialogue. And several of the quests you’ll encounter now try to be more than “fetch this” and “get that,” incorporating light puzzling elements to get you thinking. There are also more Pokemon, period, in this game, and they’ll interact with you in new ways, keeping the game from growing stale.
Add in a more substantial endgame, and you have an entry that satisfies Pokemon diehards even if it doesn’t solve everything about the franchise. On the umpteenth game of the series, do we really still need this extensive tutorial? No, but that doesn’t stop you from having to play through one, even if you played Sun and Moon last year.
Either way, this is a solid entry from Pokemon. If you have last year’s game, you can pass on this title, but if you’re looking to dive into the Poke-verse? This is the best way to take the plunge.
Reviewed on Nintendo 3DS XL
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