Pokémon
Masters
Year: 2019
Rating: E
Time Played: 50,800 minutes / 846.5 hours
A defining feature of the Pokémon franchise has not only been the amount and variety of Pokémon the player can catch, but how the characters who use these creatures for battles also have unique traits and personalities. While these characters might have more screen time in the anime compared to their in-game representation, they ultimately have a favorite Pokémon that they use for battling. Pokémon Masters fulfills the dream of many fans by allowing us to actually play as high-level trainers.
This game is a free-to-play gatcha mobile app, which should tell you all you need to know about it. The gameplay is simple, but the “gotta catch ’em all” mechanic is collecting all the different characters. This includes “Synga Suit,” holiday costumes, and a glut of other variants of the fan-favorite characters. There are plenty of ways to upgrade these characters, most of which require you to battle other trainers for key materials. The more powerful your team, the easier this is. Those with luck or lots of money to sink into the game can easily obtain these powerful characters.
As a truly free-to-play experience, there is a lot of grinding, but the game doesn’t take up more than a few minutes a day to go through all the daily tasks. I’ve been playing in this style since it launched and I have 270 characters, a good chunk of which are maxed out on their stats. By now, playing this game is just a routine, but I appreciate some of the thought put into the costumed characters and the types of Pokémon they use. Partly because of the way the game emphasizes collecting these characters, it feels a bit like a virtual action figure collection.
Simple gatcha gameplay coupled with collecting all the human Pokémon characters, I give Pokémon Masters 3.0 stars out of 5.
