Pokemon Snap

"Pokemon and cameras don't go good together!"

Gameplay: 2/10
Okay, taking pictures of Pokemon is not all that fun. In the game, your a kid that rides some sort of vehicle that looks like a bubble, and you have to take pictures of Pokemon. Where is the fun in that? There are about eight levels in total to play on, well, you don't really play on it. In fact, you don't really do anything at all. All you do is sit in your bubble, and wait for Pokemon to go by, then snap pictures of them. The only fun part is, you get to throw apples and little weird glowing balls at Pokemon. Throwing apples at Pikachu's head is addicting. Except that, the game is pretty boring. Along your journey you will get useless items from Professor Oak and try to use them to get better pictures of Pokemon. Another problem is the limited number of Pokemon the game has in it. In total only 65, out of all 150 Pokemon appear in the game. Pokemon Snap is also way too easy. Another thing I noticed is how short it is. Anyone can beat this game within two hours, and maybe even less!!! Overall, the gameplay stinks big time.

Graphics: 6/10
I have to say, the best part about the game was the graphics. The characters are all very nice looking 3-D Pokemon. One problem with the characters is that every single time you do a level, the characters in that level will do the same exact animations over and over and over again! It's like they have an area that they are not allowed to leave. It would have been nice to actually see Pokemon running at the side of your cart. The levels are very..ugly. Every detail in every level are very bland and boring looking. It would have also been nice to see a 3-D Professor Oak talking to you, instead of a 2-D pasted on Professor Oak.

Sound: 4/10
The music in Pokemon Snap may be the only good part about the sound. Each level has it's own unique sounding music to it, and it sounds good. Now, the bad part about the sound are the annoying Pokemon..and when I say annoying, I mean annoying! Whenever a Pokemon makes a sound, it sounds like the sound is on constant playback, because it never seems to stop until the Pokemon is out of sight. And it's even more annoying when there's tons of Pokemon in one area. The kid your controlling 's voice is as equally annoying. He doesn't talk much, but when he does he says something cheesy, like "Cool", "Yes!", "Way to go!", or "Let's go!" The sound in Pokemon Snap will get on your nerves.

Story: 2/10
"What??? Why am I in this bubble??" I don't know!! The game never really explains why this random kid that you control has been chosen to take pictures of Pokemon. Yes, it tells you that your trying to solve the mystery of Mew...but why? Why is the game wasting your time by going through all these pointless levels where you take pictures of other Pokemon for some reason, if your just looking for one Pokemon!!!!???? The story, if you could call it that, never gets deep at all, and there is no real ending, you just...stop. Bad story for a bad game.

Controls: 5/10
I felt the game was mocking me when it came to controls. You see, you can;t get anything to speed up your two mile an hour cart until halfway through the game! So throughout half of the game there is no button to speed up, you just have to sit there and go very, very, very, very, very slow!!! So it feels like the game is saying to you "Ha ha your slow!" Another issue is the horrible camera that you have hardly any control over. Yes, you can move the camera to face the back, but then if you hit a rock, or go down a hill, the camera goes back in to place, and you miss a whole ton of Pokemon. Even if you do get your snap of the Pokemon in time, Oak will say it's to far away, and not good enough. Other than that, the rest of the controls, like throwing apples, or taking pictures are easy.

Rent or Buy?
If you are a huge mega Pokemon fan, and you love pokemon games, then I would say don't buy or rent, but if you must, then rent it, if you could still find it. Other than that, I do not think anyone should play this game..ever!

Overall:
Pros:
-Nice, 3-D looking Pokemon
-A few simple controls
-You get to hit Pikachu on the head with an apple!

Cons:
*Taking pictures of Pokemon is not fun!!!!!
*Waaay to short
*Only 65 Pokemon
*Ugly levels
*The Pokemon sounds like their on constant loop
*Some bad camera angles
*You can't speed up until halfway through the game!
*Story..what story?

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/04