Strategy based around luck – Pokémon Duel Review

And that’s not inherently a bad thing. Now, if you really know your Pokémon history (or you’re like me and you jumped in during the short span of time when it was a thing), you may recognize this game as the short-lived Trading Figure Game from roughly 10 years ago. If so, you’d kinda know how luck-based this game is. But once you actually get to play it with more than 4 figures, you realize just how deep the strategy in this game is- Indeed, a lot of it’s luck-based, but a lot of strategy revolves around controlling that luck. A skilled player will take control of the battlefield, blocking off their opponent’s choices and ultimately choking them out. That’s what Pokémon Duel is all about. Ultimately though, I’d say this game feels less luck-based than even the core series Pokémon games. As the successor to the ill-fated spinoff of the famous TCG, a lot of the appeal of this game revolves around collecting new figures. Obviously, a lot of paid-for high-tier figures will easily crush your starter set. Thankfully, with enough patience you can work your deck to be stronger than before without paying a cent. For the most part, the main quest is pretty easy with a low-level deck. Once you’ve gotten past the laughably easy AI opponents in PVP mode though, prepare to get steamrolled by a team of legendaries and UBs. Hooray for random matchmaking. My main complaint, however? The UI. For starters, tapping the screen is followed with obnoxious sparklies wherever you tap, and a lot of the time I’ve had to hold down or tap buttons multiple times to get them to work. Also, when looking at new figures to add to my deck, I’ll hold down my figure to check its stats, but it’ll register as a tap and replace some random figure in my deck and require me to dig through my collection to find it again. Also, you don’t get any choice to undo your moves- if you make a miss-tap or mistake, nothing can help you. If you’re a fan of Pokémon, and especially the TCG, I recommend this game. If you’re looking for a little something to push your strategic skill, this game will keep you on your toes as you stay one step ahead of the true enemy, the random number generator. Unless you really hate a little randomness in your games, this game is great fun from the moment you pick it up.
Review by rapidemboar on Pokémon Duel.