Pokemon GO

 iOS
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 726 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 268 out of 726
  2. Mixed: 194 out of 726
  3. Negative: 264 out of 726
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  1. Rubenh
    Jul 28, 2016
    4
    This game aptly reveals the potential of AR and its immersive capabilities. However, as soon as the novelty wears off, you'll see this game for what it truly is: a hastily polished, buggy shell containing only shallow, monotonous gameplay
  2. TsukasaHiiragi
    Sep 3, 2016
    0
    Terrible game, by a terrible company. Their answer is to ban first, questions later no matter what. There is absolutely no balance to the game, especially true for rural or suburban players who live far from any pokestops or gyms. Niantic is not addressing this at all, they are sweeping this problem under the proverbial rugs, so unless you live in a large city like NYC, you will haveTerrible game, by a terrible company. Their answer is to ban first, questions later no matter what. There is absolutely no balance to the game, especially true for rural or suburban players who live far from any pokestops or gyms. Niantic is not addressing this at all, they are sweeping this problem under the proverbial rugs, so unless you live in a large city like NYC, you will have an extremely hard time playing PoGo.

    To prove how severely unbalanced and unfair the game is, I did a comparison ""test"", using a GPS spoof on an emulator (yes cheating) playing in New York's central park, and travelling at walking/running and bike speed only, it took just over a day playing for about 4 - 5 hours in two sessions to reach trainer level 20, and capture around 95% of all the current pokemon in the G1 pokedex, and without warping around to capture rare pokemon.

    Compared to my 'legitimate' account in my area, that took just over a month to reach trainer level 20, and only only fill a small % of the pokedex, often I had to travel more than 5+ miles just to find any amount of pokestops to fill up on pokeballs, now tell me - where is the balance? Perhaps, NYC should have 900 of its 1000s of pokestops, gyms and massive spawn points removed?

    Players complaining because of cheaters should be forced to play the game with little to no ability to play before judging- I call out players living in areas with large amounts of stops/spawns/gyms cheaters in that respect, but ultimately it doesn't really matter who uses IV checkers/PokeVision/GPS Spoofers, eventually they'll ban everyone, heck even people who haven't been cheating are getting banned so..

    To avoid alot of this mess to begin with, Niantic should have balanced the game so much better and cater to every player no matter the location but they didn't so any really its their fault there are so many issues, unfortunately the games popularity surge clouded their judgement, and corporate greed took over any common sense, and as such - this game is doomed to fail hard sooner or later and so it should, this could have been something special if more time and care was taken - but in the end, proved to by an over-hyped cash grab by a pitiful company, and has alot of fanboys defending it.    … Expand
  3. Tytos
    Jul 8, 2016
    1
    - Requires a Gyroscope for AR to work
    - Rural areas are empty
    - Combat has nothing to do with Pokemon (nothing tactical about it, its just who can swipe faster)

    Summed up, what they could **** up hard, they ****ed up even harder
  4. appelsinudjus
    Jul 9, 2016
    0
    If you don't live in an urban area there's nothing for you to do, Even if you did, the game doesn't work most of the time. Everything about this game screams that the developers are amateurs.
  5. Akro007
    Jul 10, 2016
    10
    Who would have thought that going out on a walk could be so fun. I know many people will be dissappointed because some areas are emptier than others and there is in app purchases, but what do you expect from a free to play game? Its one of the most addicting and fun games i have played in a long time and going for a walk with friends is really fun. Pokemon go can be laggy at times and itWho would have thought that going out on a walk could be so fun. I know many people will be dissappointed because some areas are emptier than others and there is in app purchases, but what do you expect from a free to play game? Its one of the most addicting and fun games i have played in a long time and going for a walk with friends is really fun. Pokemon go can be laggy at times and it will crash, but it doesnt happen that often and it uses quite a lot of battery, but these are just little things and i recommend this game to everyone.… Expand
  6. njja02
    May 15, 2018
    6
    I had a ton of fun with GO for a decent amount of time. Collecting Pokemon was fun and addictive. But many of the combat elements and overall long term stance with this game falls flat.
  7. Linked
    Oct 16, 2016
    0
    This game started off as the most revolutionary AR game but with each subsequent "update" the game has only gotten more and more stripped down and dismantled. It seems like Niantic had already cashed out and have abandoned the game. So sad. Don't waste your time, this game is going no where, learn from our mistake, you can skip this game without any regrets. Your time will be much betterThis game started off as the most revolutionary AR game but with each subsequent "update" the game has only gotten more and more stripped down and dismantled. It seems like Niantic had already cashed out and have abandoned the game. So sad. Don't waste your time, this game is going no where, learn from our mistake, you can skip this game without any regrets. Your time will be much better spent on any of the old or upcoming genuine Nintendo Pokémon games.… Expand
  8. CSXRailfanner
    Jan 11, 2018
    0
    Its fun for a while. After you catch all the Pokemon, it just gets boring. Same Pokemon, same everything. The updates are awful. Nothing good. They seem to disable the game with each update. It won't even work if you go like 5-10mph. Very buggy too. Come on Nantic, stop sitting around with billions of dollars partying and make your stupid game better. Also it banned me for no reason andIts fun for a while. After you catch all the Pokemon, it just gets boring. Same Pokemon, same everything. The updates are awful. Nothing good. They seem to disable the game with each update. It won't even work if you go like 5-10mph. Very buggy too. Come on Nantic, stop sitting around with billions of dollars partying and make your stupid game better. Also it banned me for no reason and had to get a new account. I've quit this months ago. I've switched to railfanning now, since I'm now interested in trains and not stupid ugly fat Pokemon.… Expand
  9. tomflanders
    Mar 31, 2018
    4
    The thrill of walking around, exploring was awesome, really unique and innovative. But the battling gameplay was rubbish and the app drained battery life too fast.
  10. YaBoiRoice
    Apr 14, 2018
    3
    While pretty fun at first this game gets incredibly repetitive after a while and the updates haven't helped. I stopped playing it after a couple of months and the only thing that kept me still playing up until that point was the fact that some of my friends also played it and we had fun together. If it hadn't been for that i probably would've quit after a week. And I also have anotherWhile pretty fun at first this game gets incredibly repetitive after a while and the updates haven't helped. I stopped playing it after a couple of months and the only thing that kept me still playing up until that point was the fact that some of my friends also played it and we had fun together. If it hadn't been for that i probably would've quit after a week. And I also have another complaint. Progressing can be incredibly hard if you don't have time or a way to battle in gyms. After a while your low capacity can be a very annoying thing and not having any special items is awful as well.… Expand
  11. Daggerrim
    Jan 7, 2019
    0
    This is the worst Pokémon game of all time, if the trailer was as good as the game it would still be going strong but no it's just A game where you throw pokeballs at Pokémon trying to catch them
    The battles are just see who can tap the fastest and who has spent the most money on this game.
    WORST POKEMON GAME EVER!!!!
  12. LegLock
    Mar 9, 2019
    2
    Sunk Costs Fallacy.

    This is a game which is trivial to beat but almost impossible to enjoy. It is the antithesis of every Pokemon game before it. Resources collection is miserly and time consuming. There are still horrendous, game-breaking bugs after nearly 3 years which Niantic has absolutely no interest in fixing.
  13. lg0669466
    Sep 7, 2016
    2
    Although this game is very creative and helps people get out of their houses and walk around, this game has many bugs, force quits when too many people are using it, and is dangerous as many people have been put in danger while playing this game. I feel that all the hype about this game will soon be coming to an end.
  14. randomphoenix03
    Jun 29, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It was promising when it was advertised/first came out, but now it's just gone down hill. This game probably had the most potential and most hype in the history of games, but absolutely failed to deliver.

    - Rural areas, and even some suburban areas, are completely screwed over because barely any pokémon spawn there. This effectively cuts out a good chunk of their playerbase, and a good chunk out of their score. (-2)

    - The battle system is only kept for gym battles. (-1)

    - Everything is repetitive. I don't know anyone, online or offline, who still plays Pokémon Go. There's nothing fun or anything new to do any more. (-1)

    - There's no major updates (besides generation updates, which are going to happen every blue moon). (-1)

    - Niantic is too afraid to modify the game (in terms of actual gameplay, not pokémon) after they published it. No Pokéstops/gyms have been added/removed from Niantic, and there's not much players can do to modify/improve the game (-1)

    - Speaking of Niantic, let's face it, Pokémon Go is just a reskinned Ingress with pokémon involved. (-1)

    Overall, they did have a good idea (which I'll give a +1 for), but they ultimately failed to bring it to what it was expected to be.    … Expand
  15. DrewbieSnack
    Jan 1, 2020
    0
    It is a trash game unless you live in an area where there are lots of players. There aren’t many or unless you cheat. In which I think most are these days that’s why they get away with it.
  16. SamHalls2016
    Sep 9, 2016
    6
    Pokemon GO is a very overrated game, as well as a pretty mediocre one. In order to evolve you Pokemon, you have to catch multiple of these Pokemon, and the time you do that, your Pokemon you're trying to evolve is one of the weakest you have so far. Also, your battery drains faster while using this app and battles were very cliche. It has a decent GPS system, so it's not all bad, I mean,Pokemon GO is a very overrated game, as well as a pretty mediocre one. In order to evolve you Pokemon, you have to catch multiple of these Pokemon, and the time you do that, your Pokemon you're trying to evolve is one of the weakest you have so far. Also, your battery drains faster while using this app and battles were very cliche. It has a decent GPS system, so it's not all bad, I mean, it's not the worst Pokemon game.… Expand
  17. Fobmcrafi6
    Mar 7, 2018
    7
    While certain things like unfair location differences and beginning technical problems have dissuaded non-gamers and non-familiar Pokemon gamers. Sure certain mechanics are still not included (trading which seems like a key-core feature of Pokemon in general) and spoofers are at at all-time high. It's still to be noted of the first time catching and hatching new Pokemon is a fun experienceWhile certain things like unfair location differences and beginning technical problems have dissuaded non-gamers and non-familiar Pokemon gamers. Sure certain mechanics are still not included (trading which seems like a key-core feature of Pokemon in general) and spoofers are at at all-time high. It's still to be noted of the first time catching and hatching new Pokemon is a fun experience as well as the newly introduced raid mechanics. With shiny and berry features being integrated as well as all the way up to Gen 3 Pokemon, version 0.91.2 has been more exciting than it's beginning. 7.4 out of 10… Expand
  18. AlexanderDM
    Oct 30, 2017
    7
    Gameplay is nothing great; the Gym/Raid systems are hardly motivating, so most progression is simply for its own sake. Catching is repetitive and hardly depends on the user's choices.

    That said, the game is free, encourages physical activity, and begets socialization where there might otherwise have been none. You can ignore the game for a month and return when it suits you; it fits    Gameplay is nothing great; the Gym/Raid systems are hardly motivating, so most progression is simply for its own sake. Catching is repetitive and hardly depends on the user's choices.

    That said, the game is free, encourages physical activity, and begets socialization where there might otherwise have been none. You can ignore the game for a month and return when it suits you; it fits into your day without displacing anything else.    … Expand
  19. DemonDHarris
    Apr 2, 2017
    4
    It's hard to deny the overwhelming success of Go and the impact on popular culture, however, as a game, its far too starved of content. The sucess of Go to me was the simple early game progression as the community as a whole slowly grew in power and gained more cooler and rarer Pokemon, watching Gyms go from Pidgeottos to Charizards to Dragonites. Once that community progession halted andIt's hard to deny the overwhelming success of Go and the impact on popular culture, however, as a game, its far too starved of content. The sucess of Go to me was the simple early game progression as the community as a whole slowly grew in power and gained more cooler and rarer Pokemon, watching Gyms go from Pidgeottos to Charizards to Dragonites. Once that community progession halted and levels would theoretically take around a month and your Pokedex was filled it really lost its charm and became a grind for that extra bit of CP or evolve that final rare Pokemon which you already know your Dragonite is superior to and youll never use it.

    Gen 2 helped but adding new Pokemon along the road in a game like this isnt going relight that flame.    … Expand
  20. Mpbpl
    May 30, 2018
    6
    Decent fun that gets you outside.
    The gameplay is really simple, too simple even, you get Pokeballs, throw them to get Pokemon and the higher level you are, the higher the chance of their power being really high. And...... that's mostly it.
    Seriously, you walk outside, try to find pokemons and throw a ball to get them, so simple but decent fun. The game shines when you get friends and go    Decent fun that gets you outside.
    The gameplay is really simple, too simple even, you get Pokeballs, throw them to get Pokemon and the higher level you are, the higher the chance of their power being really high. And...... that's mostly it.
    Seriously, you walk outside, try to find pokemons and throw a ball to get them, so simple but decent fun. The game shines when you get friends and go to a park, the game encourages a overweight, lazy generation to go outside and walk. Eventually, you can meet new people and new real friends by talking to them when getting Pokemon.
    But it's too simple to actually sustain itself, even with gym battles you eventually get bored, but until that time you can get a great workout and some decent fun.    … Expand
  21. Pokebou157
    Jul 17, 2019
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is pretty good compared to other ar games. Pros:
    Great for exercise
    Can help with socialising Cons:
    Not a lot of gameplay
    Server communications are quite bad
    Battle system is boring    … Expand
  22. EthanParmet
    Aug 20, 2019
    6
    This game has its ups and downs. I like the facts that Niantic tried to bring Pokemon outside and include so many features that derived from things only fans knew about from the show and TCG and expanded it into something millions got to experience. I think that many players are at a disadvantage because most areas in the world only have grasslands Pokemon, and I have to go on vacation toThis game has its ups and downs. I like the facts that Niantic tried to bring Pokemon outside and include so many features that derived from things only fans knew about from the show and TCG and expanded it into something millions got to experience. I think that many players are at a disadvantage because most areas in the world only have grasslands Pokemon, and I have to go on vacation to the beach to catch any new ones. I also find it kind of sucky that you can't trade items.… Expand
  23. Okie_Doki
    Aug 14, 2022
    10
    My grandpa has been dying for the past several years, and he had a bucket list to go to many different places around the world. This changed once I showed him Ipogo and PGsharp. He could visit the beautiful streets of Zaragoza or Seattle, or walk around the middle of the ocean doing nothing, it was everything he ever asked for. He even got to see the elusive red “warning notice” screen, heMy grandpa has been dying for the past several years, and he had a bucket list to go to many different places around the world. This changed once I showed him Ipogo and PGsharp. He could visit the beautiful streets of Zaragoza or Seattle, or walk around the middle of the ocean doing nothing, it was everything he ever asked for. He even got to see the elusive red “warning notice” screen, he did a flip in his wheelchair once he saw that. Thank you Ipogo and PGsharp, for changing our lives for the better.… Expand
  24. shard013
    Aug 10, 2016
    2
    Game mechanics are pretty much non existent and what is there is not fun. The catching is nearly all random based.

    No battling wild Pokemon, no trading, no direct PVP. Gym battles are a joke. Terrible spawn rates outside of cities. As for technically, it's quite buggy and the servers are terrible. As well with the overpriced pay to win in app purchases, it feels like this is a    Game mechanics are pretty much non existent and what is there is not fun. The catching is nearly all random based.

    No battling wild Pokemon, no trading, no direct PVP. Gym battles are a joke.

    Terrible spawn rates outside of cities.

    As for technically, it's quite buggy and the servers are terrible.

    As well with the overpriced pay to win in app purchases, it feels like this is a cash grab with very little thought into making a good game and more about how to make quick profits.

    About the only things going for it is the Pokemon brand name, and the animations are mostly pretty well done.    … Expand
  25. DaveAus
    Jul 26, 2016
    3
    Very basic gameplay without the combat or features of the main games. Suffers from poor optimization and performance, the freemium model means they have your game save to server side for every time you usea item and time you touch a pokeball which leads to more data usage and chances of freezing then necessary. No trainer battles or trading with friends.
  26. Abbyka
    Jul 31, 2016
    0
    The game is no longer fun because there is no way to track pokemon. Bored and not willing to put in the effort for rattatas, pidgeys, and weedles. Finding anything else is next to impossible since the update.
  27. Panserbjorne39
    Aug 12, 2016
    0
    Another incredibly buggy pay to win, free to play piece of garbage. I've been playing for a week and have encountered so many bugs and had so many game crashes that I'm ready to walk away at this point. Had a 5km egg in incubator took 2 days, ready to hatch, game crashes in the hatching screen. I have to force close, come back egg is gone and new Poke is gone. Found an Onyx, feed it aAnother incredibly buggy pay to win, free to play piece of garbage. I've been playing for a week and have encountered so many bugs and had so many game crashes that I'm ready to walk away at this point. Had a 5km egg in incubator took 2 days, ready to hatch, game crashes in the hatching screen. I have to force close, come back egg is gone and new Poke is gone. Found an Onyx, feed it a fruit. It escapes. Feed it another fruit. Game crashes. Fruit gone, Poke gone. This **** happens constantly and makes the game unplayable.
    Even in an urban area like Torrance, CA there are very few Pokestops and gyms around which severely limits how many Pokeballs you can get which equals having to buy them for RL $. That is the ultimate Pay to Win scheme. Whoever pays the most will have the highest CP Pokes. **** this game.    … Expand
  28. homer4president
    Jul 22, 2016
    7
    Although it can be really fun, it also can be really buggy. My game has crashed numerous times even when encountering rare or high CP Pokemon. Battles are nothing special and aren't anything like the actual Pokemon games.
  29. Mustchekitteh
    Aug 2, 2016
    3
    - The game mechanics are god awful
    - Playing it in rural places is horrible
    - Using gps to hatch eggs is a nightmare due to it not picking how far you have actually walked - Need Gyroscope just so AR can work - small towns barely have pokestops and gyms if any. - spawn locations are awful - Battle mechanics are worse than **** - Can't explore much due to trespassing - Exploring    - The game mechanics are god awful
    - Playing it in rural places is horrible
    - Using gps to hatch eggs is a nightmare due to it not picking how far you have actually walked
    - Need Gyroscope just so AR can work
    - small towns barely have pokestops and gyms if any.
    - spawn locations are awful
    - Battle mechanics are worse than ****
    - Can't explore much due to trespassing
    - Exploring is boring due to pokemon only showing up in cities
    - Not having a clue where to look for them unlike in the actual games where some tails would pop up and you could sneak up on them
    - Doesn't take skill only luck in where you live or the locations of your house

    All and all niantic sucks at having any kind of concept on how pokemon is meant to be. This is what happens when you don't let Nintendo and game freak have more saying in what should be put in it. I honestly don't care about walking around the actual world to find them. I like the idea of making the character walk around in a fictional world. Where you still use gps or step counts to move your character around. Just you wont have to go to such desperate lengths to hunt one down. This game kills the pokemon spirit and makes it some dried out half ass version of what it truly means to be a trainer. You don't win battles due to your own strength and level. You win battles due to your pokemon, they teach you and you teach them. Not you teach them and they just take your candy and have no ability to interact with them.    … Expand
  30. nadavkr3
    Aug 3, 2016
    1
    Pokémon go is a bad game .Gameplay - just throw Poke-balls on Pokemon that you found.The battles are just a few clicks without elements of real Pokemon games . And the effects of the game on people every day immersed the phone .
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2016
1
#1 Most Shared iOS Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 37
  3. Negative: 2 out of 37
  1. Jeuxvideo.com
    Jun 2, 2018
    90
    You don’t even have to like Pokémon to enjoy Pokémon Go. During the previous year, Pokémon Go has tuned its ideas and it’s now even more original and addictive. This is a one-of-a-kind game.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Sep 17, 2016
    90
    The best mobile game I have ever played. [09/2016, p.66]
  3. games(TM)
    Sep 14, 2016
    70
    Improvements and additions over time – including the Raid-style events for catching legendary Pokémon, as teased in the original trailer – as well as ongoing tweaks to fundamental systems stand to improve Pokémon Go as a game, but the quality (and novelty) of the experience of playing, particularly as part of a group, is already there. Go could still one day be the legendary game its immense potential hints at.
    Read full review
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