Even if you don't really pay attention to trends and fads of today you've probably at least heard of Pokemon GO! The recent AR game released for iOS and Android has taken America by storm with millions of Americans downloading the app with dreams of becoming the very best like no one ever was. The desire to catch em all has absolutely swept through America, leading to Nintendo's little app that could jump way up to the top of the app charts in less than 5 hours after its official release. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows for Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon friends, so let's talk about the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for Pokemon GO!
The Good
Pokemon GO! is an Augmented Reality (or AR) experience, which means that the game relys on the real world around the player to play the game. Essentially what it does is it scans your location and shows you on a in-game version of the actual street map around you. Players then must navigate the real world to find and catch pokémon to add the their collection. This means that right now there are millions of men, women, and children running around their neighborhoods looking for Pokémon. The obvious health benefits of this are exciting to hear with some already stating that Pokémon GO! is doing more to combat child obesity in just a few days than the Government has done in 8 years.
The Bad
Nothing is ever perfect and Pokemon GO! is no exception. With a release of a popular app comes the inevitable news that it has been the center of accidents all over the country. Within just a few hours of its release Pokémon GO! was reported to cause dozens of traffic accidents due to distracted driving. The amount of incidents cause the developers of the app to through up a splash screen during the games loading screen that warns players to be aware of their surroundings at all times. More accidents have occurred since adding the splash screen but hey people are dumb sometimes.
The Ugly
One of the most common issues an app this popular faces is server issues. Because the game depends of the real world around the player, the game needs a good internet connection at all times. With millions of players on at almost any given time, Pokémon GO's servers can hardly contain the load leading to many players unable to log in. However when online apps and games are first released to huge success, it is expected for the servers to have issues. The server problem is sure to be fixed in a future update.
There it is, the good the bad and the ugly of Pokémon GO! If you want to join the millions of Pokémon trainers in an attempt to catch em all you can find Pokémon GO! for free in the iOS app store and the Google Play Market!
