Nintendo, in tandem with other developers, recently released its highly anticipated Pokémon GO and it has literally swept the nation off its feet with an estimated 7.5 million downloads. Everyone's playing it, from the Pokémon veterans, to those who, prior to the game's release, never knew what a Pokémon was. It's a cool, augmented reality game that's free from the App Store and everyone's playing it, so why not? Well, as someone who started her journey in the Kanto region several years ago through games, cards, and anime, I find this new release to be a serious let down. With the exception of its title, Pokémon GO is missing practically every other aspect of the Pokémon universe.

First of all, where are the battles? The biggest component of the games is battling with your Pokémon. You battle to catch them, you battle to earn gym badges, you battle to stop the bad guys, and you battle to become the very best, like no one ever was. For some reason, instead of including a way to have interactive battles with your friends, foes, and other Pokémon, the developers decided to save battles exclusively for gyms. Well, thanks for that, guys.

My second question would then be, what is this battle system? I personally, am slightly offended that any and all strategy was taken out of this gameplay. Rather than choose your Pokémon based on a type advantage, you choose one with higher combat points (CP) that are assigned at random until you level them up yourself. You then press the screen until the battle is won or lost with no options of different attacks or enhancements. You know what that means? If its CP were high enough without it evolving, a Magikarp could beat anything. That's just not right.

Within the game, different landmarks become Pokéstops in which you can replenish your supply of pokéballs (which are really all you need) and occasionally find an egg, which can hatch into a Pokémon through incubation, or revive, a medicine that revives a fainted Pokémon that has been wounded from battle. Larger buildings are turned into the previously mentioned gyms where you can fight other random trainers and potentially store your Pokémon. And with that, you have the full interactive spectrum of Pokémon GO. I can only wonder why these buildings couldn't have been stores, puffin houses, contest halls, or anything else from the Pokémon World. I wanted an animated Nurse Joy to welcome me to a Pokémon Center and rest my little friends back to health, but who needs that when you can get more Pokéballs?

Although the inclusion of first-gen Pokémon was a good move, there is no reason why it had to stop there. Pokémon GO is missing an entire 5 generations of Pokémon. In my opinion, this exclusion was a missed opportunity for bigger challenges and potentially increased game longevity. Not to mention, if this is Pokémon reflected in the real world, then why aren't all the species present?

In addition, there was clearly no thought process as to the locations of Pokémon encounters. Random Pokémon appear in random places. It would have made sense to find different types of Pokémon in their correlating areas. For instance, finding a Poliwag,a water-type Pokémon, near a fountain or creek or finding a Caterpie, in a more heavily wooded area or even just in the grass would make a lot of sense. The other day I found a Caterpie inside Target and a Poliwag on the hot side walk. These aren't exactly ideal conditions for my poor pals.

My last point is the game's most obvious flaw: the servers. I recently saw this meme flying around Facebook and I can't help but wonder if it isn't a joke. I'd say about 50-75% of the times I've booted up the game, the servers have been "experiencing issues" or the game has malfunctioned in some other way. What's the point of a game if you can't play it?

I do admit that the game has its positives. It encourages kids and adults to get off their couches and go exercise, it brings Pokémon to life, and it creates the opportunity for funny photos and quality memes. Bringing back the original Kanto region pokémon provides a pleasant sense of nostalgia, and it has already built a stronger sense of unity between communities and people everywhere. However, the gaping lack of features kept this game from reaching its full potential and in doing so, Nintendo is exhibiting something that isn't truly Pokémon. It was a wonderful concept, but failed to supply the full package as a part of the Pokémon franchise.

Maybe this was not the vision that Nintendo had for Pokémon GO. Perhaps, since the game is free to play, developer Niantic, Inc. decided to be lazy, despite its reception of a $20-30 million investment designated for game development. It's also possible they were concerned that they wouldn't be making about $1.6 million per day and upwards from its in-game purchases or the new pricey Pokémon Go Plus. As a gamer and Pokémon vet, I can say that I have been disappointed by Nintendo for the first time. A fantastic, yet poorly executed idea, Pokémon GO is no longer a priority on my list of games to play.