So I think it's safe to say that everyone has at least heard of the new game sweeping the nation, Pokémon GO, and if you haven't you might live under a rock! Pokémon GO is the ultimate virtual reality game, making it possible for players to see and catch these mystical creatures in real time using their phone camera, Google Maps and the weather, but like every game there is a catch. The game takes popular locations and turns them into Gyms and Poké Stops where players can get free items and battle others for control. Some of these items include Pokémon Eggs, and this is where the catch comes in: you can only hatch if you walk 2.0, 5.0, and sometimes up to 10.0 kilometers. Though the game seems pretty simple, there are some pros and cons to it; here are some of the ones i've found while playing it myself!
PRO: The game forces people to exercise
You want to catch them all? Well then you better get off your couch and start hunting! To catch Pokémon, get items and capture gyms, players are required to travel from place to place. So basically, what Nickelodeon, Michelle Obama and Disney XD have been trying to get kids to do for years, Niantic (the makers of Pokémon GO) did within a day! The farther you walk, the more eggs you can hatch and the more legendary Pokémon you can find! Within a week this game has forced me to get more exercise than I've gotten in the entirety of the summer, and I know I'm not the only one!
CON: Phone's battery life is now murdered
Because players of Pokémon GO actually have to leave their couch (crazy, right?) to play the game, their phone battery suffers immensely. My battery has gone from lasting 8 hours to lasting about 3 at the most! Also, because the game is connected to Google Maps, everywhere you go there are new things to find, which most likely means that you will have the app open to look for them. The game might be fun, but your phone's battery is definitely begging you for a break.
PRO: You meet new people with common interests
At Level 5 the game gives you the option to choose between three different teams; Valor, Instinct and Mystic. Upon choosing a team you will find that there are Facebook groups you can join so you can keep in touch with your fellow team mates! These groups organize meet-ups, let you know what gyms need reinforcement and give you a space to talk about the game or ask questions if needed! I am a member of one of these pages for the team i'm on, and it's definitely fun to see all the different people who play the game too!
CON: The servers are not always working
Because the game is brand new, and almost everyone from the ages twelve to thirty are using it all over the world, the game crashes frequently. Sometimes you can go hours without a hiccup, but other times everything imaginable will go wrong including- getting stuck on the loading screen, Poké Balls freezing after catching Pokémon, Pokémon appearing and vanishing within seconds, and even the location not loading (otherwise known as the spinning ball of death.) Also, the Pokémon GO only works in certain countries, so some people don't get to enjoy the game!
Though Pokémon GO has its ups and downs, overall it is a fun game that has helped thousands of people relive their childhood. There are definitely bugs, but they will eventually be fixed and (hopefully) the game will work perfectly!
