Game Review: Pokemon Ultra Moon

The game which I am reviewing today is one which was released recently, and if you're into Pokemon like I am then you're probably jumping at the chance to play it if you already haven't, it's called Pokemon Ultra Moon. I knew this one wasn't too far off from being released, so I took the previous iteration of Moon and sold it so I could pick up this new version and try it out. Pokemon Ultra Moon was developed by Game Freak and of course published by The Pokemon Company for the Nintendo 3DS. (I'm sure neither of those things come as a surprise for anyone who has been playing Pokemon games over the years.)

Now, this review is going to be a shorter one compared to what I usually write. The reason being is I have already wrote a review previously on the original version of Pokemon Moon which came out about a year ago, which you can find here! Since I have already talked quite a bit about the game previously, I just want to touch upon the changes that have been made with this newest version for the most part, as it's a bit redundant to just repeat what I've already posted. Even though this review will be short, I really wanted to get it out there since this is almost certainly the last Pokemon game that the 3DS will ever see, as they're planning on switching over to making them for the Nintendo Switch. So, lets get into it! 

The easiest and most direct way to describe this new version of the game is that it's faintly different from what we got with Pokemon Moon. This isn't to say it's just your typical re-release that has a small handful of new Pokemon added, but it's also not a sequel either exactly. In a way, it's like they've trimmed some of the fat off and made it into a more lean machine. For example, unlike having to do a bit of running and talking before getting a starter and battling your rival in the original Moon, in this iteration you get your starter Pokemon pretty much right off the bat. The original story for the most part follows the same narrative from the first game, so if you enjoyed it then no worries there. 

There are however some new areas included in the game, as well as an extended section of the game that includes a new side narrative which does add some new content to the game. This content comes in the form of Ultra Space, and the ability to access this area far more than you could in the original game. This is something I was really happy to see, since you really didn't get much time within this area in the first games, and I always thought there was some untapped potential sitting there. You do this by using either Solgaleo or Lunala to traverse through space and time to the Ultra Space, where several new areas have been added including the city of Ultra Megalopolis. Another addition besides the new areas is the Ultra Recon Squad, a group of experts who you'll battle a few times throughout the game. 

We also get to take a look into the origins of the legendary Pokemon Necrozma with who'm we encountered in the base game, which delves into how it influenced the Pokemon world as we know it and explains some lore in regards to it which we had no idea about previously. Now, if you played the endgame of the first one you probably can realize where all of this takes place. Namely, this is all happening fairly later on in the game, and you'll have to deal with beating the normal story and conquering all of the trials and captains before diving into most of the new stuff. 

Now, besides the additions to the narrative there's also some other smaller changes to the game. One such change is the inclusion of some new small areas which you can explore, namely some new caves and beaches and places like that. Another new thing added to the game are some brand new Z-moves for your Pokemon to use. There's also the roto-loto which allows you to win extra items occasionally, which is an additional lotto in the game, basically. 

Combine all of that with the new forms we're getting with a few Pokemon, the new species, the new legendary Pokemon and the new Ultra Beasts and there's a fair amount of content for you to experience for the first time, but not enough to feel like you're playing a whole new game entirely. That's due to basically everything else in the game being pretty much exactly the same. The user interface is still the same from the original Moon game, the main story is the same, there's still the annoying and slow tutorial section to go through, and the general pace of the game is exactly the same. 

I mentioned in my previous review that I would have loved for them to reduce the tutorial down as it really dragged the game down to a crippling crawl for me where I was getting annoyed with it, and I'm kinda bummed that they just left it. At the very least, I wish they would have added an option to skip it for those who have already played the game. I think they also could have livened up the trial challenges and made them a bit more exciting, instead of just having them be super linear without much substance to them. Almost all of them are just go from A to B while battling some Pokemon in the environment and then fight the totem Pokemon. 

So, a lot of what we had previously is still the same overall. However, there's definitely a fair bit of content that is new to the game so it doesn't just feel like a waste while picking this up to relive your Moon experience again. I think the best way to go into it is thinking of it just having some DLC added for free, and not thinking you're going to get a whole new game out of it. Because you'll be fairly disappointed if you believe this is going to be something else besides an enhanced Pokemon Moon. I'd recommend this for anyone who is a Pokemon fan or for anyone who loved Pokemon Moon. 

Thanks for checking out my (short) review! Hope you've enjoyed it!