Board 8 > New Pokemon Snap Review Zone

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ninkendo
04/28/21 11:46:25 AM
#1:


https://opencritic.com/game/11066/new-pok-mon-snap

82 average through 24 reviews so far! Almost every single review is an 8 or 8.5 except EGM which gave it a 10?!

Positives
Nostalgic Fun - A great callback and expansion to the original N64 game.
Sense of Discovery - Seeing Pokemon in the wild and discovering new interactions is charming and, occasionally, thrilling.

Negatives
Repetitive Progression - Many critics felt the game became a little grindy.

EGM - 10/10
New Pokmon Snap might be one of the most thoroughly pleasant games that's come out for the Switch, if not ever. While the core gameplay is the same as it was in 1999, everything about the 2021 game is better. The environments are visual delights, the Pokmon are lovingly recreated, and the progression and pacing are just right. If the hobby of gaming has started to feel like a second or third job, then New Pokmon Snap might just be the vacation you need.

IGN - 8/10
New Pokmon Snap is a photography game with occasionally clunky progression, but which is eager to show off its delightful subjects and let them surprise you.

Game Informer - 8.5/10
The thrill of nabbing the perfect shot never dulls, but the repetition of traveling through the same environments sometimes grows weary

Kotaku
New Pokmon Snap is pretty magical as well. It takes the unique formula of the 1999 original and expands on it just enough to feel like a completely new adventure, without diluting the simple joy of riding and snapping photos of impossible creatures.

VG247 - 4/5
If youre the sort of player who got really mad about the national Pokedex in Sword & Shield, you might also bemoan the level of content here. But I think this is plenty, delivering far more than the original and with a whole lot of replay value its just a shame the developers felt the need to stretch it out artificially to justify what theyve managed to build.

NintendoLife - 8/10
If, like us, you've been waiting a significant chunk of your life for a sequel to Pokmon Snap, then you're in luck; New Pokmon Snap brings back almost everything that made the original special and fleshes it out into a much more elaborate game. This is something you can sink some serious time into and while there are some minor frustrations and pacing issues in the story, playing freely at your own pace is a pure joy. The original has gone down in history possibly as Pokmon's greatest spinoff, and it may have just been dethroned.


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Kenri
04/28/21 2:41:49 PM
#2:


Those scores make me pretty optimistic about it

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Arti
04/28/21 2:56:00 PM
#3:


Sounds good

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UshiromiyaEva
04/28/21 3:22:36 PM
#4:


This is a game I did not expect to actually review well at all. Interesting.

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Dedf1sh
04/28/21 3:39:46 PM
#5:


Wtf is wrong with people commenting on " the story" in a Pokemon Snap game.
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Dragonair
04/28/21 3:48:31 PM
#6:


this might become the first Pokemon game I get since Diamond

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swordz9
04/28/21 3:53:38 PM
#7:


UshiromiyaEva posted...
This is a game I did not expect to actually review well at all. Interesting.

Snap has a ton of nostalgia so Im not surprised. Part of me wants it and part of me fears Ill be bored to death after beating each course once or twice
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Bane_Of_Despair
04/28/21 4:05:40 PM
#8:


UshiromiyaEva posted...
This is a game I did not expect to actually review well at all. Interesting.
Really? All the trailers looked like exactly what it needed to be!

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UshiromiyaEva
04/28/21 4:09:59 PM
#9:


Bane_Of_Despair posted...
Really? All the trailers looked like exactly what it needed to be!

What it needed to be is not something I expected to review well!


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davidponte
04/28/21 4:21:09 PM
#10:


This game was very firmly on my 'nope' list just because I figured that it would be a relatively short experience that I couldn't justify spending $90 on, no matter how pleasant it was. Seeing reviews say that it's 15 hours to 'beat' it with many more after to complete it has made me intrigued again.

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Zigzagoon
04/28/21 4:22:02 PM
#11:


davidponte posted...
This game was very firmly on my 'nope' list just because I figured that it would be a relatively short experience that I couldn't justify spending $90 on, no matter how pleasant it was. Seeing reviews say that it's 15 hours to 'beat' it with many more after to complete it has made me intrigued again.

That's longer than Sword and Shield!

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Whiskey_Nick
04/28/21 4:26:36 PM
#12:


Courses changing the more you play them is cool

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-hotdogturtle--
04/28/21 9:43:53 PM
#13:


davidponte posted...
Seeing reviews say that it's 15 hours to 'beat' it with many more after to complete it has made me intrigued again.
It is (and always has been) a high score-focused game. Why wouldn't you expect endless hours of replay?

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Underleveled
04/28/21 9:47:49 PM
#14:


-hotdogturtle-- posted...
It is (and always has been) a high score-focused game. Why wouldn't you expect endless hours of replay?
It's the main story length. The original could be beaten in like, 1-2 hours on an initial, blind playthrough.

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Aecioo
04/28/21 9:48:18 PM
#15:




-hotdogturtle-- posted...
It is (and always has been) a high score-focused game. Why wouldn't you expect endless hours of replay?

Think you missed his point. The fact that it's 15 hours is surprisingly good news!

I was also in the "this game will have no content" group but 15 hours is very intriguing

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-hotdogturtle--
04/28/21 10:02:00 PM
#16:


Aecioo posted...
Think you missed his point. The fact that it's 15 hours is surprisingly good news!
I guess I was focused on the second half of his sentence rather than the first half so if that's the case then I'll admit to missing his point.

Glad to see that these reviews have apparently increased your optimism then.

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TomNook
04/29/21 12:33:05 AM
#17:


Going to have to wait and see public opinion. Even 15 hours is pretty short for a $60 game (and professional reviewers always bloat the playtime). I'll stick to the mainline Pokemon games for now.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 12:39:19 AM
#18:


TomNook posted...
Even 15 hours is pretty short for a $60 game (and professional reviewers always bloat the playtime). I'll stick to the mainline Pokemon games for now.

You know it takes 15 hours to beat the $60 Pokemon Sword, right? And that's being generous.

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TomNook
04/29/21 12:41:38 AM
#19:


Zigzagoon posted...
You know it takes 15 hours to beat the $60 Pokemon Sword, right? And that's being generous.
If you rush through maybe. But it's easy to get hundreds of hours out of that one.

From what I played of Snap on N64, I can't imagine a scenario where the new Snap is as replayable as Sword and the rest of the mainline series.

I could definitely be wrong though! This is why I need to see the public opinion later.

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NFUN
04/29/21 12:42:05 AM
#20:


not everybody is a pokemon master like you ermine, with fully memorized type advantages and optimal grinding patterns to train each individual mon as quickly as possible

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 12:43:37 AM
#21:


We're just talking about playing through the main story line. So if you say playing the main story line of Sword/Shield is "rushing" through, then 15 hours for the Snap main story would be "rushing" through too.

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Team Rocket Elite
04/29/21 12:44:14 AM
#22:


It took me 23 hours to beat Pokemon Shield my first time plus a few more hours to do the extra story quest after beating the game.
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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 12:45:32 AM
#23:


NFUN posted...
not everybody is a pokemon master like you ermine, with fully memorized type advantages and optimal grinding patterns to train each individual mon as quickly as possible

I didn't even! I dicked around in the Wild Area for several hours and probably spent an hour trying to get Centiskorch preevo early and still finished around 15 hours. Sure I didn't catch every pokemon I saw, mostly just the ones I liked the most. But I do exactly that for other pokemon games and they still have a much longer play time (25+hrs)

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TomNook
04/29/21 12:51:58 AM
#24:


I guess it's easier for me to see the bigger picture of a game I have fully played over one that has yet to be released. I know with Sword, the game had good value, because of the main game, catching all the Pokemon, raiding with friends, competitive online battles, shiny hunting, etc. Those obviously aren't things that appeal to all people, but there is a lot there to appeal to many people.

With my experience from Snap on N64, it has my expectations for this game having a significantly lower amount of time, falling probably in the 10 hour range to beat, maybe, with a bit more time post-game, but really not comparable.

I do hope I'm wrong, because it looks like a fun game. I just hope it has some real meat to it.

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 1:20:58 AM
#25:


The average main story time for Sword/Shield on howlongtobeat is 25 hours, with "Rushed" being 16.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 2:46:22 AM
#26:


Oh okay, you're right. I guess I'm just lying about what I said. My bad.

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UshiromiyaEva
04/29/21 2:53:53 AM
#27:


SwSh feels shorter than it is because the last 1/3 is such rushed shitty trash.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 2:56:23 AM
#28:


I still remember my jaw dropping at some of the things the characters were saying in that last bit. Like that character "running away" with the key or whatever. Who read and played that bit and thought "yeah this is good!"

(Jaw dropping as in, I can't believe I'm reading this shit from the most popular media franchise)

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red13n
04/29/21 3:06:53 AM
#29:


The first half of Sword/Shield is about the same as the average Pokemon game.

Then the second half takes 2 hours.

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 3:08:57 AM
#30:


Zigzagoon posted...
Oh okay, you're right. I guess I'm just lying about what I said. My bad.

I didn't say you're lying.

It just appears your time is more of an outlier.

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UshiromiyaEva
04/29/21 3:09:36 AM
#31:


By the time I finished SwSh my most prevelant thought was the Gamefreak has fully embraced that they don't have to try.

Then I thought about it more and it's probably Nintendo's fault because they gave a handheld game's budget to a handheld game studio with an almost exclusively handheld experienced team and told then to make a console game.

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red13n
04/29/21 3:11:15 AM
#32:


UshiromiyaEva posted...
Then I thought about it more and it's probably Nintendo's fault because they gave a handheld game's budget to a handheld game studio with an almost exclusively handheld experienced team and told then to make a console game.

None of the console stuff was the problem. The problem was the content just stopped.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:13:22 AM
#33:


I think the reason my time was closer to "rushed" and a normal playthrough is considered 25 hours is because that time probably accounts for a good portion of hours spent in the Wild Area. Whereas with the other Pokemon games, the actual story and going through the gyms is what takes up the game time. Since I only spent a 2-3 hours playing around in the Wild Area, my finished story time ended up being pretty short.

In my opinion though, I really don't think the Wild Area should be counted towards playing through the main game. It's just an area with a TON of different pokemon, and you can play online... sort of. If that's your thing, and you enjoy doing that, that's totally cool. I just think it has no place in adding to a story play through time of the game.

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UshiromiyaEva
04/29/21 3:15:12 AM
#34:


That's also a good point that you can easily add about 5 hours onto the total playtime if you count time spent waiting for the network to connect.

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 3:18:15 AM
#35:


Eh, to be perfectly honest, I don't necessarily see Wild Area counting towards main game time any worse than those dumb slide or teleport puzzles extending length, or getting lost in Rock Tunnel, or so on.

Like, I have more fun spending an hour catching a bunch of different Pokemon than I do spending an hour doing HM "puzzles." But either way, they're both just time fluff, to me. One just actually feels more relevant to the actual core of the game (catching Pokemon), while the other just always feels super monotonous and forced.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:19:10 AM
#36:


Like, if people told me that they spent about 20 hours in the Wild Area and their end time completing the game came in around 32-35 hours, they can't tell me... Oh! Pokemon Sword is a pretty long Pokemon game, it took me 35 hours to beat!

No, that's not how this works.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:21:04 AM
#37:


The difference is they actually put effort into making these puzzles. Sure you might not like them, but they are part of the story and progression to the end of the game.

The Wild Area is neither of those. It is literally just a big area with a ton of pokemon thrown in. There was no effort or much thought into it whatsoever. Just a lazy idea, executed pretty poorly to make it seem like the game is bigger than it is.

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 3:23:45 AM
#38:


But the whole literal point of Pokemon is catching Pokemon. I play Pokemon to catch and battle Pokemon. I don't play Pokemon to use Strength to push rocks into holes. It doesn't feel like actual progression, it feels like shoving crap in just to shove crap in.

I get excited when I go through the Wild Area and see a Pokemon I don't have. I don't get excited by having my progression stopped by terrible puzzles.

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ninkendo
04/29/21 3:25:20 AM
#39:


I only play pokemon to catch em all.

Battling who cares I'll just import some level 100 and speed through it

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 3:26:51 AM
#40:


And to be clear, I'm not saying "No puzzles ever." I'd like them to return, just hopefully less monotonous.

I'm just saying discounting time spent in the Wild Area seems kinda silly since catching Pokemon is literally the point of the series. If somebody spent dozens of hours catching them all, then sure, it doesn't count for "Main Story." But if somebody just spent a few hours, I don't see any reason not to count it, since that's what it's intended for. And honestly, that's why "Rushed" exists, anyway.

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UshiromiyaEva
04/29/21 3:28:45 AM
#41:


I typically only catch 6 pokemon in a run of Pokmon unless forced to for reasons outside my control.

Me and the Wild Area do not see eye to eye.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:29:53 AM
#42:


I think there needs to be a good balance of both. Not that I love puzzles or anything like that. I enjoy cool new areas with maybe interesting story beats and humor (Pokemon can do humor, they can't really do story though)

I also enjoy seeing new pokemon and catching my favorites! It doesn't excite me to see a Pokemon from 10 years ago show up in the grass that I moderately like. It's like, yep this pokemon exists... and?

Pokemon Sword and Shield didn't really introduce thaaat many new Pokemon and overall a ton of them were misses in design for me. Much like the previous couple gens, there were a couple homeruns but god the overall quality has been dipping.

That's getting away from my point though. I think there needs to be balance and Sword and Shield did NOT have that balance. So for people who just like looking at a ton of different pokemon that they've seen countless times before... okay sure this is for you.

For people who want more? People who want something impressive from the largest media franchise in the world? People wanting something that should absolutely be possible, especially now that they've moved to console?

Well you're going to be waiting a looooong time. Probably forever!

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 3:31:10 AM
#43:


Zigzagoon posted...
So for people who just like looking at a ton of different pokemon that they've seen countless times before... okay sure this is for you.

To be fair, given the reactions to the dex cuts, this sounds like a majority of people!

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:32:26 AM
#44:


And I really don't get it!

Would people really be that happy if they just made a mainline game that was JUST the wild area and you could just sit there and catch pokemon endlessly? Every pokemon being available?

What the fuck is the point?

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UshiromiyaEva
04/29/21 3:40:18 AM
#45:


Unless it's a replay I've never used a pokemon in my party that wasn't new to the game in question.

Why would I play a new Pokmon game and use an old Pokmon? Don't even put them in there. Maybe then you can spend the time focusing on making the game good.

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Zigzagoon
04/29/21 3:41:31 AM
#46:


In a first playthrough, I will always try and use strictly new pokemon yeah. Though, they are making it harder by having few and fewer designs that are actually cool. Still managed to come up with at least 6 cool ones thankfully.

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StealThisSheen
04/29/21 4:04:48 AM
#47:


UshiromiyaEva posted...
Unless it's a replay I've never used a pokemon in my party that wasn't new to the game in question.

Why would I play a new Pokmon game and use an old Pokmon? Don't even put them in there. Maybe then you can spend the time focusing on making the game good.

If you literally only catch 6 and don't want to see old ones, it sounds like you just want a typical jrpg and what makes Pokemon Pokemon really isn't for you.

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-hotdogturtle--
04/29/21 4:28:39 AM
#48:


This used to be a Pokemon Snap topic.

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JackMan
04/29/21 4:37:10 AM
#49:


I actually really liked that Sw/Sh was on the shorter side. Mainline Pokemon games can drag on a bit and I dropped Ultra Sun on the third island because it was such a slog.

Although, Id rather it was intentionally short, rather than cutting content just to get the game out for Christmas.

Uh, anyway, excited to play Snap on Saturday!

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Mewtwo59
04/29/21 2:38:59 PM
#50:


Zigzagoon posted...
In a first playthrough, I will always try and use strictly new pokemon yeah. Though, they are making it harder by having few and fewer designs that are actually cool. Still managed to come up with at least 6 cool ones thankfully.

I mean, it's always been hard to do if you want a balanced team. Except for RS (excluding RB and BW since those only had new Pokemon), they've either locked a bunch of them to postgame only, or there's so few new ones that you're probably going to have to double up on a type just to get to 6. And even when they aren't locked behind postgame, they seem to love putting a lot of the new Pokemon as rare encounters on one route.

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