Pokémon GO Review

When we heard that Pokémon GO was due to come out we just had to jump on and give it a go. When first logging in you get to customise the look of the trainer, choosing clothing, hair, eyes and accessories to give him or her a cool look.

On the main game screen, your customised trainer is seen on your map (which is your physical location using GPS) and also a small picture in the bottom left of the phone along with your name you have given your trainer. When you tap on the picture it will bring up your trainer along with what level you are currently at, a journal which tells you of the Pokémon you've caught and when, the amount of Pokécoins you have, what team you might be in and what start date, scroll down more and you will find medals.

You catch Pokémon by swiping a Pokéball at them, and you can catch any that are within the radar that flashes around your trainer. In the bottom right of the main screen you will see a little white bar which when you tap on it, it will bring up your nearby Pokémon. It shows either one, two, three or no paws depending how close you are to that Pokémon, with fewer paws being better. If you turn on AR Mode (Augmented Reality), it shows Pokémon through your phone camera, which can be really funny depending on where you are.

In Pokémon GO you will level up your trainer the more you catch Pokémon, and at the higher levels you will be able to catch more powerful Pokémon to complete your Pokédex. There are currently 133 Pokémon available right now but it looks like they have planned to have up to 250 to collect. While collecting Pokémon you also get medals that come in bronze, silver and gold which are like achievements for catching a certain amount of Pokémon.

There are other ways to add Pokémon to your roster, too - as you explore, you may find Pokémon Eggs at PokéStops, which will hatch after you’ve walked a certain distance. When they hatch, you may find Pokémon you’ve never seen before from just walking around.

When you are in range of a PokéStop (if it is within the radar), you can tap on it, then spin the picture to receive your goodies like Pokéballs, incubators for your eggs and more. Incubators allows you to hatch eggs. You already have an infinity incubator in your items, but you can also collect other incubators that can break after three uses.

At the bottom of the screen there is an image of a Pokéball which when tapped on brings up a menu for your Pokédex. This shows the amount of Pokémon you've caught and also seen. Shop is where you can spend Pokécoins but you can only get Pokécoins by spending real money; from £0.79 for 100 Pokécoins to £79.99 for 14,500 Pokécoins. Tapping on the Pokémon header icon can tell you which Pokémon you've caught recently and also tells you how many eggs you have - you can only hold up to 9 eggs and Items where you can hold up to 350 items from potions to heal your Pokémon after battles to telling you how many Pokéballs you have.

At level five, the player is able to battle at a Pokémon gym and join one of three teams (red for Team Valor, which uses Moltres as their mascot; blue for Team Mystic, which uses Articuno as their mascot; or yellow for Team Instinct, which uses Zapdos as their mascot) which act as larger factions within the Pokémon Go world. If a player enters a Pokémon gym that is controlled by a player that is not part of their team, they can challenge the leader to lower the gym's "prestige". Once the prestige of a gym is lowered to zero then the player will take control of the gym and is able to deposit one Pokémon to defend it. Similarly, a team can upgrade the prestige of a gym under their control by battling the gym leader. Each time a gym's level is raised, another player from the same team can deposit one of their Pokémon.

Overall we found it an excellent idea and what better way to get you exercising more than to walk around to find Pokémon - you've all heard the saying “Gotta catch them all”. It can also be very addictive as you really feel the need to catch them all and we enjoyed it so much we are scoring it.