Game Review - Pokémon Auto Chess

The Auto Chess genre of games has been popping up as a fun little arcade mode to bigger franchises over the past few years, as well as their own custom made games as a stand alone title. It was only a matter of time before a Pokémon themed one popped up, and it has been created by 2 fans of the franchise, and it's safe to say they have done it justice.

Pokémon Auto Chess - Release the birds!

What is an Auto Chess game?

The game is a simple concept but with so much variety within it that every game is different as you can't control the randomness of the shop nor what the other players go for themselves. The idea is simple, build a team of Pokémon from what appears in the shop, combining the synergies to gain their boosts whilst defeating a combination of player and non player levels. The synergies within the game give the Pokémon of that type a boost, for example the bug type synergy, when you have 2 of them duplicates 1 of your bug type, and as you add more different bugs to your team the level of the synergy goes up and eventually leads to 5 of your bugs being duplicated at the start of each battle. Everyone starts with 100 life and every time you lose, a chunk of that life disappears and you have to be the last man standing to win the game.

What makes this one standout?

Simply put, this one uses probably the most well known game franchise across the world so a lot of the characters within the game are recognisable to even the briefest of fans within it. From the most well known Pokémon in Pikachu to a few of the more newer generation and Ultra Beasts, the game boasts 428 separate evolution lines within it, across 39 synergies to mix and match, further expanding the idea that every game is different. Another thing that makes this one different to others I have personally experienced is the items. The game has 9 base items, which can all be mixed with one another to create stronger items and as the game goes on, new special items such as the metal coat get added. What also makes the items different is some Pokémon look for specific items to evolve or change form which is a nice twist to the simple items give abilities mould that the genre has usually followed. Another thing that stands out for this game is the retro feel to it, using a version of the old Gameboy sprites for the Pokémon on the field, as well as a sound track to match that old school feel. Even the different habitats within the game have a retro feel, however they all make sense to the type of Pokémon they spawn more of in the shop as well as their regional forms to be found. The only thing this game is missing compared to some of the others within the genre, is the player interaction within the game. There isn't a chat feature once a game begins and there's no sprays or emotes you can use to put on the field or use to react to what is happening in your head to head matches.

73 Titles to be unlocked in various challenges

Why is this game worth keep playing?

Any simple game like this needs a reason to keep the player coming back to play over and over again, and this game has a few ways of doing this. Within the game itself, due to the balance of the game being pretty even across the whole lot means you can try and win using any of the synergies, making it feel like it's worth playing in different ways each time rather than knowing what works well and just keep replaying that. Outside of the actual game itself is where it comes in to it's own for making you want to replay over and over, with both titles and avatars to collect which are both usable within the game. Titles are unlocked by completing certain challenges, and is a simple little name that goes in front of your account name, for example by completing your first game you unlock the title "Novice", but with 73 of them to unlock with increasing difficulty means trying to complete them all will keep you playing for some time. However if 73 titles isn't enough for you, how about an avatar for each individual Pokémon, including multiple emotions for each one and shiny versions. For those unaware, that's 1025 Pokémon currently released all with multiple options within them to unlock. To get these you keep playing games and for every 1000 xp you gain from where you finish, you unlock a booster pack which has 10 random cards within. You can get duplicates however each standard card is worth 50 shards for that Pokémon whilst if you're lucky enough to get a shiny in the pack you will get 250 shards. You can then use those shards on that Pokémon to unlock the avatar you wish from them. The great thing about this is if you unlock a shiny avatar and choose to use it, your in game character plus any sprites for them that you choose to use as part of your team will also be shiny.

All the different unlocks within Ponyta, Shiny options on the right cost more

Everchanging within the game

It is very difficult to pick your team from the very beginning of a game, as there are multiple factors that happen within the game to throw up decisions on whether to stick or twist with your initial idea. Throughout the game you get additional picks where a choice of 3 Pokémon will be given to you to add to your line-up, these could make you twist from what you were initially going for should they work with one synergy but not another that you were already going for. As the game goes on you also get unique picks, where you will choose a portal showing various synergies on, then be given a choice of 5 rare and legendary Pokémon who's secondary and third typing may also change your idea of what you was going for to fit them in better. The other thing that'll change within the game is due to the ranking system, you will find you come up against other people who are able to adapt a bit better than you can, so being flexible to switch up when you need to can be a big factor in beating other players and moving up the ranks, which again brings tougher matches and players to put yourself up against. Another reason for being able to switch up is if your shops just aren't providing you what you need, to evolve a Pokémon you will need 3 of it to evolve, and then if there is a third evolution you will need 3 of the second evolution to get it. For example 3x Weedle will get you a Kakuna, however to get Beedrill you need 3 Kakuna meaning 9x Weedles from the shop. Now you might start out with these but the shop runs dry and stops giving you them due to you levelling up making common Pokémon less frequent or other players are buying them as well, as the pool of Pokémon is shared across all 8 players.

Booster pack to unlock more avatars

Final Thoughts

This is a very fun and addictive game to play and once you start collecting, you suddenly feel you need much more of the collection filled. It has been executed to a very high level considering it isn't even an official Pokémon game and with the frequent updates and more Pokémon and synergies being added as well as balance updates means this game can continue at a fun level for a long time. Hopefully some in game player interaction gets added at some point as well with future updates as well as some fixes to the little crashes it currently has and this game could go on to dominate the genre.

9/10

Written by Lee Watson