I will link to my review of Pokemon Sun and Moon:
https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/remilia_seven_fangs/lists/games-beaten-during-2017/359088/
Why you may ask? Well the thing is the Ultra games follow the Black/White series. Ultra is pretty much the same game as basic Sun and Moon with a few differences. That is probably the biggest con of these games. So instead I will talk about the new stuff they added, that I managed to play through.
Cons:
Pretty much the same game as the basic versions. There are a few minor differences in story, but you still travel the same path to get to the elite four with a few minor stops.
Side Quest the Video Game. I do not mind doing side quests, but when most of the content for a game is pretty much side quests, it just makes the game feel a bit lacking and not as enjoyable. Sure the basic games had side quests as well, but I feel like these ones have more side quests and most of them involve backtracking or catching Pokemon in a different game. They are just starting to turn this series into a Final Fantasy game instead.
They added Ultra Space to give the Ultra Beasts a home and allow the player to travel to the homes of these creatures. This is a cool idea, however the actual process of trying to get to these areas is not very enjoyable and kind of feels like work more than play. I kind of gave up trying to get to the later Ultra Beasts because I did not enjoy the mechanic of the Wormhole Ride and I also already had these Pokemon from playing Sun/Moon.
I usually end up buying the guide to go with the games because I enjoy reading through the guide and looking at the different pictures and such. The guide really should not be added to this review since many people do not get the guides and it may not even affect people’s enjoyment of the game. However, I need to bring up some issues with the guide for this game. The guide pretty much assumes the player has played basic Sun and Moon and that they already know the story and what to expect. That is not how a guide should be done. Especially since not everyone played the basic games or may have started playing the Pokemon series on Ultra. Either way, the guide was not very well done and had some errors and problems with how it was presented.
Pros:
They added a few new things to the game that actually were enjoyable. The Mantine surfing was enjoyable most of the time. It does have some issues, but it has some appeal and is a good way to gain BP for buying rare items.
The Battle Agency is a very interesting idea to the battle mechanics of the game. It would probably be more enjoyable with friends, however since I do not have internet at home and really do not have any friends who play Pokemon, I could not enjoy that part. It does provide you with in game players to experience the gameplay, which makes it accessible for solo players. I liked this new battle mode because you could go to the Festival Plaza each day and choose from one of three different Pokemon each day. This allows the player to try Pokemon they may not have every used, but also gives a challenge for players to use Pokemon they may not think are useful. I actually liked not being able to pick my own Pokemon and being able to just pick from a list of Pokemon the game gave me. Once the battle starts you can use the Pokemon you picked or switch out between players or friends and do a 3v3 battle. While playing as my preferred character is better, it was cool to play as some other person for a couple battles.
The final new addition that was very enjoyable was the Rainbow Rocket Episode. This is a small epilogue event where the leaders of past games all gathered under Leader Giovanni and his Team Rocket to take over the Alola region. You were able to go through various puzzles and traps to get to each leader and challenge them to a fight. They even used their respective Pokemon and Legendary based on which game you were playing. It was like bringing back all the great battles of the past and being able to fight them with your Alola Team.
I am going to have to say that I was kind of disappointed with this series. I enjoyed the basic game but also had issues with it when I played through it (you can read my review on it above). However, it is starting to feel like someone is forcing GameFreak to release a Pokemon game each year and these games were not meant to be yearly installments. I know they have two teams, maybe more, but each team should be given more than a year to work on these games. If this kind of thing keeps up with the Pokemon series, I may just have to come back to the game every five years or so and see how things have changed, because I do not want to keep being disappointed in a series that I loved.
All in all, if you did not pick up the basic Sun/Moon games then this would be an enjoyable game to play and even start on. It does actually make the game feel more polished than the basic games and it even adds some enjoyable moments. They actually did a decent job with summing up the Ultra Beast stories and giving the player more information on the events. I can still recommend to players of the Pokemon series and even new comers, but I will say be cautious of future installments.
