Pokémon Masters has arrived, and while the release was slightly unexpected, the date falls in line with the previously announced summer-release window. Of course, this isn't a mainline Pokémon game, since it comes from DeNA, the same company behind Nintendo's Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. As expected, Pokémon Masters is a free-to-play release packed with in-app purchases and loot boxes, and this time around, instead of collecting adorable creatures, you'll spend your time collecting trainers to play through 3v3 battles, similar in style to the many MARVEL Strike Force clones already available on the Play Store.

The trailer above shows off some of Pokémon Masters' battle mechanics. Clearly, 3v3 real-time battles are the focus, where you'll collect trainers and evolve their Pokémon to create a powerful team. Auto mechanics are included, which means you won't have to play through the game's battles if you don't want to, though these battles can be fun when playing manually thanks to the interesting way you have to micromanage your moves and targets continually. Much like the core Pokémon series, a rock-paper-scissors mechanic is included, so Pokémon types still play a significant role when battling.

Unsurprisingly, the trainers you are tasked with collecting all contain their own star ratings, so if you were wondering if Pokémon Masters is a gacha game, it is. Much like every other gacha game out there, the story and missions are broken up into separate chapters, and you'll have to play through these story events to get to the meat of the game, its battles. This can be annoying if you're focused on gameplay, even when you skip the story scenes (because you still have to load in and out of them) since it slows advancement down to a crawl, which is probably the point.

Really, the main highlight of this release is the amount of polish in the title. Last night there appeared to be a few server issues, but this morning things are working as expected. So far the graphics are really nice, and the cutscenes are animated smoothly with attractive designs. If you're a big fan of Pokémon, I have no doubt you'll enjoy the art and animations in Pokémon Masters.

Since this is a free-to-play release, in-app purchases range up to $79.99 per item, and there are also multiple currencies, which can get tricky since there's an exchange system for the crystals used for Pokémon evolutions, not to mention the game actually differentiates between paid and earned gems, which is really questionable. Of course, loot boxes are also included, though there doesn't appear to be a stamina system, so you should be able to play as long as you want.

In my opinion, Pokémon Masters offers more of the same content that we've been playing through for years, just with a fantastic skin slapped on top. So I have to at least give credit to the design team since the graphics look great in action, but past that, this is just another gacha game infested with IAPs designed to alleviate the title's horrid grind. This is why auto-battle mechanics are included, which to me signals a game that even its designers agree isn't worth playing. While I do not doubt that Pokémon Masters will be a major success despite these downsides, I still can't get behind a release that's designed to target children with clear gambling mechanics. DeNA and Google apparently believe that such a game should be available to everyone, since that's the game's rating, but I squarely disagree.

Pokémon Masters EX Developer: DeNA Co., Ltd.
Price: Free
4.3
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PRESS RELEASE