Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Switch) – Used – w/code – sold by musicMagpie

Pokemon Legends: Arceus adds a new flavour (or, rather, combination of flavours) to the Pokemon palate. It blends core Pokemon gameplay with inspiration from the blockbuster augmented reality game Pokemon Go and even the titanic Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The difference from previous games that will strike you first is the setting – youre in Sinnoh, where Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl take place, but youre waaaaay back in a long-gone era. Where the cities of Diamond and Pearl would be there are lush unspoiled basins, with wild pokemon roaming them. This is before Pokemon Trainers and the Pokemon League. This is a time when in place of your pokedex you have a book, and capturing a pokemon doesnt automatically give you all the information on them that you need. Youll need to complete other sub-goals – research tasks such as catching them from behind with a back strike (a stealthy bonk on the head from behind), beating them in battle or seeing them use certain moves. Most of them are things youd tend to do as you go about your business in Legends: Arceus anyway, but seeing those research points stack up and climbing the ranks of the Survey Corps as a result is satisfying nonetheless. Meanwhile, crafting has increased in importance in a way that ratchets up the amount of multi-tasking youll need to do, introducing a new element of tension to proceedings. Combat has had an overhaul, too. Its still turn-based, but feels a bit more like PlayStation-era Final Fantasy than traditional Pokemon. Legends: Arceus marks a new direction for the Pokemon franchise, and fans will want to get in on the ground floor.