New Pokémon Snap review

Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch

New Pokémon Snap

22 years after the release of its first title, the pocket monster photography franchise is back on consoles.
New Pokémon Snap brings rich environments, a great variety of landscapes, a vast collection of Pokémon to photograph and excellent replay value, making anyone interested in the genre invest hour after hour to get the perfect shot.

Presentation

For those not familiar with the previous title, Pokémon Snap has a simple but charming formula: in an on-rails mechanic, the player is carried through a scene along a predefined route, but with full control of the angle and point of view, while the goal is to spot the Pokémon wildlife in the surrounding scenery, recording the different species in all kinds of situations.

The whereabouts of the little monsters, or even the fact that they are present, are often not obvious, and for that the player has a few items at their disposal to not only draw their attention but also make them show different behaviors, which can make the photographs much more interesting.

During the expeditions, which are the reason for the visits and the photos, your level of progress can increase according to your performance at the end of each stage, unlocking new areas, sections of the scenery and times of day, and changing the behavior of the inhabitants of that region, giving the chance to discover new creatures and to advance further with the research in the Lental region.

Gameplay

The game’s controls have not changed much since the first edition but have been properly updated. The player can move the camera freely with the analog sticks or with the motion sensors of the controllers or of the console itself in handheld mode. You can scan the area for points of interest, throw special items to attract the little monsters’ attention or affect their behavior and, finally, capture the moments with photographs.

After each stage, for each target or point of interest in the stage, you can select a photo that will be judged by the Professor and can be saved to your portfolio. Up to four different graded photos can be saved per Pokémon, and these can be customized with several options and exported straight to the console’s image folder.

The game also offers a generous and quite varied list of requests with specific objectives that can be completed in the different stages, which guides the player to discover new ways of interacting with the pocket fauna.

You can also share albums online and customize your profile title with the many available ones, which are rewards given to the player for meeting the most varied objectives during the expeditions.

Conclusion

New Pokémon Snap is everything fans wanted it to be: it is stunning, fun and quite smart in encouraging the player to explore the scenery provided, to try different things and to repeat the experience, which changes slightly with each attempt.

The variety of situations that change in the same scene as you progress (which the Professor tells you to keep an eye on) is a satisfaction in itself, and noticing a new Pokémon in the scenery sustains the desire to keep searching.

If any criticism can be made, it is only how much someone in love with the franchise will always want more, want all the Pokémon available and want to see even more scenery in which these fantastic fictional animals can be seen in their natural habitat.

It is possible to consider that the developers tried not to stray too far from the recipe nor to be too daring with new mechanics, but after so much time, it is prudent to consider that players who were waiting wanted most of all to receive what they asked for, well made, and this title certainly delivers.

Pokémon Snap is now available and can be obtained on the Nintendo eShop.

Played on the Nintendo Switch with Joy-Cons.