ELEMENTARY.

I am in that lucky age group that lived the first wave of Pokémon mania. I still have my copy of Pokémon Blue Version, all of my worn out trading cards, as well as memories of the mass hysteria of it all. I fell out of love with the series around the time of the Game Boy Advance games and jumped back in during the Nintendo DS era with Pokémon Diamond, which to this day stands out as my favorite title in the series. However my love sort of wavered around the time of Black and White’s release and has never really returned. I still enjoy Pokémon the franchise, just not the mainline games. The Pokémon Ranger series was neat. The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games definitely had appeal. Pokémon Snap still remains one of my favorite games on the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, Detective Pikachu does align with those other spin off titles.

PLATFORMS: 3DS (REVIEWED ON NEW 3DS XL)
MSRP: $39.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $14.99

The story in Detective Pikachu revolves around the adolescent Tim Goodman teaming up with his father’s Pikachu (identifiable by his unique Sherlock Holmes style detective cap) to help solve the mystery of why Pokémon are going berserk. Tim has traveled to the city in attempt to locate his missing private investigator father and basically stumbles into becoming a detective himself. Pikachu can only be understood by Tim and other Pokémon, which gives them an advantage in their investigation. Travelling all over the city, Tim and Pikachu unravel a conspiracy behind a substance that can alter a Pokémon’s attitude and work to stop it. Generally gameplay has Tim exploring environments and talking to people to gather information, occasionally calling upon Pikachu to talk to other Pokémon to get information from them as well. Once enough information is gathered, Tim and Pikachu put the information together (in a fill in the blank type question and answer quiz) and move onto the next segment. This is the core gameplay loop and plot of Detective Pikachu from beginning to end.

To start with the good, this game looks great. I haven’t seen Pokémon look so good in an environment outside of a battle arena since Pokémon Snap. Murkrows and Aipoms interact like they are real creatures in the first section of this game, which isn’t something the mainline Pokémon games do or has ever done very well. For fans of Pokémon lore this is a very neat and interesting look at Pokémon from all generations just existing in a world that isn’t strictly built to get into random battles and fight. The soundtrack is quite good, setting the appropriate tone throughout (and the credits tune was really well done). Most dialog is read, however. When voice acted, most of the voice acting is alright to good; it can come off cheesy but the story is presented somewhat like a cheesy pulp detective novel anyways. I will never quite get over Pikachu’s voice actor delivering a gruff “Pika Pika” for as long as I live.

Now onto the not so good. At some points, Pikachu’s indicator on the lower screen will flash to give hints. I avoided this because I didn’t need them, however sometimes clicking this flashing button is mandatory to continue with the game while at other points it puts gameplay to a complete stand still so I can watch a lame slapstick animation with Pikachu. This would be fine if there weren’t mandatory interactions with this button but because there is, I was forced to watch this trite at times just to play the game of which these videos have no real effect on. These videos, like most humor in the game, is groan worthy. There’s one section where Tim and Pikachu help Pokémon scientists mix basic colors. I wish I was kidding, but I also had to help these Pokémon scientists, meaning scientists who study Pokémon, figure out what Pokémon could be behind a mystery. No one knew which Pokémon it could be based upon its skills or its appearance until I captured it and then every scientist said “Of course. It was _______. That makes sense.” which is a terrible leap in logic unless everyone became temporary amnesiacs. However, the worst part was hands down the fact that they left the ending open for a sequel, which is fine had they really concluded the story they establish throughout the game especially after delivering a mediocre twist of who the mastermind is behind it all.

I did not like Detective Pikachu. It was clear very early on this game was for children, as it held my hand through problem solving the entire game. I played on normal mode so I cannot imagine how the easier gameplay mode can be any simpler than the standard game. My big point of contention with Detective Pikachu is that I played the core Pokémon games (the role playing games) as a child and many other children have done the same. Kids are not so daft to require this much hand holding, especially fans of the Pokémon series. It makes me question who this game is for other than the most extreme, hardcore Pokémon fans. Ultimately, I like the concept of Detective Pikachu and will likely see the movie when it releases, but hopefully the developers choose to challenge their audience a bit more with any potential sequel.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.