3/5 ★ – lukehoop's review of New Pokémon Snap.

New Pokemon Snap is a long awaited sequel to one of my favorite childhood games. The gameplay is incredibly simple and engaging, and for better or worse, little of the moment to moment gameplay has changed since the original game that came out in 1999. You explore on-rails environments with your trusty camera to take photos of all sorts of pokemon before picking photos to be graded for points that lead to unlocking new levels and alterations to the levels you already have been on. The nostalgia blast hits hard and there’s plenty of levels and Pokemon to keep you around for much longer than the original.  The level upgrade system is enjoyable and gives you a reason to replay levels. Each time you upgrade a level it changes some of the pokemon you see and what they are doing, seemingly because they are getting more comfortable with your presence. You can also unlock alternate routes through levels and there is even a night and day version for most levels, further giving each level variety. I did however, miss the lack of secrets and interactivity that the first game had, as there is very little reward for trying and experimenting with weird ideas in the level -- like using an apple to lead a pokemon into a hazard.  A few hours into the game and I was having a blast as the levels were varied and I felt like every direction I looked I saw a pokemon I wanted to snap a photo of because of the dense design. It felt like whatever I was choosing to look at meant I was sacrificing seeing something interesting behind me giving me a strong desire to immediately replay levels. However, as I progressed through the campaign a lot of the shine wore off and the limits of the photography grading system really started to wear on me. The system for grading your photos has barely been changed or improved in the 20 years since the original game. Things like the size of the pokemon in the photo far outweigh an interesting background or pose -- Leading to an album of giant faces. Not to mention the extreme lack of interesting comments from the professor when grading. He’s no Professor Oak. All these things led to me feeling like the grading process was unexciting and unrewarding. I just wanted to get back to taking photos.  The other thing that kept me from simply taking photos was the story. It’s a constant distraction from what you want to be doing, as after seemingly every run through a level you have to return to base to hear a couple minutes of sub-par banter and world building. Part of this comes from your rival/friend being mind numbingly annoying. The mystery of the world just wasn’t all that compelling and the “boss levels” that you get throughout the game are long and boring with seemingly only one thing to do.  I had a lot of trouble landing on a score for this game, as I really enjoyed my first ten hours, but the game wore me down and has left a somewhat poor taste in my mouth. I had basically no interest in going back for the free update that added some new maps, even though it sounded like a great update. It’s hard to recommend the game at a premium price, and as with most Nintendo games you’ll be lucky to ever find this for under $30 -- a price I could get behind.