DS

Published on June 12th, 2012 | by Jhonny Crespo

0

[E3 2012] Pokemon Conquest Preview

Pokémon Conquest is the upcoming release in the Pokemon franchise, and we were given a hands on look at E3 last week. Pokémon Conquest serves as a spin-off in the series and it takes on a whole new twist to the game that old fans will love, and new fans will fall in love with.

Pokémon Conquest is a brand new journey from what we were used to since the release of the Red and Blue. We are taken back to the ancient times of Japan that were ruled by warlords and their pet Pokémon. The  battle style is different from the traditional RPG style of the series. Now it is turn based strategy, which is akin to Advanced Wars. You choose your Pokémon team of up to four and enter them into battle. The Pokémon that you choose from do not belong to you, they belong to warlords that you meet along your journey and team up with you. Each warlord also has a certain battle ability. For example, one warlord can heal all the Pokémon to full health and another can increase the chances of a critical hit for a certain number of turns.

Each Pokémon has different attacks just like the previous games, but in this game each Pokémon feels unique even in their movements. For example, flying Pokémon can move greater distances per turn and fire Pokémon can stand in lava. Some can attack from greater distances than others. These concepts are easy to grasp, especially for people who have played turn based strategy games, but applying it to Pokémon is very logical and a great new twist to a franchise that we’ve all grown up with.

Pokémon Conquest also filled with Japanese historical references, with the warlords being real figures in Japanese history. The game is divided into five episodes. The first episode is an introduction to the game is said to last about a full 20 hours. Once that episode is finished, a new episode is unlocked. We were also told that other episodes will be available as DLC making the replay level really high for this game.

Pokémon Conquest brings a welcomed new twist to the franchise, and creating a gameplay experience that is adequate for young gamers and the original Pokemon trainers of the 90s. Unfortunately for the purist, while the Pokémon selection will range from all the versions of the series, it will not include every Pokémon. Aside from that, with the high amount of replay value, Pokémon Conquest is a must get when it comes out on June 18th!