OK, so as pretty much everyone has said, Pokopia is brilliant.
It's part Animal Crossing, part Minecraft, part Viva Pinata, tasking you with transforming a series of environments and building suitable habitats to attract various Pokemon, all of whom have different requirements and needs. It's absolutely stuffed full of things to do, appears to be absolutely huge and is completely enthralling to play. The Pokemon themselves are a chatty bunch with bags of personality and even the storyline is kind of sweet. I always seem to be doing about ten things at once and yet it's low-pressure enough that if you want to take time out to build a big house or a minecart race track then you can do that as well.
Also, this might seem like a weird thing but it runs like a dream - there's loads going on but it never struggles at all, it keeps track of everything you've done across a series of huge environments and the draw distances are vast. It's weird to have a Nintendo console that doesn't feel like it's struggling a bit technically, it feels like since the Wii at least we've got used to that but Pokopia is pretty impressive as well as being loads of fun to play.
It feels like the first really great Switch 2 game (for me - don't come at me, DK fans) and a real shot in the arm for the Pokemon franchise as well.
Pokopia is very moreish.
Isn’t it just. It’s the Viva Piñata sequel we never thought we’d get.
I’m sure that’s the case. In the entire time I’ve had a One X/Series X I’ve paid literally one pound for Game Pass which was the introductory offer in (I think) 2018. Everything since has been funded entirely by Microsoft’s own Rewards system, which was for a while insanely generous and is still now pretty good. That’s a hell of a lot of gaming for effectively zero outlay, it’s no wonder I’m well disposed towards the system.
They’ve more or less confirmed now that it’ll be an Xbox/PC hybrid, which is what everyone was expecting anyway.
I’m not sure they’ve been as terrible this gen as everyone has made out. The hardware is great, cloud streaming is solid, 99% of games get released on it and I still think Game Pass has been brilliant. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out this gen at all by going Xbox, all I see from Sony are sequels and remakes these days anyway.
The new Celebrity Elusive Target is a follow-up to Patient Zero, featuring Milla Jovovich. These continue to get more and more elaborate - this is a substantial reskin of the Dartmoor level including a whole new underground lab area, and it's a clear Resident Evil tribute as well that at one point has you mixing green and blue herbs to create an antidote.
My main issue with it is that it's very linear and scripted, at least for the first half, and of course because it's an Elusive Target there is no way of saving. If this had been one of their Special Missions, it would have been one of the best in the game. As an Elusive Target, it's quite frustrating and it's worth noting that a second starting location opens up once you've reached the halfway point at least once which allows you to skip the whole first half of the mission on replays.
In general the Celebrity targets have been much more scripted than the earlier Elusives (I guess they need to make full use of the likeness and voice acting) and I do wonder if this points to the sort of thing they will do with Bond.
Garwoofoo