Garena’s Free Fire Max has been awarded for the User’s Choice category, while League of Legends: Wild Rift and Pokemon Unite among others have been nominated for the Best Competitive section. Crash Bandicoot: On The Run! has been crowed as one of the Best Pick Up and Play mobile game of 2021 as well, among others. Check out the full list of categories and winners down below (via GamesIndustry.biz).

Unsurprisingly, Pokemon Unite has been another major hit for gaming giant Tencent. In a matter of less than a year, the game has surpassed 25 million downloads. Read our thoughts on the game through here.

Best Game:

• Pokémon Unite (TiMi Studio Group, The Pokémon Company)

User’s choice:

• Garena Free Fire Max (Garena)

Best Competitive:

• League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games)
• Marvel Future Revolution (Netmarble)
• Pokémon Unite (TiMi Studio Group, The Pokémon Company)
• Rogue Land (Huuuge Games)
• Suspects: Mystery Mansion (Wildlife Studios)

Best Game Changers:

• Inked (Somnium Gammes)
• JankenUP (Humita)
• Knights of San Francisco (Raidead)
• Overboard! (Inkle)
• Tears of Themis (MiHoYo)

Best Pick Up & Play

• Cats in Time – Relaxing Puzzle Game (Pine Studio)
• Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (King)
• Disney Pop Town (Sundaytoz Corp)
• Switchcraft: Magical Match 3 (Wooga)
• Towers: Relaxing Puzzle (Jox Development)

Best Indies:

• 7 Billion Humans (Tomorrow Corporation)
• Bird Alone (George Batchelor)
• Donut County (Ben Esposito)
• My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge (Devolver Digital)
• Puzzling Peaks EXE (AppSir)

Best for Tablets:

• Chicken Police – Paint it Red! (HandyGames)
• My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge (Devolver Digital)
• The Procession to Calvary (Nephilim Game Studios)
• Overboard! (Inkle)
• League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games)

Pokemon Unite is already available on Nintendo Switch, and cross-play will be supported across both platforms. In addition to this, a new balance patch for the game will also be dropping – which will of course, tweak a plethora of stats to make the game well, balanced. As reported by Serebii, this update will also be focusing on ironing out bugs before the game hits on a new platform.

Pokemon Unite has been a smash hit, and with the mobile release, the fanbase is sure to grow exponentially. Pokemon as a brand has been growing strong with more entries in the franchise, and fans have Pokemon Legends: Arceus to look forward to when it releases next year, along with Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in November..

https://twitter.com/PokemonNewsUK/status/1440303781409812483

Having launched for the Switch last month, Pokemon Unite is also due out for mobile devices, and now we know exactly when that’s happening. The game is coming to Android and iOS devices on September 22, and pre-registrations are open now on the Play Store and App Store respectively.

Meanwhile, anyone who tries out Pokemon Unite on the Switch before August 31 will also get the in-game Unite License for Zeraora. This can also be used on the game’s mobile versions by linking accounts.

In our review of Pokemon Unite, we awarded it a score of 7/10 and said, “Pokemon Unite makes enough stumbles that it’s not a total home run; however, the core concept is sound and engaging, and given proper long term support, Unite could evolve into being a fixture of the genre.” You can read our full review through here.

#PokemonUNITE is coming to mobile on September 22!

Pre-register for special rewards! pic.twitter.com/r671Bs31el

— Pokémon UNITE (@PokemonUnite) August 18, 2021

But it’s out now, and here we are. Pokemon Unite is good. Not great, mind you – it makes far too many avoidable stumbles for it to truly be called the, and there is a lot of work to be done if this game is to survive in the long term as a viable entrant to the genre. But it’s still good, and almost as importantly, it makes a very clearly stated statement about what it brings to the table and why a Pokemon take on a MOBA is distinct enough to warrant being made to begin with.

See, unlike the vast, labyrinthine, complex knots of systems and mechanics and meta-builds and such that are League of Legends or DOTA 2, Pokemon Unite is a remarkably simple and straightforward game – anyone can jump into it with minimal hassle. League of Legends and DOTA are both infamous for how overwhelming they can be for newcomers, and how obtuse they are with onboarding, which, combined with those games’ famously toxic communities, keeps people away from really dabbling in them. It’s hard to to tell what form the Pokemon Unite community will take in the long run, but mechanically, it’s streamlined and straightforward, made even easier to get into because of how surprisingly effective the tutorials and boarding are.

"Pokemon Unite is good. Not great, mind you – it makes far too many avoidable stumbles for it to truly be called the, and there is a lot of work to be done if this game is to survive in the long term as a viable entrant to the genre. But it’s still good, and almost as importantly, it makes a very clearly stated statement about what it brings to the table and why a Pokemon take on a MOBA is distinct enough to warrant being made to begin with."

The setup is going to be familiar to any veteran of the genre – you play in two teams, and the goal is to get to objective on the opposing team’s base, taking one of many different routes (or “lanes”) on the map to do so. Pokemon Unite makes these abstractions tangible by essentially turning each game into a sort of fusion of basketball and Pokemon Battles – you’re earning and banking points by taking on wild Pokemon that spawn on the map, as well as Pokemon playing for the other team, and you can then actually earn those points by scoring at one of the opposing team’s “goals”, which are the objectives that are placed throughout the map, as well as each team’s base. This makes it really easy to communicate the aim of the game even to newcomers, or to younger players (which the Pokemon IP would obviously attract) who may not be up to speed with all the trappings of a MOBA. You know you’re supposed to score points at goals, and you know you can’t earn those points unless you take on the various Pokemon around the map in simplified (real-time) Pokemon battles.

It also helps that Pokemon as a concept lends itself well to the MOBA format to begin with. If you have any familiarity with Pokemon, it’s not going to be hard to even pick up some of the more MOBA-ey concepts Unite presents, because they lend themselves well to that style of play. Yes, your Pokemon always starts out at Level 1 in each battle. But you know you can level up a Pokemon by fighting in battles, and as you fight, you’re going to unlock new attacks and even evolve your Pokemon. All of this ties in pretty well with how MOBAs usually work (and helps ensure that Unite, even in spite of its focus on simplicity, retains depth and nuance to engage longer term players).

All of this makes for a remarkably fun and immediately engaging, well playing game. You’re in the thick of things pretty soon, trying to work your way up to the Pokemon you like the most via the game’s bevy of battle passes, currencies, reward systems, and such (more on this in a minute) and slowly unlocking different types of games (ranked, quick matches). Matchmaking is extremely quick, as are games themselves, which means Unite lends itself really well to a pick up and play style of play – it’s something you can boot up for to have a quick 15 minute match once a day, presumably while you are taking a break from something else.

It also has a lot of the hallmarks of Nintendo multiplayer games – such as the emphasis on comeback mechanics, and a general disregard for balance. The balance of the game is very clearly borked, and the “Golden Snitch” style Zapdos mechanic (which sees a high value Zapdos spawn in the final leg of a match, and the potential of a team scoring hundreds of points in one fell swoop) definitely informs winning strategies. 

"The elephant in the room with Pokemon Unite is the monetization. The game is free to play, but it does include some very aggressive monetization."

The balance issues could potentially lead to the game shedding players over the long term – but they are not the only issue the game has. The elephant in the room with Pokemon Unite is the monetization. The game is free to play, but it does include some very aggressive monetization, which manifests in the form of multiple currencies, which can be used to purchase cosmetics, unlock new Pokemon, or level up held items (which you can put on your Pokemon before a game to gain permanent buffs). Any free to play game has to walk a very fine line between having compelling enough perks paywalled that players feel compelled to spend money for them – while also not blatantly giving players who pay an advantage over the ones who don’t. Pokemon Unite isn’t pay to win – but it treads dangerously close to being so.

As far as unlocking Pokemon goes, yes, it will take a while to unlock all the Pokemon in the game to be able to play with them, and yes you can bypass that wait by paying, but to be perfectly honest, the time it takes to unlock new monsters in general feels… fine? I mean ideally it could be quicker, but the pace of new monster unlocks isn’t the worst, and in a non F2P game, you can imagine a similar pace for character unlocks not really registering much (like I said, it could stand to be quicker, so I’m sure some criticisms would exist regardless). Cosmetics, similarly, don’t really matter much – while they are expensive, you’re unlocking and earning new ones at a really steady clip, and between the login bonuses, challenges, daily and weekly missions, and battle pass, you’re not going to really be wanting for cosmetics much.

On the other hand, levelling up held items by paying does have a direct and tangible impact on game balance. The items you make your Pokemon hold can have very noticeable effects on their performance in a match. Leveling up these items in ordinary course of time can be a pretty slow process, but if everyone were on even footing with it, it would at worst be an issue of annoying game balance. The problem is, right now, you can spend actual money to get an instant maxed item where otherwise even a dozen hours spent grinding out one might not be enough. 

"In the here and now, taken for what it is, Pokemon Unite manages to work through a lot of its problems."

Do these maxed out held items tangibly affect game balance? Unequivocally, the answer is a yes. And while simply having a fully maxed item isn’t enough to automatically cruise through matches and win, it absolutely does make things easier for you by giving you a buffer for any mistakes you might make. It’s not exactly pay to win, because, again, even a moderately skilled player with a regularly levelled up held item on their Pokemon will be able to hold their own against a poorly skilled one with a fully maxed out one – but it comes close enough to being exactly that that it’s surprising that this kind of monetization exists in a game from a Nintendo property.

There are some other issues as well. There is a distinct lag in the game’s UI (something that is characteristic of Nintendo’s mobile hame efforts, I have found), presumably because a lot of it is being rendered in some kind of a bespoke browser window. This isn’t a huge issue, but there is just enough of a delay between you pressing a button and your menu selection happening on screen that you do notice it. 

It’s hard to know whether or not these problems are really going to add up in the long run. A lot of these are fixable, and presumably, we will see updates to tweak balance and monetization in the future. We might not, either, or we might even see changes make things worse – it’s really hard to assess a game on what might or might not happen at some indeterminate period in the future. But in the here and now, taken for what it is, Pokemon Unite manages to work through a lot of its problems. As I said, though, it is at its absolute best if you treat it as a quickie between marathon sessions of other games. But as a fun, straightforward, engaging multiplayer game, with a low barrier to entry and some good production values? Pokemon Unite mostly delivers, and ends up being a surprisingly compelling game in the process. It’s free to play – if you have even a passing interest in Pokemon, or MOBAs, or just multiplayer games in general? Not a bad idea to look into Unite, and see whether or not it ends up sticking for you.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

WHAT EVEN IS IT?

Pokemon might be a role playing series, first and foremost, but over the years, with countless spinoffs, it’s tried its hand at various other genres, from fighting games to dungeon crawlers to turn-based strategy RPGs and more. With Pokemon Unite, it’s branching out once again, which is a free to start MOBA. Expect real-time strategy-lite battles, and with the game being a free to start battle, also be prepared for significant monetization.

MATCHES

So here’s the big question- how exactly are matches going to be structured in Pokemon Unite? Each match will see two teams of five players each going up against each other, and each team’s goal is to score more points than the other before the match’s time runs out. You score points by moving to one of several control points scattered throughout the map, and will level up and become more powerful as the match progresses.

MOVES AND ITEMS

Before the beginning of each match, you will select which Pokemon you want to play as, on the basis of their unique attributes and what moves they can potentially learn. Interestingly enough, you’ll also be selecting the moves that your Pokemon can potentially learn, as well as the items they can hold during battles, and both those things will, as you can imagine, have a significant impact on how you strategize- so make those decisions wisely.

WILD POKEMON

Since this is, of course, a PvP game, it goes without saying that opposing players will pose the biggest threat to you- but they won’t be the only threat. Also found in abundance across the map in each match are wild Pokemon, which you’ll fight and defeat to level up, grow more powerful, and learn new moves. Interestingly enough, the game also has legendary wild Pokemon, which promises to throw an interesting wrench into how matches progress.

AEOS

So, we know about how matches in Pokemon Unite are structured, and we know about wild Pokemon in the game- put together, that tells us exactly how to win a match. Each time you defeat an enemy Pokemon – be it wild or otherwise – they drop Aeos, and it is by taking this energy into opponents’ goal zones that you score points. Clearly, then, working with teammates to try and break past enemy defences and putting up your own defences around goal zones is going to be key in Pokemon Unite.

EVOLUTIONS

Of course, evolutions are a crucial part of any Pokemon experience, and they will have a role to play in Pokemon Unite as well. Though you will start each match with a low level unevolved Pokemon, battling against opponents and wild Pokemon will help your own Pokemon become more powerful, which means that the Pokemon you begin a match with can evolve as well. Evolutions are temporary, but will make you much more formidable on the battlefield, so use them wisely.

TYPES

Another hallmark of the Pokemon franchise is types and type matchups, and the rock-paper-scizzors style strengths and weaknesses that different Pokemon and move types pose to each other can often be a crucial part of any fight’s strategy. Sadly, that’s not going to be the case in Pokemon Unite, with it having been confirmed that there are no type-based strengths and weaknesses in the game.

UNITE MOVES

Each Pokemon will also come equipped with a Unite move- which, as you may have figured out, is essentially an ultimate. Unite moves will vary across the roster of Pokemon available, with each having different strengths and advantages, such as being able to deal large amounts of area and effect damage in your immediate vicinity. Unite moves will, of course, be limited, so you can’t just go spamming them.

ROSTER

Speaking of the roster, exactly how many playable Pokemon are going to be available in Pokemon Unite? Well, it ain’t gonna be the full National Dex, that’s for sure. So far, nearly twenty Pokemon have been confirmed to be in the game at launch, including the likes of Charizard, Pikachu, Snorlax, Garchomp, Lucario, Cramorant, Gengar, Alolan Ninetails, Greninja, Mr. Mime, Venusaur, Absol, Talonflame, Cinderace, and many more.

POKEMON CLASSES

Pokemon in the game’s roster are also divided into five different categories, each with their own unique strengths and weakness. The Attackers like Pikachu and Greninja have low endurance but can deal heavy ranged damage. Defenders such as Snorlax and Slowbro are experts at taking the hits and protecting other Pokemon in their teams. Speedsters like Talonflame and Gengar have high mobility and offense. Support Pokemon such as Mr. Mime and Wigglytuff can heal allies and inflict status conditions on opponents. Finally, there are the All-Rounders like Charizard and Machamp, who, as the name suggests, have balanced endurance and offense stats.

REWARDS AND HOLOWEAR

Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a multiplayer game (especially a free to play one) if it also didn’t reward you with stuff for playing more and making progress, from unlocking new Pokemon to new cosmetic wear your for trainer, to even cosmetics known as Holowear for your Pokemon. From a fancy suit for Mr. Mime to a pirate’ outfit for Cinderace, there seems to be some interesting stuff on offer here that should interest players. Of course, there will be paid microtransactions as well- you can spend Aeos gems to unlock special items, and Aeos gems, in turn, can be purchased with real money in the game’s shop.

CROSS-PLAY

Pokemon Unite is going to launch on mobile devices as well as the Nintendo Switch, and being a multiplayer game, thankfully, it’s also going to support full cross-play. It’s been confirmed that regardless of which platform you’re playing on, you’ll be able to play Pokemon Unite with and against players on all other platforms.

LAUNCH

So when exactly is Pokemon Unite coming out? It’s going to be a staggered launch, with Switch players getting the game first. On the Switch, it’s out on July 21, which is followed by a launch for iOS and Android devices some time in September. An exact release date hasn’t been confirmed for the mobile versions, but it’s safe to assume that we’ll find out soon enough.

Zeraora is a Mythical Electric-type Pokemon and was introduced in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Its specialty is closing the distance and dealing lots of burst damage up-close. Plasma Gale is its Unite Move which unleashes an electric blast that travels a short distance before exploding into a plasma zone.

Pokemon Unite is a free-to-start title with optional in-game purchases and sees two teams of five Pokemon battling it out. Like any other MOBA, defeating opponents will level up your Pokemon and even unlock evolution. The key to victory is earning more points than the other team before the timer is up. Though it’s coming to Switch next week, iOS and Android players will have to wait till September to play. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

It’s been confirmed with a new trailer that Pokemon Unite will launch for the Nintendo Switch in July and for iOS and Android devices in September. Exact dates within those months haven’t yet been confirmed. Meanwhile, cross-play is also planned across all versions of the game.

“Additionally, if you log in using your Nintendo Account or Pokémon Trainer Club account, you’ll be able to use your game data on any device,” the announcement reads. “With this feature, you’ll be able to enjoy playing at home on your TV screen using the Nintendo Switch version, as well as easily play on the go using the mobile version.”

The trailer itself is mostly CG. After setting up the basic premise of the game, it then also shows a few snippets of gameplay, so check it out below if you’re interested.

Pokemon Unite is a MOBA game that will see players teaming up and fighting against each other in real-time battles while using a variety of Pokemon and their attacks. The game is going to be a free-to-play affair, and with each Pokemon having unique moves and abilities, team composition and strategy are going to be important considerations. It is currently in development at Tencent’s TiMi Studios for iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.

There’s plenty other Pokemon games coming up as well. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are out in November, while Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be releasing in January.

Attention, Trainers! An important #PokemonUNITE news update is coming! Check back tomorrow to learn more! pic.twitter.com/8LoQceXbf5

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) June 16, 2021

The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in February, confirming that the long-rumoured remakes are real (to no one’s surprise) and that they’ll be releasing later this year. Since then, we’ve heard or seen nothing of the games, but it’s possible that that changes in the near future.

Insider Kelios has accurately leaked Pokemon-related information accurately on a number of occasions in the past (including the very existence of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), and in a recent tweet, said that there would be another new Pokemon Presents show in early June, where The Pokemon Company would be talking about the exact release date of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as the upcoming free-to-start mobile MOBA Pokemon Unite.

Of course, Pokemon Legends: Arceus was also announced in February with an early 2022 launch window, so the question is whether or not we’ll see more of that game as well. It’s possible that The Pokemon Company chooses to focus on the Sinnoh remakes for now, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a new trailer for Legends, if this Pokemon Presents broadcast does indeed happen.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are in development for the Nintendo Switch, and are the first mainline Pokemon games ever to not be developed by Game Freak, with ILCA taking the reins instead.

Dw, and yep Pokémon Presents incoming early June to announce Pokémon UNITE release, BDSP release date etc.

— Kelios (@KeliosFR) May 16, 2021

Last year’s announcement of Pokemon Unite, a free-to-play MOBA title, was met with plenty of skepticism and criticism, but for those who’re looking for that sort of a Pokemon experience on the go, the game does have something interesting to offer. To test the waters and see how the game’s coming along, a closed beta recently kicked off, and thanks to that, we’ve gotten to see plenty of new gameplay footage from the title.

Multiple lengthy gameplay videos have been uploaded by Read Text Msg on YouTube (spotted by Go Nintendo). Each video is over ten minutes long, and each shows gameplay for a different Pokemon, including Eldegoss, Gengar, Cinderace, Greninja, and Garchomp. You can get a pretty good idea of how different Pokemon will offer different strategies and movesets, and how matches will generally be structured. Check it out below.

Pokemon Unite is currently in development for iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch, but doesn’t yet have a firm release date.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty more Pokemon content coming up in the foreseeable future. New Pokemon Snap is out in April, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl launch later this year, while the ambitious open world title Pokemon Legends: Arceus releases in early 2022.

https://youtu.be/EvI9YjyRv7A

https://youtu.be/N4kAhXM4bow

https://youtu.be/BANyITngC6A

https://youtu.be/y7XfNbRFtdQ

https://youtu.be/FgQ-cHOiCSE