The MOBA genre is a competitive space as it usually has strict rules, requires team collaboration, and has a high skill ceiling that doesn’t always welcome new players. Games like League of Legends and Dota 2 are constantly changing their gameplay meta with the release of new characters, which is a hurdle for new players. Newcomers have a lot to digest, but if you put in the effort, you’ll be rewarded with cute characters, strategic battles, and interesting game mechanics. Pokémon Unite combines the characteristics of the genre in an easy-to-understand format and brings together its favorite pocket monsters, resulting in a truly fun and accessible MOBA, albeit with an imperfect microtransaction system.
The MOBA genre is a competitive space as it usually has strict rules, requires team collaboration, and has a high skill ceiling that doesn’t always welcome new players. Games like League of Legends and Dota 2 are constantly changing their gameplay meta with the release of new characters, which is a hurdle for new players. Newcomers have a lot to digest, but if you put in the effort, you’ll be rewarded with cute characters, strategic battles, and interesting game mechanics. Pokémon Unite combines the characteristics of the genre in an easy-to-understand format and brings together its favorite pocket monsters, resulting in a truly fun and accessible MOBA, albeit with an imperfect microtransaction system.
Unite’s standard battle mode is the centerpiece of the game, featuring two teams of five Pokémon. After selecting characters, consumable combat items, and held stat-boosting items, each team starts the match at opposite ends of the map. Experience points are earned by destroying smaller Pokémon, destroying enemy target zones, and defeating other players. You slowly unlock new abilities throughout the match, and after enough experience, fully evolve your Pokémon to its final form. I love that Unite doesn’t shake up the templates because the cute monsters and vibrant powers of the series are perfect for this format.
Unite features over 20 playable characters, from fan favorites like Pikachu and Venusaur to lesser-known Pokémon like Kramorant and Crustle. There is a good selection of Pokémon, including the originals from Red and Blue to the popular monsters from Sword and Shield, although, oddly enough, there is not a single Pokémon from the second generation of the series, Gold and Silver.
Each Pokemon’s moveset stays true to the franchise, but also makes sense in a MOBA context, and I like to experiment with different ability sets for each Pokemon. Charizard’s fusion move, Seismic Strike, is pure spectacle as he jumps into the air and floats above the map, spewing molten flames at the enemies below.
At the end of his Unite Move, he picks up the nearest enemy Pokémon and throws them back onto the pavement. When I’m not playing Universal like Charizard, I prefer to play Crustle, who has a completely different role. As a defender, this crustacean aids the team by stunning enemies, increasing damage, and blocking paths with its Stone Tomb ability. I like to partner with attack-focused Pokémon and work together to block and isolate enemies from the other team.
Each path on the map is filled with objective zones that teams must attack or defend by gaining Aeos energy. Players collect Aeos by defeating wild Pokémon near the path and then throwing that energy into enemy target zones. After depositing enough Eos energy, the target area is destroyed, revealing the next part of the path. After 10 minutes, the team with the most points scored wins the match; these short timeframes make it easier to swallow losses and help develop an entertainment-focused online environment.
Matches are full of extra objectives like Zapdos that spawn throughout the match. Zapdos in particular is incredibly strong and doesn’t show up until the last two minutes of the match. A team that successfully defeats a legendary bird is rewarded with a huge performance boost that could potentially change the course of the battle. On the top lane, players can fight and escort an electrically charged Rotom to leave enemy targets vulnerable. Meanwhile, Dreadno is on the bottom path and grants a shield buff to whichever team successfully defeats him first. These Pokémon are fun to hunt and my imagination is running wild with ideas for other characters they could replace during future events.
The Pokémon Unite microtransaction system allows you to purchase a battle pass and all sorts of fashionable cosmetics for your trainer and Pokémon. This is the standard rate for free games. Unfortunately, Unite is losing the ball, allowing players to buy Item Boosters, which can level up items held by Pokémon and increase their stats. Players can get these item boosters for free just by playing the game, but it takes months to fully upgrade an item to max level. I didn’t experience any appreciable disadvantage playing the game without buying microtransactions, but the payout potential of this system certainly reduces its long-term competitiveness.
Pokémon Unite is a fun way to pass the time despite these frustrations. The game eats up hours of my day when I soothingly say to myself, “One more match.” Battles are played out with the spectacle the Pokémon series is known for, and with so many abilities to choose from that no match is ever the same. Simple game mechanics and recognizable characters make the game in the MOBA genre accessible; and with a potential catalog of almost 900 Pokémon to choose from, I have high hopes for the future of Pokémon Unite.
