Pokemon Unite is a MOBA within the Pokemon universe, and so far it’s shaping up to fit in quite nicely. The game will be lore-friendly and allow you to play with some of your favourite Pokemon. I emphasise that there are only some of your favourites though, because this game has a tiny launch roster. In a space where you’re competing with games like League of Legends and DOTA 2, with hundreds of heroes to play as each, Pokemon Unite is starting on some pretty shaky ground. However, that launch roster will eventually grow, it’s just a case of how much is it going to grow by, and when will it grow.
The Pokemon you can play as at launch in the game are as follows:
Absol
Blastoise
Blissey
Charizard
Scorbunny
Cramorant
Crustle
Eldegoss
Garchomp
Gardevoir
Gengar
Greninja
Lucario
Machamp
Mr. Mime
Alolan Ninetales
Pikachu
Slowbro
Snorlax
Talonflame
Venusaur
Wigglytuff
Zeraora
So as you can see, there’s not a lot of them. With that said, the roster isn’t quite as small as it looks either. Blastoise and Machamp for example, are the third evolution of a base Pokemon. As is the nature in MOBAs, you begin at a low level, and in the case of Pokemon Unite that means that you’re playing as that first evolution. You’ll level up and evolve over the course of a match, eventually becoming the Blastoise or Machamp, gaining new abilities as you do. This is where an edge of tactics sneaks in, since you might have an ability that’s more useful to your team if you remain at a lower level. Of course, it may be more useful for your team if you level up as fast as possible, it’s all relative to the match.
I quite like that the game is accessible at this point. It’s not something you’ll need to pour hundreds of hours into if you’re not ready to. However, it is a game that you can get in on the ground floor of, meaning you can be better than everyone else if you apply yourself and really get into it from day one.
