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The best iPhone and iPad game of 2016 - Pokemon GO

GO on then

The best iPhone and iPad game of 2016 - Pokemon GO
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Pokemon GO isn't a game. It's a bonafide phenomenon. It's a reminder of the cultural impact that Pokemon can have.

Pokemon being a fad for a second time would be like everyone getting back into Beanie Babies or Furbies or fascism.

The game itself is pretty simple. A Pokefied reskin of the somewhat-loved location game Ingress, the game sees you trot about the countryside looking for critters.

When one appears, you see it overlaid onto the real world. It's the magic of augmented reality (aka "cameras").

There's all this other stuff. You can level up monsters, battle them against gym leaders, fill out your Pokedex, and hatch eggs. All that is top stuff. Good work Niantic, proud of you.

But Pokemon GO's real strength is that it got us out there. We walked. We noticed things about our community that we would never have seen if it weren't a Pokestop.

We smiled at other players. We asked an old lady if she had seen a Slowpoke but she was just using her phone to check eBay. Whoops.

It's a mobile game, in every sense of the word. You cannot play it in your house. You gotta get out there, and smell the grass. The old Pokemon games were invented to give you the sensation of exploring and discovering the world around you.

This new game gives you the real deal.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer