Pokémon: Let's Go - Pikachu! (Download) (Download) (Switch)

Pokémon veterans will find a slighter, shallower experience than they're used to, and for them Let's Go will mostly be a curio and a tease of the franchise's future. But for the rest of us this is a friendly way to return to Kanto, stripping away the layers of fuss and features that have calcified over years of sequels to get back to the core of the Pokémon experience: exploring, battling, and catching 'em all.

I can't believe it took Game Freak over 20 years to give us an RPG-oriented console Pokémon game, but with the ever-changing mobile landscape and the success of the Switch, the opportunity finally presented itself. No, Let's Go is not the mainline entry that EV/IV min-maxers hoped for, but that's still on the way. If you happen to miss this return to Kanto, that's perfectly fine, but I was mostly delighted to go back.

It makes a lot of smart improvements on the original Red, Blue and Yellow while holding on to what made them so special in the first place. Fans of the series might be let down by the lack of features they've come to expect, but Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee take the Pokemon formula in some exciting new directions.

Powerful friends and new mechanics make for a delightful return to the Kanto region in Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee.