By Greg Horner, Senior Editor.
Do you want to be the very best—like no one ever was? Do you have trouble deciding whether catching them is the real test—or if training them is your cause?
Pocket Mortys is the innovative new app released from Adult Swim Games, based on the hit TV show “Rick and Morty.” This game is better than it has any right being, and utilizes mechanics so fresh and brilliant that you’ll be asking yourself, “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?”
If you haven’t seen Rick and Morty, you are doing yourself a disservice. While it isn’t necessary to watch the show before playing this game, you’re going to be missing out on a lot of the humor. The series deals with time travel, multiple dimension and more sci-fi references than a “Firefly” wiki.
The story begins with Rick finishing his latest invention, the Mortypad, which records data on the Mortys that exist in other dimensions. Suddenly, a Mysterious Rick appears and tries to steal Morty from “our Rick.” It’s all very confusing and doesn’t make much sense, but yadda yadda yadda it’s your job to catch Mortys, win badges, and defeat the Elite Four (I mean the council of Ricks).
Each world is filled with an assortment of trainers to battle, wild Mortys to catch and a Rick who has to be defeated. The maps are all procedurally generated so there’s an infinite number of dimensions to explore and an infinite number of badges to collect.
Combat uses an innovative turn-based system that I would like to see replicated in other games. Trainers battle their Mortys one at a time, with each trainer having a possible party of six. When a battle begins, you have four options: attack, item, switch and run; you must then use your wits, Mortys and everything you’ve got to win.
There are 82 Mortys for you to collect and train, each with their own design, move-set and (I like to think) personality. The developers really went all out when designing Mortys from other dimensions – there’s Blue-shirt Morty, Scruffy Morty, Big-head Morty and more!
Your Morty can be one of three types: rock, paper or scissors. When your Morty has a type advantage their moves do extra damage; it’s important to have a diverse roster of Mortys if you’re serious about becoming the Pocket Mortys master.
I spent a lot of time fiddling around with the game’s crafting system. You’ll find a collection of items on your trip through the multi-verse which you can then combine to create combat items and Morty manipulator chips (which are used to catch the Mortys). As much fun as this system is, it felt a little too derivative for my tastes. Pokemon has been using a similar system for years, and it would’ve been nice to see the developers of Pocket Mortys come up with as innovative an idea as the combat and game concept.
There are micro-transactions in the form of tickets to Blips and Chitz. It’s unlikely that you’re going to find a free smartphone game without micro-transactions. It’s not a big deal, at no point did I feel like I needed to buy anything.
Complaints aside, I’ve probably sunk in over ten hours into Pocket Mortys (far more time than any other app). It’s inevitably going to get repetitive, but for now I’m still having fun. The developers have announced that they will be releasing regular updates including more story, more items and more Mortys to collect and train.
Whether you like, hate or have never heard of Rick and Morty, Pocket Mortys is a must-try app for your smartphone. So check it out guys! It’s wubba lubba dub dub.
…Pokemon