Detective Pikachu has had a lot of buzz surrounding it. It had a single-episode Japanese release quite a while back, with more to come. Reviewers loved it. The titular character was witty, charming and lovable. The case was simple but enjoyable.

And so it goes. The whole game is not much more than this. Simple puzzles, lovable characters, good set pieces. It is aimed at a younger crowd.

But I did enjoy my time with it. The story is great (and this part skews slightly older), and follow Tim Goodman’s search for his missing father. It does fall into common trappings (Pikachu has amnesia, Tim is an amateur, etc.), and though the cases are connected, they can feel somewhat disconnected, in a sense. The villains are rarely readily apparent (although sometimes they totally are) and “guesswork” can feel tiring because you figured something out several steps ahead of what the game expects of you. So it was more that I was disconnected from the game in the sense that an average 8-year old watching Dora might feel. Not part of the age group targeted, and smart enough to realize most things beforehand, but not necessarily readily.

Nevertheless, the writing is flawless. The wit is mild but on point, the characters are well established, and the game is consistently fun even when you are ahead of the game. Detective Pikachu is a character I’m so excited to see more of.

The voice acting is among the best I’ve seen in any dub. The actors and actresses were well chosen, the Pokemon sounded like I would have imagined, and this added so much life into the game. The Pokemon do have the quirk of generally saying only syllables of their names, just like the show. This is fine, I think, but can be off-putting to newcomers to Pokemon, to which this game is (somewhat) targeted.

The main criticism I have of the game is actually relegated to something optional. If you want to hear all the optional conversations, you cannot hear them all in one playthrough. In fact, I often stopped to chat with Detective Pikachu, but I was far from hearing them all. Too bad, because these conversations were often full of wit and an interesting diversion from the stress of the main game. You can access these with an amiibo. Considering that most people will only play this game through once (and the game only lasts about 13 hours), that’s definitely taking advantage of this.

That said, as I said before, I do still hope to see more of Detective Pikachu.

As for whether or not this game is worth pulling the plug on, I’d suggest most Pokemon fans stay away. Major Pokemon fans will want this game. But if you’re not willing to shell out $40 for the game, you can catch playthroughs online (and, I might add, the game might be more fun for it if you take time to pause and relax). I also think this game will drop in price. I don’t know how much, but consider waiting if you don’t want to shell out full price.

Also note that this game has QTEs (quick-time events). These are short and simple and bland. No Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm level QTEs here. But they make up for it in personality. There can be funny results for failing. In one, Pikachu is shot out of a cannon. Intentionally miss the button press and you’ll be treated to humorous dialogue. Miss others and you might have to restart, or be met with some more serious consequences (you might fail to catch the villain, for example). In one segment (not related to QTEs), you miss out on recovering stolen item(s) if you fail. If you succeed, you might be treated to a dialogue option. I didn’t pay enough attention and missed at first, but succeeded my next playthrough. It was simple enough that I would have easily succeeded the first time if I had paid more attention.

I breezed through this game, and yes, I would have had more fun if I hadn’t. But I still feel I got a gauge of what to rate it. I am not taking much into account the price of the game. This review is largely according to the game’s standard in comparison to other adventure games.

Note: There is an upcoming live-action movie starring Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. First impressions are that it will follow the plot of the game somewhat faithfully, with parts being cut, streamlined or altered for the audience.

Rating: 7.5/10.

Review taken from my account on NintendoRadar, and slightly altered for Vizzed.