Review by: MGuitarHero
Meeting Professor Oak in his Lab
As the game begins, you are in Professor Oak's Lab where you are given the assignment to photograph pokemon in their different environments. The job is easily accomplished with a machine much like an all terrain vehicle, which allows you to take pictures in safety.
As you progress through the different levels and their environments, you will encounter many different pokemon and their many evolutions. After every visit through a level, you will have to select which of your pictures you want checked by the Professor. Choose wisely, because you are only allowed to have one picture of each pokemon checked, so it is up to you to see which one of your pictures may stand a chance against your current best picture of that pokemon.
When Professor Oak rates your pictures, he judges based on the pokemon's size in the picture, its pose, and many other traits of the picture. In some cases he will multiply your score for certain traits of the picture that he really likes! Then, when he has calculated your score - if it is better than the last score for a picture with the same pokemon in it - he will replace that image with the new image. But if it is worse than the other picture's score, he will let you decide which picture to keep.
This all might sound a bit complicated, but when playing it in the game, the scoring of the pictures is pretty simple and easy to grasp.
A Pidgey being Rated
Unlocking a new level can be as simple as just finishing the level before it, but as you progress through the game you must make clever use of your items to affect the environment in order to unlock paths to new levels. Items are given to you by Professor Oak after you have completed a certain task for him; usually gaining a certain number of points from your photographs' scores.
With these items, you can not only affect the environment, but also the pokemon within it. These tools can help you get great snapshots of pokemon doing crazy dances and having fun! Many uses of the items help discover new pokemon hiding in each of the levels. The items never need to be replenished and can be used as many times as you want to use them!
Being Given a Useful Item
After taking clever photographs of your favorite pokemon, you can always view them by going to the Pokemon Report and clicking on that pokemon's name. You will see not only your picture, but also the level in which you photographed the creature, your name, and the score that you received for the image. This can come in handy when you want to show your friends how good your picture taking skills are!
A Vulpix going after my Apple
Despite being one of the few picture taking video games, this game is extremely fun. The graphics are unique as you can affect the 3-D environment even as you are move through it.
The music in the game is kind of dull, as you mainly hear the environment. However, being able to hear the pokemon as you use items is pretty fun, especially if you throw an apple at them!
The game itself is presented pretty well, using short cut scenes to help advance the storyline. Unfortunately, the length of the game holds it back from being presented as well as it could have been.
The gameplay, as I previously mentioned, is priceless as you take pictures of many of the pokemon in a variety of environments that can be affected by your items to help you get the perfect photographs of all of your favorite pokemon. Though the game is very short, you can still go back and take more pictures in an attempt to beat your old scores and get better pictures of all of the creatures. Also, going back and finding all of the hidden pokemon is another fun activity you can do after beating the game.
For a unique and original idea, Nintendo succeeded in making Pokemon Snap an enjoyable game that is just as much fun as any other title in Nintendo's library.
