Have you ever stopped to wonder what aPokemon Centremight smell like? Is it filled with a scent of disinfectant like many general surgeries and doctor’s offices in the world? Or does it feel more like a vet where the sights and smells are a mixture of angry barks, scared meows, or the lingering scent of urine left behind by an anxious guinea pig? It’s a question that will likely never get a concrete answer, butPokemon TCG Pocketbrings us closer than ever.
Pokemon Centres Are Places Of Healing And Dealing
In the anime and video games, Pokemon Centres are viewed as a sanctuary. Places known for their free healthcare, cute music, and nurses who are cloned in some sort of lab. And no matter who you are or where you’ve come from, they will heal your Pokemon free of charge. They’re popular places for the local population too, with each one you stumble into filled with people having conversations, using the local PC, or on one of the many floors treating it as a place of general refuge. It’s basically a library where dying animals come for a pick me up.
But I don’t care about the functions, what about the stench? To be honest, I bet it sports the same unsettling aroma that most hospitals do. A smell where cleaning products fight against the constant spread of dirt and disease. Are Pokemon hospitals and centres the same thing though? I’m unsure if this is a question the universe has been willing to answer because of the macabre connotations it might have. Enough about those though, let’s talk about Pokemon TCG Pocket and how it tries to extend the aesthetic of a squeaky clean centre across every single part of its identity.
Nurse Joy Will See You Now
The mobile game is utterly pristine in its presentation,aside from a few awkward quirksof its user interface that will be smoothed out with time. The plain white background is designed to help emphasise the many colour icons and card packs that litter the scene, and right now the game doesn’t offer a means to customise this basic aesthetic. You instead must stare into an unending void and engage with thecontent. Again, it feels like I’m sitting in a hospital lobby for hours waiting to be seen by a nurse, or in this case, opening a booster pack.
Its wholesome music doesn’t help either, like I’m stuck in an elevator with Lugia hoping we reach the top floor before he starts realising I might actually taste delicious. It’s both creepy and whimsical in its presentation, and on most of the screens you frequent, this persists. It’s not that I hate what Pokemon TCG Pocket is going for, but it tries to make the idea of trying to open packs to complete a seemingly endless collection feel like a healing experience over one you will inevitably end up wasting money on.
Pokemon TCG Pocket is going for a visual style that is easy to read and engage with on a fundamental level, because it wants the appeal of opening booster packs and building your collection to be immediately obvious. Presenting this on a white background with a grating musical accompaniment is the quickest way to accomplish this, even if it feels like you’re on course to join a cult.
With future updates, it would be cool to give players a chance to go and change things. We are free to collect new coins, card packs, sleeves, and such, so why not extend this aesthetic tinkering to the app itself. It would be nice to feel like I wasn’t going in for a flu shot every time I turn my phone on.
