Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: charge up, Niantic, Niantic Labs, pokemon, pokemon go

Pokémon GO Charge Up Event Review: A Spark Of Excellence?

The Charge Up event is wrapping up in Pokémon GO. Let's get into what worked and what didn't work in the event that introduced the Tynamo line and Mega Manectric.

What worked in this Pokémon GO event

• Mega Manectric: First, it must be said that Niantic planned the release of Mega Manectric very well. They tried out the first Mega Raid Hour during the event and, without a new release, this would've been an easy hour to skip. However, there is always a burst of hype at the release of each new Mega, and Mega Manectric's release certainly benefitted from Mega Raid Hour happening during that bubble.
• Spawns, to an extent: The spawn pool was okay. One thing that worked was the amount of Electrike, which generally isn't that common of a spawn outside of nests. There was far less diversity than other events, though, so while it was great to see Electrike in droves, there were problems.

What didn't work in this Pokémon GO event

• New release: Tynamo was rare, and for what? Niantic had been following a good pattern, making new releases somewhat common in the wild. With Tynamo, though, they dialed back hardcore. It wasn't Noibat rare, of course, so it won't be impossible to find, but you'd think in a week with a small pool of spawns and no Shiny release that Tynamo, the major release of the event, would be the Pokémon that was everywhere. Not the case.
• Pace: Pokémon GO has been delivering four-day and five-day events recently, with Charge Up breaking the pattern as almost a full week-long event. Unfortunately, it also offered far less than the shorter events, creating a slower week of gameplay than normal.
• Timed Research: I love that we're getting Timed Research in Pokémon GO events. To me, if we can get a questline for every event, that's perfect. I'm sold. The only reason this falls more in the negative than the positive is how easy it was to complete. This may just be me, as social media is filled with people complaining about the Shiny Mew Masterwork Research, but I love a bit of a challenge with my Timed Research. Niantic does go overboard sometimes, with their other game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite routinely offering Special Assignments (their equivalent of Timed Research) that are gruelling to complete. This questline could be completed from your bed in less than ten minutes. To me, this doesn't take points off because I still love that we have it, but I'd much rather something a bit challenging.

Overall

While not a bad event, the Charge Up event was a bit of a boring week of Pokémon GO gameplay compared to other recent events.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!