Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go, Team GO Rocket, Team Rocket

Pokémon GO Event Review: All-Hands Team GO Rocket Retreat

The All-Hands Rocket Retreat event is wrapping up in Pokémon GO. This event saw increased Team GO Rocket activity, new Shadow content, an Alolan release, and more. Let's get into the details to see if this event brought back the Rocket hype.

What worked in this Pokémon GO event

• Increased Rocket activity: Team GO Rocket remains one of the most fun aspects of the game, so any event where the Rocket Balloon arrives more than the normal six-hour increments is a win for me.
• New Shiny Shadow Pokémon: One of the best features of Rocket-based events are Leader rotation switches. It seems as if the current pattern is two new Shiny Shadows and one returning Shiny Shadow. Now, I will say… Drowzee was featured just two rotations ago so is a very poor choice, but other than that, I am very happy with this update.
• Giovanni Returns: There was a time where every month saw new Giovanni Special Research dropping at midnight, and this event recreated that feeling. The fact that they went back to the midnight launch brought back that exciting darkness that comes with these events.
• Salandit: Strange Eggs needed an update, and a new, highly coveted species joining the rotation is a good idea.

What didn't work in this Pokémon GO event

• No wild spawns: There is a drawback to Salandit being egg-exclusive… and the drawback is that Niantic gave us nothing event-exclusive to hunt in the wild for the All-Hands Rocket Retreat. There were no wild event spawns which is very unusual for a Rocket event.
• The title: "All-Hands Rocket Retreat"? Niantic had people theorizing that Team GO Rocket were leaving over a title that is seemingly random. There is no retreat! There is more Rocket content coming with the very next event, so I have no idea what went into this, but it was sloppy marketing that created an expectation for narrative content that was left unfulfilled.

Overall

While there were obvious flaws to this event, it offered a fun jolt Pokémon GO by delivering new Team GO Rocket content that will continue to enrich the game beyond just this event.

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