The last time I played a video game where I had to type to succeed was when I played fastest finger first against zombies in The Typing of the Dead. Mavis Beacon would have turned in her grave but she may approve more of the much more wholesome Pokémon Typing Adventure where you must ‘Catch ‘em All’ by typing their names instead of walking through tall grass and throwing out Pokéballs in the more traditional manner.
The game sees you working on behalf of Professor Quentin Werty (see what they did there?) and his assistant Paige Down (oh the jokes just get better) as you throw our Typing Balls instead. It’s lucky then that the game also ships with a Bluetooth keyboard which is actually rather neat. It feels sturdy and satisfying to type on and best of all, it even works with other Bluetooth devices. I’ve already tried connecting it to my phone so I can type texts and emails instead of misspelling everything on a touch screen.
Anyway, back to the game. As well as catching a wealth of little critters you’ll also be hitting keys to avoid projectiles or deflect them and fight some Boss Pokémon where you’ll have to press combos of keys quickly and type their name in more than once to finally make grab hold of ‘em!
Weirdly the game is actually rather satisfying to play as you unlock new routes and increase your collection. Graphically the game is no great shakes though which is a shame as the 3DS can do so much more than what you see here. If you have kids that don’t already know how to type or want to brush up on some skills yourself then it’s a recommended buy – if, of course, you’re also into Pokémon! It gets 7 out of 10.
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Related: Pokémon, DS keyboards
