Pokemon GO is great. Everyone is horribly in love with it. Last night I saw a bunch of people congregating around the river front in the city I live in to try and catch ’em all. It was surprisingly endearing. …
Pokemon GO is great. Everyone is horribly in love with it. Last night I saw a bunch of people congregating around the river front in the city I live in to try and catch ’em all. It was surprisingly endearing.
But what if it’s not out in your country yet? Well, there are ways and means around that, but we wouldn’t suggest that you try them. Instead we thought we’d put together a list of games you could have a crack at while you’re waiting.
Sure they might not have all of the good things going for them that Pokemon GO does, but you’re still going to have a lot of fun playing them. And at least one of them gives you a glimpse as to where the phenomenon started. Hopefully they’ll make the time between now and Pokemon GO landing in your country fly by much quicker than if you just spend the next few weeks glaring at a wall.
Ingress was Niantic’s (the developer of Pokemon Go) first bite at the massively multiplayer real world genre. It’s got a lot in common with its new opus, from an augmented map that displays different information to a focus on competing.
Unfortunately it doesn’t have Pokemon in it, and if you live in a small town then it’s unlikely that you’re actually going to find much to do. But if you live in a big city you should still be able to find a reason to wander around looking at your phone.
This one sits at the other end of the spectrum to Ingress. It’s full of Pokemon, but it doesn’t get you out and about in the real world. Instead it’s a digital recreation of the brilliant Pokemon card game. And it’s an incredibly addictive way to while away a few hours.
You can only play on iPad, but there’s a surprisingly deep and well put together card-tossing experience here. And it’s free. It might not be Hearthstone, but it does let you collect a Pikachu, which is pretty awesome in and of itself.
A bit of a left field choice this one. Subterfuge is a strategy game with a difference. You’re playing against a group of your friends, and rather than just using force of arms to win, you can create secret alliances and backstab each other in order to try and take over the world.
It’s a little confusing to start with, but once you get to grips with it you’ll be messing with your friends heads in no time. In a game I was playing I’m pretty sure one of my friends lied about getting on a plane in order to set off a bunch of attacks while none of us were prepared. It’s basically a game for jerks and people who want to be jerks, and it’s great.
If you’re looking for a game that’s more like the original Pokemon, then Micromon is probably your best bet. For 99c you get a massive world to explore and 130 different monsters to try and capture. There’s even multiplayer battling thrown in.
It’s not perfect, but it’s probably the closest you’re likely to get to real Pokemon on your phone without using an emulator. It looks lovely, the monster designs are great, and there’s plenty here to keep you entertained while you twiddle your thumbs waiting for Pokemon GO to land.
