With its long-awaited transition into the 3D realm, the Pokémon franchise has evolved into a much bigger, better game. They’ve taken their classic formula of battle, trade, evolve, (and now bond,) and crafted it into a brand new masterpiece, titled Pokémon X and Y. Through your lengthy 35-hour journey in the Kalos region, you’re awaited by new creatures to find, new evolutions to discover, and even a whole new pokémon type, something that hasn’t happened since Gold and Silver.

Upon starting up the game, you’re greeted with the fresh new graphical style the 3DS is capable of. The world of Pokémon has taken a graphical overhaul. Everything in the game is now a 3D model, and no longer a two-dimensional sprite. This includes your own player character, who now has three skin tone options, and tons of fun clothing to find and collect throughout your adventure. Some may complain the sprites were just fine, that the 3D models look be too simple to do the creatures justice, but I disagree. The new models for the pokémon (and everything else) look fantastic – graphics are crisp and fluid, and I soon found my breath taken away by the Braxien I was training, how much more intimidating Charizard appears, and the nice little idle animations the pokémon have. During battles, however, I would occasionally experience some graphical lag (very much so with the 3D slider turned on.)

During battles, you’ll also be introduced to the new Fairy-type introduced in this generation. The fairy type has been added as a sort of check to the “all-powerful” Dragon type, as it’s completely immune to dragon moves, and is super effective against it. Old Pokémon (Gardevoir, Azumarill, Clefairy) and new ones have been given this type. In my playing, I have found the Fairy type to be pleasantly fitting to the rest of the type matchups – not game breakingly powerful, and nowhere near useless.

The addition of Pokémon Amie and super training have made training your pocket monsters even easier, although if you decide to go this route, much more time-consuming. In Pokémon Amie, you get to pet, feed, and play minigames with your pokémon, in exchange for boosts to experience points, increased critical hit chance, and more. The super training feature, though a bit repetitive, is a much faster way to EV (effort value) train pokémon, by shooting soccer balls at giant balloons.

And then there’s the third lower screen feature – the PSS, or player search system. This allows you to interact with thousands of other players, through wonder trading your pokemon to a random partner somewhere on the planet, battling anybody at any time, and sending them handy O-Powers (tiny buffs that can help you along in your adventure.) People on your 3DS friends list show up here too, and players are handsomely rewarded for having their friends list full (later on in the game).

Storylines in Pokémon games tend to be nothing incredible, and X and Y follow this formula, too. However, the story is still certainly gripping enough to keep you going, and I found myself happily enjoying it as I played through the main game. There’s even more to do after the main story is completed throughout Lumiose city.

Overall, X and Y are amazing additions to the Pokémon franchise, maybe even the best ones so far. The new graphical overhaul, new type, training minigames, interactions, music, and more all add up to an amazing experience in a Pokémon game. Some features could use a bit more fleshing out, but they work amazingly well in these latest games. Pokémon X and Y is definitely a must-buy for any fan of the series (or anyone looking to get into it as well.)