VIDEO GAME REVIEW: "Pocket Mortys"

     You never really know that your life is missing something until Adult Swim launches a Pokemon spoof based off the infamous Rick & Morty cartoon. Well now it's finally here and I couldn't be happier. Packed full of references, art directly from the creators, voice overs, and elements from one of the most popular video games of all time! What could go wrong? So lets *berp* dive into this wacky world of creatures and characters!

     So our story begins like a typical episode of the series would with Rick and Morty in the garage. Rick is constructing a new device when all of the sudden, another Rick and Morty from an existing universe barge in. He proclaims that Morty is the "legendary" Morty and he plans to capture him. Your Rick then steps in and claims ownership of Morty, which causes the new Rick to demand a Morty battle. I know, so many Ricks and Morty's your head spins just thinking about it.

     After defeating alter-universe Rick, you quickly follow him through a portal and enter a world where catching and training Morty's is a natural pass time. There are items sold for it, advertisement space, and even a Morty healing center. Everything screams Pokemon with every step you take, and I absolutely love it.

     Pretty soon the Council of Ricks captures you and steal away your portal gun. As punishment, you must capture and train Mortys to defeat each of them. If you can gather enough badges from Ricks from other worlds, and defeat each member of the council, then you can earn your portal gun back. So you run out to battle and put the council in its place.

     Battling is exactly like you'd expect. You have your Morty's view and a few options on how to approach the fight. The hub and actions look and sound fantastic, yet are also ultra simple. You attack your opponent until he's dazed, or you inject a chip into him if you're attempting to catch him. The chip is a very clever idea instead of the Pokeball, and it fits the universe. Rather than having your Mortys in a sack on your back, they determinedly follow you around on your adventure ready to jump into a fight.

     Another clever addition are the controls. Your directional pad and A button are directly pulled from the GameBoy, adding further nostalgic feels to the game. Everything feels great and I haven't experienced crashes or errors with the game after several hours of play.

     As you'd expect from many excellent phone games, there's a not so excellent micro transaction systems. The good part about this one is that you can play completely independent of it. Basically you can use real money to obtain coupons for Blips and Chitz. The machine vends a bunch of random materials and guarantees you a Morty for you roster. It's only there to enhance your experience, not as a road block that compels you to purchase things to progress forward. Which is excellent is my book.

     For a free phone game this is easily my favorite to date. You can get tons of time out of it, play in an interesting and hilarious universe, and it serves as an acceptable fill in until Nintendo actually releases Pokemon for phones, which will NEVER happen. My final verdict is that you should absolutely take some time to download and play this game. Especially is you like Rick & Morty.
     Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! So get out there, explore new worlds, and catch'em all!!!

-Jon Todd