You’ve arrived in a new town to start your very own Pokémon plush toy shop.  Kind of like a Build-A-Bear with Pokémon I guess.  But while unpacking, your yarn gets all tangled up.  So now you have to solve Pokémon themed puzzles to unravel your thoughts, and the yarn in Pokémon Friends.  It’s available on Switch and mobile devices, but reviewed on Switch here.

When you start, you’ll be tasked to solve three themes of puzzles with a certain amount of challenges in each.  Many of these puzzles are things you’d do in a Zelda dungeon or other mini-game.  For instance, you may have to help Pikachu light bulbs without touching them more than once.  Or slide Piplup on the ice to reach the goal.  When you solve all three puzzles, you’ll earn some yarn.  Depending on how fast and well you do the puzzles, the higher quality yarn you’ll get.

You can then put the yarn in a special machine that makes Pokémon plushes.  You can then decorate various rooms with the plushes you’ve made.  Or you can give them to friends in town who have special requests.  If you fulfill those requests, your friend points will go up and you can unlock new stamps for solving daily puzzles or furniture and shelves for your plush rooms.

A lot of people have bashed on this game, but I really don’t think it’s THAT bad.  The puzzles do start out ridiculously easy and stay that way for a long time.  But clearly this game was designed for kids in mind.  The puzzles do remind me of the ones I’d see in puzzle magazines and activity books I had as a kid, and I loved those.  So if you have kids who like those kinds of puzzles, they’ll probably enjoy this game, too.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  Reading skill is needed for the text, and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.  Pokémon Friends is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television