Pocket Mortys

Pocket Mortys
Developer(s)	Big Pixel Studios
Publisher(s)	Adult Swim
Platform(s)	iOS Android
Release date(s)	WW: January 13, 2016 (2016-01-13)
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Pocket Mortys is a Rick and Morty-themed role-playing video game developed by Big Pixel Studios and published by Adult Swim Games. The free-to-play game was released on 13 January 2016 worldwide for iOS and Android. The game is set in the Rick and Morty "Rickstaverse" and the mechanics serve as a parody on the Pokémon franchise.

Description

Pocket Mortys is based on the multiple timeline concept as described in episode 10 of season 1, "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind".^[1] The game uses a style and concept similar to the Pokémon games, with catching various 'wild' Mortys, battling them with a variety of 'Trainers' in the form of aliens, Ricks and Jerry.^[2] The game features voice acting from Dan Harmon.^[3]

Gameplay

Pocket Mortys is in a third-person view, overhead perspective and consists of three basic screens: an overworld, in which the player navigates the main character; a side-view battle screen; and a menu interface, in which the player configures their Mortys, items, or gameplay settings.^[4]

The player can use their Mortys to battle other Mortys. Wild Mortys are visible on the overworld and can be captured using a 'Morty Manipulation Chip'. "Trainer" fights are also visible and entail fighting against their party of up to five Mortys. When the player encounters a Morty or a trainer, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen that displays the engaged Mortys. During battle, the player may select a maneuver for their Morty to use in the fight, use an item, switch their active Morty, or (against the wild Mortys) attempt to flee. Mortys have hit points (HP); when a Morty's HP is reduced to zero, it gets dazed and can no longer battle until it is revived. Once an enemy Morty faints, the player's Morty involved in the battle receive a certain number of experience points (EXP). After accumulating enough EXP, a Morty will level up. A Morty's level controls its physical properties, such as the battle statistics acquired, and the moves learned. You may combine two Mortys of the same type to evolve them; these evolutions affect the statistics and which moves are learned. Catching Mortys is another essential element of the gameplay. During battle with a wild Morty, the player may throw a Manipulation Chip at it. If the Morty is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player.^[2][5][6]

The ultimate goal of the game is to collect and level-up a team of Mortys to battle against the Council of Ricks, who have taken Rick's teleportation gun until he proves himself.^[5][6]

Reception

The game has received mostly favourable reviews, gaining a score on review aggregator site Metacritic of 73 out of a possible 100.^[7] PC Magazine gave the game a 'good' 3.5/5 rating, and Kotaku stated the game was 'Brilliant'.^[1][8] IGN wasn't so favourable, giving the game a 'Mediocre' 5.5 rating stating that the game 'lacks cohesion' and that it was 'little more than a diluted Pokémon imitator' ^[9] HardcoreGamer mirrored this opinion by giving the game 2.5/5.^[10]

References