I was flipping through my documents and found this old review I wrote in March of last year. I never posted it anywhere online, so I figured I’d post it here!

Spoiler Alert brings you to a time reversing universe. You play as a chili pepper knight, beginning on level 3-30, fighting the boss, then playing all levels in reverse. It’s a pretty neat idea, honestly!

However, the execution is poor.

The levels begin (or end, rather) simply. Level 3-29 starts off with one enemy, and two sets of coins you must reach. Being the second to last level, you would expect it to throw at you all it has. Now, I understand that games start off easy, to teach you mechanics and how to play the game in general. But Spoiler Alert is advertised as “a game you play backwards.” Being as such, it was disappointing to say the least that it ends up just being an endless runner game where you go left instead of right.

Putting that aside, Spoiler Alert has an even bigger problem than its simplicity.

A lot of levels flat out don’t make sense.

So, in order to progress, you have to jump on dead enemies to bring them back to life as well as collect coins the pepper received when he first played the level.

Pictured below is the end of a level in World 2. The coin at the beginning was never gotten by the pepper, so you have to jump over it. This doesn’t make sense. Since the level “begins” there, he would naturally obtain it, unless he was purposely avoiding it (which, again, doesn’t make sense.)

You might think this is an isolated example, but it isn’t. Here are some more examples.

Level 1-30, where you have to put in effort to avoid the coins a boss throws at you.

Level 1-20, where you have to get this coin in order to finish the level. It would be impossible for the pepper to retrieve this going forward.

Level 1-3. The level that made me even want to write this review. These spikes are at the beginning of the level. The pepper spawns at the very edge of the levels, because this is an infinite runner game (not to mention that the spikes have huge hitboxes.) If he were to play this left to right, he would die instantly.

Another minor annoyance is the fact that when going for gold, the only way to fully retry a level is to either complete it, or restart from the main menu. Getting gold on every level means to beat them without dying, so it’s irritating when you’re going through ninety levels to have to complete or go all the way back to the main menu to try again.

All in all, my main problem was with the lack of charm. It could have very easily been a charming little game, if they had put some more effort into making the levels seem real. As it is, Spoiler Alert remains as a generic infinite runner game.

Though I usually review visual novels, I’ve been playing this on my Nintendo Switch and felt like I had something to say.

Being a Pokémon fan since I was a child, I’ve watched the fanbase come and go in waves of what they want out of Pokémon games. I began with Pokémon Yellow, and continued on to every new main entry, and many of the spinoffs, after that. At the same time, I was beginning to grow annoyed at the seeming fetishization of Generation 1 of the Pokémon series. There’s always the people who are constantly going on about how the first generation of Pokémon is the best, and refuse to give the later games a try. This game in particular seemed aimed at both new fans as well as the so-called “genwunners.” So, I thought I was going to inevitably give Pokémon Let’s Go a pass.

However, my friends got the game, and seeing their charming Twitter posts and screenshots about the game made me want it more day by day. Then, Christmas happened, and there it was under our little tree for me. I began playing the game immediately and was blown away by how absolutely precious this game is. By looking at other reviews on gaming websites, you will probably hear about how this game is incredibly easy and doesn’t require any challenge at all. Personally, that doesn’t bother me, because Pokémon has absolutely been easy for a long time.

What I like about this game is the fact that they brought back one of the most desired features from Soul Silver and Heart Gold: Follower Pokémon. Not only can you take ANY of your Pokémon outside of their Pokéballs, you can also ride several of them. Seeing the former pixels brought to life in 3D, to scale, is a magical experience I am continuously captivated by.

I knew he was going to be big, but I’m still majorly in love with this gigantic dinosaur.

The peak moment of the game, honestly.

Another major thing I love about this game is all the little details. You may notice when a Pokémon’s HP is lowered to the red, they begin to move slower, as they are low on energy. All of the Pokémon have different running styles as well. Krabby moves next to you as he walks sideways, Venasaur hops like a frog, and Pikachu speeds ahead of you. You can encounter Pokémon of different sizes, as you catalogue the range of sizes in your Pokédex. And another detail I noticed recently, as I was catching other Eevee, is that your own Eevee is both larger and colored differently to the regular ones!

I’m currently about halfway through the main story, but so far, this game has been much more than just a simple nostalgia trip. Wandering around the familiar region is truly a joy when you see the critters running around in the grass, in towns, and in the sea. Though it does have flaws, Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee has been a delightful journey in the Pokémon world that actually feels like a living, breathing rendition of it.