When Pokémon Go first blazed to life, back in that incredible summer of 2016, developer Niantic found itself with a monster success beyond its wildest expectations. Built from the bones of Ingress, launched three years earlier, Niantic's own globe-covering tech was a perfect match for the globally known Pokémon franchise. The resulting pop culture phenomenon put location gaming on the map and launched a pocket money-spinner still raking in cash today. Now, another three years on, Niantic wants to do it all again - and this time, do it even better.
When Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launches, sometime in 2019, it will do so in a far more robust state than Pokémon Go did. The latter's minimal set of launch features remained unchanged for a nearly year while Niantic staffed up and stabilised its creation, a year in which a chunk of its audience moved on. Playing a beta version of Wizards Unite, it already feels as deep and well-rounded as Pokémon Go does in its third year - with layers of familiar and fresh-feeling ideas and servers that mostly play (Poké)ball.
Let's start with those fresh features, as it is here Wizards Unite's identity really lies. Yes, it's a location-based mobile game in which your character moves around a map of your area as you do, with points of interest to help get your bum off your sofa and into your local neighbourhood. But where Pokémon Go's ethos reflects its franchise's particular strengths - collecting and competitive battling - Wizards Unite reflects Harry Potter's, with a focus firmly on collaborative gameplay and a notable slab of narrative storytelling.
from Eurogamer.net
by March 11, 2019 at 07:00AM
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