A Wild Freemium has Appeared!

No too long ago, Nintendo entered the world of freemium games with Pokemon Shuffle - a puzzle game in the same vein as the Trozei series. The biggest difference is that you still capture the Pokemon you defeat to use in future puzzles.

I enjoy puzzle games and Pokemon so this was a natural fit for me. And when you consider that the game is free, you have a sure fire download for this blogger.

But, like most free games these days, there is a costly twist.


You're limited on your game play, and each puzzle requires a heart to enter. At the start of each day you are given five hearts to play with. That's all fine and good, but they go fast. When you use a heart it takes a half hour to regenerate, and on top of that only one will regenerate at a time. So you use up all five in let's say ten to fifteen minutes, you're stuck waiting a half hour for just one more heart.

To an extent, it is a good way to keep you from playing all day, though that's not its true cause.

No, not at all.

Along with the hearts you can earn jewels. You can use these jewels to buy coins, which in turn allows you to buy perks in the game. However you earn coins as you defeat Pokemon, so they are better used in one of two other ways.

The first is buying more hearts. You don't wanna wait to play, but did you just use your last heart? Buy some more with a jewel!

Their other function is to give you a second chance.

Say you run out of moves but you've almost beat the Pokemon you're up against. The game will give you the option to gain a few more turns or a little more time at the cost of a jewel. This is great if it's a Pokemon you really want to catch, but keep in mind you don't earn that many jewels. They can be a rare commodity in your inventory, unless you want to give into the game's true intent.

Yes that's right - you can buy them with your real hard earned money.

Screw that!

I play all kinds of freemium games and I am proud to say I have not spent a single penny on any of them, and Pokemon has thus far been the same. Yes, waiting sucks, but I'm not going to spend my paycheck on digital currency so I can progress in a game faster. I know there are people out there who will, but I am not on of them.

I'm still able to enjoy the game, I'm just limited daily on how much play time I have. It does get old, but I'm not a fan of the alternative. Actually, the limited play time makes this a good game for me to play while on my break. I can play a few rounds and know I'll be done before I have to go back to my 9-5 job.

Most recently they added Pokemon Rumble World to this genre. I downloaded my copy last week, and I haven't had a lot of time to play it yet.

I loved the original Rumble game on the Wii and I've played both the Wii U and 3DS versions. This version isn't much different, other than, once again, limited game play time.

You're still playing as toy Pokemon and collecting stronger ones as you go, but you have to buy hot air balloons that will take you to the various dungeons to catch more. After you use a balloon it has a cool down time before you can use it again, thus making you need to buy several balloons. Your currency is mainly jewels and coins and you can earn both, but with balloons, Pokemon houses, and outfits for your Mii to buy, they go quickly. Ultimately they want you to spend cash money on them.

Once again, screw that!

I refuse. I will take my free game and play it as I can. I get sick of the freemium market but I'm not going to let it ruin my love for Pokemon. I get more Pokemon games, but they won't be getting extra money from me.