New Pokémon Snap

New Pokémon Snap is a photography game with occasionally clunky progression, but which is eager to show off its delightful subjects and let them surprise you.

New Pokemon Snap pays homage to the Nintendo 64 classic while venturing off in bold new directions.

New Pok'mon Snap captures the strange joy of the original game without being derivative.

New Pokémon Snap is the portable safari we’ve been waiting for

The thrill of nabbing the perfect shot never dulls, but the repetition of traveling through the same environments sometimes grows weary

Trekking through forests and meadows in search of quirky creatures to photograph is a serene but repetitive experience

It gives the player just enough story and intrigue to press on through a grindy midgame focused on revisiting maps.

If you’re the sort of player who got really mad about the national Pokedex in Sword & Shield, you might also bemoan the level of content here. But I think this is plenty, delivering far more than the original and with a whole lot of replay value – it’s just a shame the developers felt the need to stretch it out artificially to justify what they’ve managed to build.

New Pokémon Snap is a sign of the times in that way, but while it's adapted to the age of Instagram, it hasn't lost its soul in the process. This is the Pokémon Snap you remember, with a few additions that don't always hit as resoundingly, but the foundation has been well-kept. It was a blast to spend a weekend just blasting through every ride this park had to offer, and they're varied enough that I know I can go back today, tomorrow, and months from now, and still find new things to photograph, new interactions to fool around with, and a good time to be had.

New Pokémon Snap is pretty magical as well. It takes the unique formula of the 1999 original and expands on it just enough to feel like a completely new adventure, without diluting the simple joy of riding and snapping photos of impossible creatures.