Penko Park

Although I've played a lot of games in my time on this Earth, one of the things you'll often hear me bring up is how I haven't played anything from the long-running Pokemon franchise. Not a single color, gem or Sun. This confession is usually met with gasps and shocked faces, but the truth is that I was well outside of the target demographic when the first game washed up on our shores in 1998. As a result, I have somehow missed out on the phenomenon and have yet to play a single Pokemon game.

Or have I?

It was while playing through the delightful new game Penko Park when I suddenly realized that I put a couple hours into Pokemon Snap back in the day. I only remembered this because the newest release from the wonderfully-named developer Ghostbutter is so similar to Nintendo's on-rails photography game that it shook that buried memory right out of my brain. It really makes me wonder if there are other Pokemon games I've completely forgotten about playing.

Welcome to Penko Park, an abandoned wildlife preserve filled with cute and mysterious monsters that are just waiting to get their picture taken. Don't worry, this isn't anything like Jurassic Park. The unusual creatures we run into in this preserve are both friendly and harmless, with many just going about their day as you roll through their habitat. It's like going to the zoo, only with the animals replaced by adorable monsters. And I don't mean those Pocket Monsters from Pokemon Snap, but rather a whole new group of creatures that definitely don't get into one-on-one fights for our amusement.

As I mentioned before, Penko Park is an almost beat-for-beat retelling of a certain Pokemon game released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. It's an on-rails journey through a series of short levels, each filled with dozens of stylish creatures that come in all shapes, sizes and colors. The goal is to use your camera to zoom in on each of these beasts and take the perfect shot. You'll then take the best pictures and post them in your photo album, which will turn into experience points that will net you new abilities and open up different paths. The goal is to keep going on the ride until you've located all the creatures and filled up your photo album.

Of course, you'll need to do more than just take pictures of monsters standing around. As you take more pictures, you'll unlock new abilities that will allow you to interact with the park around you. This means opening up new paths, picking up scattered items, clearing shrubbery and throwing Penko balls at the creatures. These sorts of actions will sometimes anger the beasts or make them dance, all of which you'll want to document with your camera. Or maybe you just need to take a picture of them sleeping. Each of the monsters in the park has a checklist of pictures you'll need to take, which can sometimes mean puzzling out how to get them to act a certain way (or, in some cases, not act a certain way).

If all this sounds kind of simple, then that's because it is. We'll eventually earn abilities that will speed up and stop the cart you're in, but there isn't any hidden depth here. It's just a pleasant ride through a few different parts of the park, which turns out to be a lot more fun than I expected. It helps that these small stages are not just diverse, but fun to explore, even on your tenth visit. The paths are full of funny-looking creatures to observe, and there's something satisfying about taking the perfect shot of each of them. I'm not sure I'll remember much of this game a year from now, but there's just something about its relaxing vibe that kept me coming back until I caught ... or, rather, photographed them all.

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Compared to Pokemon Snap, Penko Park is a little light on content. Although there are multiple paths and dozens of monsters to see, there are only three short levels to ride through, as well as a boss fight at the end. The good news is that all three are wildly different, ranging from exploring a forest to uncovering a volcano to going underwater to find the perfect shot. I enjoyed each of these stages, but was left wanting more. This is the kind of game you'll most likely complete in just a couple of sittings, though it will certainly take some doing to completely fill up that photo album.

A lot of the charm comes from the stylish monster designs and how they interact with the different parts of the park. From spooky to silly to just plain odd, we're given a wide variety of creative creatures to take pictures of, and they all look great. The art style and relaxing music are two of the biggest reasons why I kept coming back. This is a game that doesn't have the luxury of relying on creatures you already know and love, and I think Penko Park is better for it. If nothing else, this game shows that developer Ghostbutter knows how to create surprising and often memorable monsters. That's a good talent to have when it comes to making video games.

Although it's a blatant Pokemon Snap rip-off, you shouldn't hold that against Penko Park. This is a delightful game that takes you down a relaxing path full of inventive and often adorable monsters. And with a camera in hand, you'll have to seek out and get to know all of these creatures in order to take the perfect picture. It's short and I'm not sure how much of it I'll remember in a year, but Penko Park is a charming game with a whole bunch of funny looking monsters. If you can't go to the zoo because of the lockdowns, then this is a pretty good alternative that won't cost too much money.