Pokemon Bank: Is it worth £4.99 a year? [Review]

Pokemon Bank, which happens to be a utility for the Pokemon games on the Nintendo DS, was released worldwide last week. Here's the big question: Is it worth £4.99 a year?

What is it?

Pokemon Bank is an online application that allows you to store their Pokémon on the Internet from Pokémon Black and White, Pokémon Black and White Versions 2, and Pokémon X and Y games.

The application is linked and tied into your console, which means that you cannot use it on another. However, you can use it on as many Pokemon X and Y games as you like.

Interface

The app's interface is graphically simple. While the lower screen displays your boxes from Pokemon X and Y, the upper screen displays your Pokemon Bank Boxes.

Control Scheme

There is no touch screen interface but the app makes up for it with a sleek control scheme through the D-pad.

You will have to use the D-pad to grab Pokemon from one box and drag them to another. There is also a nifty option that allows one to grab groups (up to the size of an entire box) of Pokemon and grab them to another box.

Categorise

Apart from simply storing your critters, Pokemon Bank shines when it comes to categorising them. You can categorise separate boxes by naming them according to the category they belong to. For instance, you could store all your legendary Pokemon in one box.

The system helps you organise and filter out all your Pokemon if you have got a huge collection.

Pokemon Transporter

This utility comes bundled with Pokemon Bank and helps players transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Black, Pokémon White, Pokémon Black 2 or Pokémon White 2 and place them into your Pokémon Bank box.

And before any of you hackers get any ideas, Poke Transporter comes built-in with a hack check, which is also one of the reasons why transferring Poekmon from older games into newer ones is a bit tedious.

Who is it for?

While the features on offer are somewhat inexpensive at £4.99 a year, only serious Pokemon trainers will have any real use for this app. If you breed or battle a lot, then this app is for you. To a certain extent, the app is wasted on a casual gamer unless he or she wants to transfer Pokemon between games.

Bottom Line

All in all, Pokemon Bank happens to be an efficient, quick, well designed and useful app. If you are a serious Pokemon trainer, then this app is an absolute must-have. However, it's something that most casual gamers can avoid without too much thought.