It's very different to your usual Pokemon game. The art style is the first thing you'll notice, with very simple, cute, cubist graphics. The story is different too: you are exploring Tumblecube Island, it's not the usual marching around levelling and beating Gym Leaders. Then there's catching Pokemon. You don't beat them down and throw Pokeballs at them, rather you cook food in your base camp (by combining five ingredients) and the food attracts different sorts of Pokemon. And the combat itself is very different. Your team of three Pokemon sets off for an expedition entirely by itself, searching out enemies. You can set the combat to auto if you want, or set off the two moves your Pokemon have and hit 'scatter' sometimes. (I have to admit I did set this to auto after my first few fights.)
The skill comes with managing 'Power Stones', which you put into the charm that each Pokemon carries. These increase attack, hit points, or give other effects. You can train your Pokemon to give them new moves. One of the biggest things you can do to win or lose battles is to choose the right Pokemon. A wheel shows what sorts of enemies are in the level, so if you choose Pokemon that do more damage against those enemies you should do well! Before you start the level it does clearly state which sort of Pokemon is best, but there will be other enemies in there too, so it's all about balance.
As with most mobile games, there are a lot of cooldowns, so you can't keep battling endlessly. You have to wait for your battery to recharge or pay to recharge it with PM tickets. The game gives you 50 tickets every day, though if you pay for the DLCs you can earn up to 190 tickets a day. You can't just buy tickets with money. The DLCs also give you rare Pokemon and other benefits. You'll also need to spend your PM tickets to increase your inventory space for both Pokemon and Power Stones. There are other ways to earn tickets; completing Quests gives you tickets (in much the same way that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp earns you Leaf Tickets by catching certain numbers of fish, etc.). I suspect that after initially earning lots in this way it will soon get harder. (Possibly you will run out of Quests if you play it a lot, if it's anything like Pocket Camp.)
It's fun, though, and it's free ('free to start', is how Nintendo describe it). It's not exciting when compared to other Pokemon games, but it seems like it will be a fun game to carry around on your phone, when the mobile version releases. And its simplicity may well make it popular with younger kids.
Certainly worth a look, especially since it doesn't cost anything to try it!
Though I have spent far too many hours playing Pocket Camp, so I may not be the best person to advise on games like this..!!! :-D
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