There are many Pokémon games out there, but the strangest ones are usually on mobile devices.  We’ve gotten the Pokémon teeth brushing app with Pokémon Smile, and Magikarp Jump!, a game starring the most useless Pokémon of all!  And now you can track your sleeping habits with the Pokémon Sleep app.  I liked how this game featured Snorlax, as that’s my favorite Pokémon.  But you’ll just how to read on to find out how this app works!

The story goes that you are helping out another Pokémon professor.  On certain islands, Snorlax has the power to make other Pokémon around it sleepy.  So you help the professor study the sleeping patterns and styles around the Snorlax.  When you start the game, you’ll get your very own Snorlax plus a helper Pikachu.  Pikachu and other helper Pokémon can gather berries and ingredients during the day, and three times a day you can use those ingredients to make Snorlax a meal.  Eating helps Snorlax gain experience and level up, and the higher level you are, the more Pokémon will come and sleep around Snorlax at night.

When it’s bedtime, you’ll click on a “Zzz” icon and you must then plug up your phone, put it face down around your pillow, and supposedly the app tracks your sleep.  Not sure how, but that’s what it says it does.  In the morning, you’ll see how long you’ve slept, and what Pokémon have come to sleep around Snorlax.  You can then take pictures of the sleeping styles and give out Poke-biscuits to befriend the Pokémon.  And then you start the process over again.  As you gain levels you’ll be able to sleep at new islands, like a forest or a beach.  But I didn’t notice any difference other than the background graphics.

I had a few problems with this app.  I didn’t like how you had to put the phone on your bed for it to track your sleep.  I’ll put my phone on my bedside, but not directly on my bed.  Also I don’t think it tracks your sleep very well anyway.  There were many times that it said I got less than 8 hours of sleep when I know I did.  And the text is way too small to read, especially considering you’ll have to read a lot of it when you first wake up and may not be focused yet.  There’s also a lot of graphs and menu options I didn’t understand.  Also if your phone has to update at night, it’ll interrupt your sleep tracking.  And it eats up your battery life, too!  Every week you must get a new Snorlax, so there’s hardly a sense of progress.  It really only kept me interested for a couple of weeks.  But it is free so it won’t hurt to at least check it out if you’re curious.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  Parents may not like having to use their phone for their kids to use on their bed at night, but maybe it’ll encourage kids to go to sleep at their bedtime.  Maybe?  Reading skill is a must and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Misc