Gotta Catch Them All....again
For some years now Nintendo has delivered a whole host of Pokemon games, dating back from the origins of Red and Blue, and now the latest release of the series, Pokemon Emerald.
As you’d come to expect from a new Pokemon game, the majority of the game is built up of past formulas and a lot of the game won’t seem to new to any fan of the series, however despite that it’s got enough going for it to be a nice enjoyable game you can pick up when your bored and spend anything from a few minutes to a few hours playing.
Like its predecessors Emerald has you start off in a small town, before leaving to fulfil your destiny as a Pokemon Master. One feature that is with Emerald that has evolved over the series is the ability to choose whether you play as a boy or a girl, thus allowing the female population of the gaming world to play as their own gender, a simple but nice feature.
So you’ve chosen your starting Pokemon from resident boffin, Professor Birch and now it’s time for to traverse the lands in the hope of capturing the strongest Pokemon you can find.
Along the way you’ll come across a variety of different Pokemon, with some familiar faces as well. All the old favourites are there such as Pikachu and Charmander but you may find yourself more inclined to favour some of the new comers such as Ninjask, the bug Pokemon that can move at great speeds and evolves from Nincada. Or if that’s not your cup of tea then maybe you’ll prefer Deoxsys, a Physic Pokemon. One thing is for sure and that is you’ll be spoilt for choice over which Pokemon make your team. With now boasting a roster of 386 different Pokemon, spanning the three sets of games, you’ll have one mighty job on your hand if you want to fill your Pokedex.
When you are not spending time training your Pokemon to be super strong fighting machines, you’ll encounter the groups of Team Magma, and Team Aqua. A bunch of devilish trainers who are always up to no good. You’ll also have side quests to do, and while they don’t offer a lot of depth, you will always welcome something new to do, as power levelling your team can become boring at times.
Another set of features have evolved through the series has made it into Emerald and you will be pleased to hear you can enter your Pokemon into beauty contests, you can breed them, gamble your cash in a casino and even become a horticulturist and plant berries, either way, you’ll never be short of things to do.
On the technical side of things, the games graphics look as good as can be expected being on the tiny handheld, and its safe to say the graphics suit the game, no quarrels here from me. They do the job asked of them, it is as simple as that.
If you get bored of fighting computer controlled characters, all you’ll need is a friend with the game and a GBA of their own and you’ll be able to have some multiplayer battling, ideal for those cold evenings waiting at the bus stop or during your lunch breaks.
Pokemon for me is one of the series that really has a lot of potential and while we are waiting to see a console version of the game do it any justice, you can always rely on any of the handheld versions for a good session of game play. It will take a lot of your time if you want to max out your teams line up with the highest level your Pokemon can obtain, but don’t be put off if your just looking for a casual game to play, as you can play this as much as you want and still get a lot of enjoyment out of it. While a lot of the features within Emerald have been seen before it does have enough of its own to keep the series alive and fans of Pokemon will no doubt enjoy, and while newcomers may find it a little daunting at first, just for the fact the Pokedex has grown so large over the years, the newcomer will still be able to pick it up in no time.
Overall, it’s worth playing if you’re looking for one of those games you can just pick up and play.