Old Man Discovers Pokemon
| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| GameBoy Advance | 8.50 |
| Overall | 8.50 |
|
Until last year I had dispassionately avoided the Pokemon series. The root of my avoidance came mostly from a lack of understanding of what kind of games they were. I was too old to be a part of the TV/ Card Collecting/ Video game phenomenon when it first came to prominence, so while others where cutting their teeth on Pokemon decks I was just starting to get into Magic the Gathering (which by comparison has produced exactly zero worthwhile video games). While playing Contact, a DS adventure game that I chose entirely because of the similarities of presentation it had with the SNES game Earthbound it occurred to me that Pokemon had the same look to it (at least from the screen shots I had seen). I then started to research what Pokemon games actually were. Rather than the card-collecting simulator I had assumed them to be I found out that they were my favorite type of RPG – of the good old fashioned random battle turn-based variety. After more research I was shocked to find out that for all the Pokemon games that have been produced you can cover the main story by buying three games, Pokemon Leaf Green, Pokemon Emerald and Pokemon Pearl (or the other games in those pairs). Suddenly the Pokemon world was looking manageable. Pokemon Leaf Green, and its partner FireRed are a GBA remake of the 1999 Game Boy releases Pokemon Red/ Blue. You are the lead protagonist and so far as the story goes you are a child who fights and captures small critters and trains them to beat others who train their critters in the same manner. You will get a small share of fetch quests along the way and also, by battling Pokemon in the wild, you will occasionally achieve a greater goal that the local community will be thankful for (like intimidating a band of bullies or ghost-busting a haunted mansion). There are benchmark battles along the way that allow you to progress through four final bosses and "finish" the game. Beyond the training and battling there is also the Pokemon collecting aspect of the game, which appeals the ornithologist in us all. I made no effort at all in this regard, focusing only on the four Pokemon I had added to my fighting team. The game is probably much more enjoyable if you bother to collect as many Pokemon as possible and switch them out for various battles but I did not. That is probably the main weakness of the game, that I was able to avoid a major component of play and still somehow progress in a button-mash toward victory. Being able to skip the monster collecting also contributed to a sense of uneven difficulty. Because I found no need to balance out my team between the various classes, until it was too late to do anything about it, I found my team of one-dimensional fighters being soundly defeated time and time again when facing the final bosses. (As with all strong RPG teams diversity is the key). This difficulty came about because the TM system, which is central to your advancement through the game, is poorly explained. Granted, the developer Game Freak, is probably not too concerned with LeafGreen being the introduction of the series to too many gamers, and many of the faults described above were as the result of my lack of familiarity with the Pokemon world and games. Graphically the game is well suited to the GBA and while the music is superb, the sound effects are lacking (there really are none). Ultimately, Pokemon LeafGreen is an enjoyable turn-based RPG which, with it's save anywhere ability, makes this an easy game to play in spurts. The lack of story also makes it amenable to playing over a long period of time (I logged over 45 hours over the course of a year). If you like old-fashioned RPGs and have been avoiding Pokemon for no good reason, give Leaf Green a try. |
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Posted by aspro Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:40:17
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travo (6m)
I haven't played LeafGreen/FireRed, but I played Pokemon from the start. If you want to the best, try Silver/Gold. Better the original than the upcoming DS remakes.