Great remakes of great games
The game
The gameplay is pretty standard for a Pokémon game, you run around a crazy fantasy world collecting monsters called Pokémon using them to battle other collectors (or trainers, as they are often called). You will also be required to complete some fairly easy puzzles. The battles are turn-based, and players can switch between any Pokémon in their party. This is where the strategy comes in, as some pokémen are weak against certain types and vice-versa.
The game starts with you choosing between being a boy or a girl, and pretty soon you will be asked to choose between three different pokémon of different types (grass, fire and water). Then you will be off to explore the world. The world is pretty much the same as in the original games. The most significant differences are some new locations, including the Pokéathlon; where you can compete in Pokésports using the touch screen. These mini-games are pretty simple, using taps and strokes to make pokémon jump hurdles.
The controls
When on the topic of the touch screen, let me explain how the game uses it. The game mainly uses it fornavigating menus, which it does perfectly. The bottom screen is for the most part filled with icons you can click on to go to the advertised menu. Navigating the Pokédex (an inDEX of POKÉmon) for instance, is now much faster than it was on the GameBoy. Another thing you might notice on the main navigation screen is that you now can register two key items to the main screen. To put it in simpler terms: you can now have a hotkey to both your bike (did I mention you can have a bike? It’s crazy!) and your fishing rod, for instance.
In battles you can choose what action you want your current pokémon to use pretty easily; there is one vary large fight button in the middle of the screen with the other options’ smaller buttons under. When you click the fight button another screen pops up where you can choose the specific move. One thing they maybe could have done is to put all the moves where the large fight button is. There is certainly enough room for it.
My biggest problem with the use of the touch screen is that you can’t use it to walk around. This means you’ll have to keep one hand on the d-pad while holding the stylus in the other. This I find kind of uncomfortable, and often I opt to rather use my finger or even ditching the touch screen all together. To the game’s credit, you can play it both ways, even though navigation menus becomes way faster with the touch screen.
The graphics
Graphically the game has gotten a great but subtle update. Many of the buildings are now in 3D, while everything else is still good old sprites. Many of the sprites are also redesigned, and I find that the game has a lot more colour than the original. One touch I am particular fond of is that every time you enter a special region, like a cave, you see a hand painted still of that location. Other new touches are small animated intros for each boss, the ability to choose the background for the PokéGear (which is the Pokéworlds version of a smartphone) and, I am sure, a lot more. The menus also looks nice, with bright colours that fitsto the actions (fighting is red, potions blue, etc.).
The sound
The sound, and music, has also been updated. The music has been both remixed and remastered, which makes it more modern sounding while still retaining the classic sound from the originals. One thing I don’t care for is the remixed menu-music which sounds quite different from the rest of the game as it now has one of those techno-style drums. This might just be me. There is supposedly an item in the game that you can use to change to the original music; but to get that I would actually have to fully beat the game, and I plan to take my time with that.
The PokéWalker
A completely new feature for this game is the inclusion of the PokéWalker. It is a pedometer, shaped like a Pokéball, that you can transfer one of your pokémon from the game into and take it for a stroll. As your step count rises your Pokémon will level up (only once per “stroll”) and find items you can use in the game. You also gain “Watts” which you can spend on two mini-games: In one you can find new items, and in the other you can catch new Pokémon. As you gain Watts you will also gain new “paths” to walk. These paths doesn’t really change anything but a little icon on the screen. It is a non-intrusive add-on to the game which I think is very neat.
Conclusion
All in all the game is a pretty good remake, making good use of the DS’ capabilities. If you played the original game, it is much the same game with some pieces added here and there. But it has changed enough to make it enjoyable, even if you have played the game before. And if you have played it before, it has most likely been a couple of years. If you haven’t played the game before it is certainly on-par with the modern variants of this style of games, and is well worth a buy.
