Pokémon Crystal Version Review.

Pokémon Crystal Version is my second favorite out of all the games, the first favorite being Emerald. Anyway it feels great coming back to this game after so long, When I was 8 or 9, I had a Gameboy SP which later got snapped in half thanks to Super Mario Land, anyway I had a copy of Crystal Version which was slightly different to Gold and Silver, differences being that there were different Pokemon to catch, slightly altered storyline, Suicune being the legendary this time and the all new character Kris. Kris was special because she was the first ever female protagonist to be introduced in a Pokemon game, this meant big news for gamers because they wanted to see what she was like and everything and people seemed to get along just fine with her. This generation was way better than generation 1 as the bag had several different pockets meaning you could carry more stuff, the sprites were much better looking especially from the back, The music was more nicer to listen to the whole connecting Johto and Kanto thing was a brilliant idea, the new Pokemon were awesome and I could go on all day. But the downs are that there was no running and your rival was more of an A-hole for literally wanting to kill his Pokemon. There are others but I just can't think of any. The game is quick because there weren't as much dialog as in it's remakes Heartgold and Soulsilver and the battles went quick which is just the way I like it. I like this game a lot and that's why I've given it a score of 10.

GRAPHICS

Although it's got 8-bit pixels, the color makes up for the graphics. The colors are just so bright and colorful and it makes me happy just looking at them. At least the graphics were not as bad as they were in Red/Blue/Green/Yellow with it's bad sprite details, I mean machop looked like roadkill and golbat looked like he just saw something he didn't want to see. Anyway they've fixed the sprites up and fixed a few "mishaps" with the pallets, everything seems to be just fine, just fine.

SOUND

Listening to the sounds still makes me feel like I'm playing on my Gameboy again. Generation 2 Pokemon games sure had the best sound effects and musics. My favorite music would have to be the Champion and Red battle themes as it sounds like the intro to Red/Blue/Green/Yellow. That's right you fight Red from Red/Blue/Green/Yellow as well, I forgot to mention that, sorry I guess. Well listening to this soundtrack which was really amazing brings a tear to my eye and running down my cheek.

ADDICTIVENESS

The addictiveness however ain't too bad actually. I mean I could sit down and play this for hours and not get bored but if my battery is running dry or I need to get Pokemon that only come out during the day or night, then I would shut my game down. Other times I would get mad if I can't defeat a GYM or defeat the Champion or Red who by the way are extremely difficult to get passed (Especially Red) then I would "rage quit" and continue later on. Sometimes I would just go off and grind my Pokemon up a little. By grind I mean level them up to the appropriate level to take on the GYMs or Elite Four. Overall there are parts where you can get bored and take a nice little break before continuing later on.

STORY

The story is the same as it is in any Pokemon game really. This game is about a Boy/Girl from a town called New Bark Town who help Professor Elm who is a Pokemon researcher. Elm tells these kids to go to a bloke called Mr Pokemon (Original name, yes I know), When they meet him he gives them this egg which they are then met by Professor Oak who was the professor in Red/Blue/Green/Yellow. He then gives them a Pokedex which is an encyclopedia that record Pokemon data when met or caught, and then he asks you to help him out with the Pokedex by catching all the Pokemon in the game (this is completely optional). Then when you head back to New Bark you come across this Kid called Silver (or whatever you name him) who will be your rival for the game. You have a little battle with him and after you beat him he'll say your weak and stuff considering you've just defeated him. So after that you head back to New Bark you'll notice that someone has jacked (stolen) a Pokemon (it depends on which starter you chose) from the lab. After a word with the Po-Po, Elm will advise you in taking the Pokemon GYM challenge which is where you go all around the region and defeat all 8 of the GYM leaders there and after you've done that you'll then have to defeat the Elite Four at the Pokemon League who are kind of like GYM leaders but way tougher, after you've defeated the Elite Four you will then face the Champion you is like the Elite four but way more tougher and there's only 1 of him. After you've defeated him you will then head out to the Kanto region which was in Red/Green/Blue/Yellow and do the same thing except there are no Elite Four and only the Champion of all Champions, Red who is the toughest trainer in the entire game. He will have about level 80 Pokemon whilst you still probably have level 50, 60 and maybe 70 Pokemon (Depending on how much you grind). After you have defeated Red you will be named officially the Champion of both the Johto and Kanto region, congratulations you've beaten the game.

DEPTH

The game is really massive because it combines both the Kanto and Johto region which are big regions and the fact that it might take you a while to play with the whole story. I can officially say that this game will keep you busy for months, even a whole year (if you play it over and over again). Give it to the kids too, that will shut them up for a while.

DIFFICULTY

The games not too hard or too easy, it depends on how you play it, that's why I've gave it a score of 5 because it's somewhere in the middle. If you play the game where you only use your started and you have a god awful team of Pokemon where your starter is like level 50 and all your others are like level 10 then you're going to have a really hard time. But if you have a team of Pokemon the same level and are all like level 60 then it could pretty much be a cake walk for you. Word of advise, it's best to have your starter level a little higher than the rest. Mind you, the Champion and Red are a pain to defeat but you'll be a legend in my eye if you can do it with no sweat.

Anyway that's it for my review, it feels like I've been typing forever but it was well worth it. I hope you enjoy reading this as I put my evening into this review but whatever.

~iseeu44~