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Review: Pokemon Emerald

Game Boy Advance,

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MechaMento
11-30-13 03:35 PM

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deggle
01-25-14 08:57 PM

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Pokemon Emerald

Game's Ratings

Overall

Graphics

Sound

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8.4

8.1

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MechaMento's Score

8.2

11-30-13 03:35 PM

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As we all know, Pokemon Emerald for the Gameboy Advance is the most played game on Vizzed. Due to this there are tons of reviews, I felt I need to have a go at review this game myself. After all it was the very first video game I had ever bought so I have a lot of experience with it.

Back in 2009 I bought myself a Gameboy Advance SP and a copy of Pokemon Emerald along with it. 2009 was a lot later than the game's release date and by then the Nintendo DS was out. Before owning this game my life was pretty empty video game wise. We had a PS2 but yet I never really used that because it was my dad's and at the time most of the games made little sense to me. My whole family had never owned a Nintendo console so I did not know what Mario was, nor Zelda or Pokemon. It took my friends to teach me what was what and who was who. My friend owned a copy of Pokemon emerald which he played on his DS. One time he let me have a little go and from that half an hour I loved pokemon. I was in the middle of the sea using surf and having a ton of wild pokemon battles. I did not know what I was doing but it felt good because all of the Wingulls and Tentacruels were fainting really quickly. I felt amazing! This sort of gaming was so new to me, I just had to get my hands on it... so I did! And that brings me here, reviewing Pokemon Emerald for the Gameboy Advance, I hope you enjoy it!

Pokemon Emerald

Graphics

Most of the visual content in this game was ripped straight out of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire and reused. There were very few changes sprite wise, for instance the heros of the game had different colored clothes but that was about it. You could call game freak lazy but let's face it, what they did was right for them. The graphics from Ruby and Sapphire were great and got praise from many gamers and critics so not much more work was needed. This is why...
As soon as you see that Star dashing past the game freak logo, you know you are going to be in for a treat. The openings of Ruby and Sapphire were nicely made, quite the visual highlights of the games. Pokemon Emerald's opening was even more stunning than the previous games in the 3rd generation trio, this was very special to the Gameboy Advance.
As with most games, the cut scenes are the graphical peak of it. Unfortunately the only real cut scene in the game is the opening and if you wish to call it a cut scene, talking to Professor Birch when starting a new game was also one too. The rest of the game did have a few cut scenes but there was nothing different visual to the rest of the game. You would just stay in the top down view and watch the events and text go on.
Luckily there rest of the game is not too bad at all. I have to say the graphics of the over worlds are pretty nice. There are some areas which look like they are just your typical GBA game yet other areas such as Mount Chimney looked stunning.
So in general I was vaguely disappointed with Game Freak's work here so that is why i gave them a 9/10. Moving on...

Sound

I have never really been that much of a fan of Pokemon game music. There are a few exceptions like the Cave Theme from Gold, Silver and Crystal and the Museum theme in Pokemon Emerald but in general none of it appeals to me. Pokemon Emerald seems to have the worst soundtrack of them all along with Pokemon Platinum and X and Y. Almost in Pokemon Emerald sounds all too happy go lucky and joyful. It can raise a smile on your face but you would not listen to it out of choice. I guess you could say that pokemon is aimed at children but I think Game Freak need to remember that there is a vast majority of humans of older ages who have also enjoyed the Pokemon experiences.
I think what Game Freak tried to do was keep the music themed to the current location but keep it child friendly. I can expect a young child to get bored of a dramatic song that really suits an area like music from Final Fantasy games. Let's face it they are not going to really care about the game music anyway if they are actually playing the game.
I am sure the musicians at Game Freak could of done better because as i have said previously, they have made some great songs. So why can't the rest of the songs in the game at least be good.

Story

I think 3 is the lowest I have rated anything in a Video Game review but in my opinion, Pokemon Emerald does kinda deserve it. There are many turn based RPG's like Pokemon, Such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest (basically everything made by square enix), which have great story lines. So why can't pokemon keep up? I am not sure whether this is a lack of creativity or if it is making it easy to understand for Children from 3+ but let's face it, however great this game is the story is just crap.
When you make your way into route 101 for the first time, only to see that a Pokemon Professor is being attacked by a Level 2 Zigzagoon, you just know that this game is going to be a little stupid. Even when you progress there is a "scientist" who is investigating "rare pokemon" footprints when it turns out to be his own. I think every gamer knew he was there to prevent anyone from going to route 102 before battling your rival so why make the obstacle be so un logiciel it just lacks creativity.
The story itself is a little cliche. You help everyone, you conquer the bad guys throughout the game until you defeat their boss and the bad guys go away. Hmm sounds familiar, I think that is from ALMOST EVERY SINGLE POKEMON GAME AND A VARIOUS OTHER VIDEO GAMES, apart from them I think this storyline is original. Luckily in Pokemon Emerald there is the odd twist in this tale, you play the role of a double agent and defeat both enemy. I was going to give the story a 1/10 but there was at least something original.
Then there is the Pokemon League but I don't call that a story, it is almost more of a side quest in Pokemon Emerald even though it is required. it just feels like something you have to do and it will have almost no effect on the rest of the game and more importantly the story line, I guess it is just there to keep it a pokemon game.
Enough Ranting...

Gameplay

Pokemon Emerald may have a bad storyline as I previously ranted about but that is overruled by the amazing gameplay. The battle system is fun and easy to pick up. I knew what I was doing in battle even when i was playing it on my friend's DS, yeah before I even owned the game I was not a noob. Obviously things got difficult when you reached the final few gyms. Then you actually had to think while fighting instead of just using your most powerful attacks. I remember the elite 4 being extremely tough and that amazing feeling I got when I beat the champion Wallace, was only comparable to the time when I beat Halo 3 on heroic. The 21 hours (yes I remember) I had put into training my team, defeating all 8 gym leaders and the Pokemon League had all paid off and it felt great to see that game over screen, and it was not because i was waiting for the game to end. I genuinely enjoyed it even if the story was really bad. I enjoyed it so much I continued to play it after the credits rolled.
Which brings me into the game's depth and gosh there was a lot of it. There is so much to explore in the world of Hoenn, so many towns, routes and dungeons it is amazing. I think pokemon emerald is the pokemon game with the most depth ever, even more than X and Y! There is so much to do even after the game like the battle frontier and catching all of the other legendaries. There is a lot of creativity with the mini games, the Secret base feature and the annoying yet rewarding Sky Pillar Bike Maze. I just wish they used more creativity to create a much better story.

Overall

Pokemon Emerald is a great game in general. I can really see why it is the most game played game on Vizzed. Personally I feel that it was not the best in the series but Crystal was. The Johto region seemed to make sense. Pokemon Emerald was where Pokemon began to become generic all of a sudden. I think Game Freak were put under pressure from the fame they got from Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal. They just simply copied over the game mecaniques, improved the graphics and then wrote a story in five minutes. it almost reminds me of what Call of Duty do, just it is not as bad.
I do still recommend this game. I recommend it for the first time pokemon gamers, it is where you should start off. You learn all you need to know about the game without that silly manual you get in Fire Red and Leaf Green. After you beat that game i suggest you move on to the Johto region or shall I say move back. As I have said the Johto trio are the best Pokemon Games around. I don't think anyone should die without at least playing one of them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I hope you enjoyed it.
Feel free to leave any criticism or compliments because i really want to know your opinion on my opinions.
Again, thank you for reading....
Have a Nice day what ever time you are reading this!

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Post Rating: 1 Liked By: TheReaper7290,

12-05-13 07:02 PM

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Pokemon Emerald is up there on my favorite Pokemon games, it's just a new face of Pokemon and it's just fun to check out the new experience coming out of the last Gen. Great game.

Also, fantastic review! Seriously, that's a really good review you made. Well done, MechaMario!

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