Pokemon Emerald
- June 14, 2005 19:09 PM PST
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Either you hate the franchise or love it--if you're the latter then this game will drawn you into Pokemon...again.
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We're not just talking about pronouncing the latest round of tongue-twisting Pokemon names, either. Although Emerald mirrors Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire in a lot ways, the competing Pokemon trainers and bosses overall are harder to beat, and some of the Pokemon themselves are more elusive, too.
Hoenn Your Skills
The typically loose and rambling Pokemon story line pits you against the boastful Team Magma and the arrogant Team Aqua in the world of Hoenn. Naturally, you travel around to hunt wild Pokemon, record Pokemon sightings in your Pokedex, and battle other Pokemon trainers.
Experienced Pokemon Trainers should blow past the regular Magma and Agua punks, but watch out for those bosses! At every level, from 20 on up, you run into some wicked Pokemon matches. More often than not you'll be sent packing into the wilderness to pump up your Pokemon another five levels.
This time, too, your expedition brings you to some challenging optional side trips. The Pokemon Battle Frontier, new to this game, is a fairly tough Poke-test. You've got to conquer seven macho honchos called the Frontier Brain and their truly amped up Pokemon.
Emerald in the Rough
The controls and general interface are virtually unchanged from the lineage of prior adventures. Although the turn-based combat system brings nothing notably new to this party, it remains mesmerizingly awesome when you unleash the right variety of attacks to make your Pokemon opponents "faint."
Pokemon Emerald certainly doesn't rock the boat. But it delivers exactly what Pokemon fans expect: a fun-filled cruise through familiar waters.
