I’ve spent a lot of time playing Pokemon over the years. 637 hours and 13 minutes — which is equivalent to 26 and a half days — to be exact.
So trust me when I say this: Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are the greatest Pokemon games of all time.
As a remake of the original Ruby and Sapphire versions for the Gameboy Advance, developer Game Freak has revamped and masterfully recreated one of the series’ most beautiful worlds on the Nintendo 3DS.
Story
Pokemon, as a franchise, is fairly simple.
Players will take control of a “trainer” and traverse various regions to battle and accumulate notoriety.
Normally, players can spend anywhere from 10 to 30 hours building a Pokemon team, which can vary from one to six members, and battle other trainers in a variety of landscapes.
In particular, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have players travel the world of Hoenn — a land mass rich with seas, ponds and coastal cities.
Players will initially collect badges from eight different gym leaders, catch numerous Pokemon and fight off the mischievous team Magma/Aqua — depending on which game you purchase.
Like its predecessors, Ruby and Sapphire, the new installments follow the original storyline closely. In my version of Omega Ruby, I found almost no differences in the storyline, say for a few extra lines of dialogues here and there. Nothing quite new if you already played the originals.
Unlike the previous titles, however, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire give players a lengthy epilogue chapter to play called the “Delta Episode”. It’s a nice touch, honestly, as the hour-long episode gives players some mythology of Hoenn. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s definitely worth trucking through.
Despite the additional quest, Pokemon isn’t known for its storytelling. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire do an adequate job of keeping the player’s attention throughout, but honestly, most won’t invest too much thought into the childlike story.
On a side note, it was nice to see Game Freak give a nod to those players who’ve relentlessly followed the series from its grassroots. It happens early on, and it’s an appropriate scene that pays tribute to those who played the original.
Graphic and Gameplay
In Lilycove City, players can spot an elderly couple patiently observing the sunset on a mountainous cliff overlooking the ocean. If players choose to chat with them, they each give a testimony about their everlasting love and how this one spot symbolizes their relationship. It’s a small scene, yet it’s heartwarming.
You see, similar to the couple’s relationship, Pokemon has aged wonderfully over the years. Hoenn’s water and beaches really pop off the 3DS, as it’s easy to feel tranquil when running through the environment.
In addition, Game Freak really polished Pokemon X and Y’s graphics engine by smoothing out lag during battle scenes and giving a little more texture to each Pokemon. It was pretty neat to see the slight details on a Pikachu or Donphan on my Pokedex. During battles, some players may witness some slowdown in the frame rate when going against a horde of Pokemon, but fortunately enough, that doesn’t happen too often.
In terms of the character sprites — they look goofy. Trainer’s heads seem to be filled with helium and proportion is somewhat awkward. For an example: It was hard to enjoy the magnificent 11-foot Groudon when my character looked like it could stand toe-to-toe with it. I’m only nitpicking, but it would be nice to see Game Freak correct this in future titles.
For gameplay, the difficulty in the Pokemon franchise continues to plummet. Yes, this is a game targeted for a younger audience, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be more challenging. Trainer artificial intelligence is sketchy and the relatively-new XP Share just makes training unfeasible, as I only lost a handful of times. Occasionally, my Pokemon had only a few hitpoints left and my opponent would do almost everything in their power not to faint them. Players are allowed to change the gameplay settings in the options menu so that it feels similar to the original titles, but doing so hardly alters the liberal, easy gameplay.
Not saying I want Game Freak to crush every little kid’s Pokemon team, but I’ve beaten numerous trainers without even looking at my 3DS. It’s a little mind-numbing.
The new “Mega Evolutions”, which allow Pokemon to evolve mid-match, is a fun idea that was implemented last year, but the addition of “Primal Pokemon” made me want to pop my head off.
In Pokemon, the more you battle with your team, the more experience they earn. With experience, Pokemon can level up and evolve into a more powerful form. Most Pokemon only evolve once or twice.
For Game Freak’s previous installment, Pokemon X and Y, they added “Mega-Evolutions” which allow certain fully evolved Pokemon to evolve once again in battle, if they hold a certain item. Now, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire adds a new wrinkle to that idea, by allowing legendary Pokemon to become “Primal”. In short, “Primal Evolving” is essentially mega evolving without the players having to press the “Mega Evolve” button during battle. It’s completely unnecessary.
Now of course, I don’t want to give the impression that Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire aren’t entertaining.
The turn-based combat is smooth and easy to pick up. Any player that has touched a previous Pokemon game should have no problem jumping right in. Sure, the system may have digressed through the years, but the addition of “Mega Evolutions” and “Fairy Pokemon” should keep a few on their toes.
Secret bases, which were exclusive to the original titles, make a return. In comparison to Ruby and Sapphire, Omega Ruby’s system of creating a base is fluid and simple, as creating a personalized base only takes a few minutes.
The variety of Pokemon is also satisfying. Some may argue that there is way too many Pokemon to catch and choose from (there’s now 719), but I feel like having multiple Pokemon is a solid way to keep things fresh.
Final Verdict:
No matter what Game Freak does, the developer may never reach the success of Pokemon Blue and Red. Despite that notion, however, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are actually one of the best Pokemon games in the franchise. Beautiful graphics, some decent gameplay mechanics and a large world to discover, makes Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire strong installments to a franchise that goes back almost two decades.
Score: 3.5/5
@Lukeoroark
Lr514812@ohio.edu
