Pokemon Emerald

Pokemon Emerald is the follow up to the popular Ruby and Sapphire adventures. Despite the fact it remains mostly the same as it’s predecessors it has enough new material to make it a worthwhile purchase, and a great way to bide the time until the release of Diamond and Pearl.

You start the game as either a boy or a girl and after the introduction to the game quickly get hold of your first Pokemon. After exploring your home village you say goodbye to your mother to follow in your dad’s footsteps to become a Pokemon trainer.

As you venture through the game, you have the option to catch new Pokemon and build their strength by pitting them against other wild Pokemon and other trainer’s Pokemon. Your progress is regularly tested by Gym Leaders, Pokemon trainers who are a notch above what you will have seen before. In order to advance through the game you must defeat these leaders to reach the ultimate challenge, the elite four. In previous games, defeating these four, and then the champion, would signify the end of the game, but in Ruby, Sapphire and now Emerald there are still more Pokemon to catch, and battles to fight at the Battle Tower. Additionally there are also Pokemon Contests in which you enter yourPokemon against others, in much the same way as a dog show.

When initially released, the Ruby and Sapphire games had clean and colourful graphics. The time lapse between these and Emerald has done little for the graphics and they are perhaps a little lacklustre and fail to provide that new game feeling.

The sound in Pokemon has always been chirpy and fun. The sounds in Emerald are in keeping with this tradition, but as with most midi based music, you will likely find yourself playing with the sound muted after a while as the tunes are fairly repetitive.

Multiplayer options are as limited as ever and we can only hope that Diamond and Pearl have something new in that respect. There is the usual Pokemon trading options and the VS battle but there is essentially nothing new here since the very first Pokemon game.

For gamers who owned Ruby and Sapphire, there are enough subtle additions to keep you quietly happy as you play through the game, but expect it to feel a little bit samey as you play through. As for those who never owned Ruby and Sapphire, after asking yourself why, be sure to head out and buy Emerald as it is a great adventure, and you will likely find yourself consumed in the quest for several weeks.