pokémon omega ruby and alpha sapphire review

The difficulty of the game seems easier than ever, with not one opponent in the single player game posing a challenge the dreams of having a true difficulty select stuck in the days of Black and White. While it will please some fans in remaining faithful to the original games, in many areas Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire feel a step backwards from X & Y.

After being given a starter Pokémon by Professor Birch, you set off on your journey to become the Pokémon League champion, while saving the world from the plots of Team Magma expanding the land (in Omega Ruby) or Team Aqua expanding the sea (in Alpha Sapphire) by using the power of the super-ancient Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre.

You take the role of Pokémon trainer Brendan or May, having just moved to the Hoenn region. The plot of these remakes is largely the same as the originals, albeit with a few tweaks here and there and an all-new epilogue which adapts the events of the 2004/5 movie Destiny Deoxys. The madcap Professor Birch is still being chased by rogue Pokémon in the tall grass, Team Magma and Team Aqua are still up to no good, and there’s still a large region to explore with over 200 monsters to capture. GAME FREAK have endeavoured to remain faithful to the original games, so Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire will feel very familiar to those who played Ruby & Sapphire.

After years of calls from fans to bring back Hoenn, we can say that the wait was certainly worth it, with a pair of games that take an approach of both looking back at the good times and bringing it all up to speed with the present. Now the game that introduced us to MIDI-trumpets and large swathes of water receives the remake treatment. The third generation of Pokémon games, Ruby & Sapphire, were released on the Game Boy Advance over ten years ago.

Pokémon omega ruby and alpha sapphire review