Graphics: 6
Well, what can I say? At least they’ve got recognizable color. There is great variation abounding among the quality of the graphics. Some of them stimulated my artist’s urge to actually draw these characters, and others made me want to throw up. The overworld graphics are pretty simple, but recognizable.
Sound: 3
Well, I have to agree with Packers Fan on this one. The sound is indeed just annoying bleeps and ticks. Also, the music is just nowhere near the quality of the first one. The only saving graces are the ever-memorable Rival, Champion, and Kanto Gym Leader’s battle themes that will keep you humming the rest of the day. If Packers Fan had just played a bit further, it might have gotten better for him.
Plotline: 5
Much like the plot of the first game, beat everyone else and become the best. However, there are many more interesting plot twists, such as the re-emergence of Team Rocket and the exploration of how you treat your Pokemon. And how can one ignore the return of my favorite character, Lance? That alone pretty much made the game for me. The second quest in the land of the original Pokemon games (Kanto) isn’t the best plot-wise, but it’s challenging enough.
Characters: 7
Overconfidence may be the keyword of the game, but what do you expect from hundreds of stock characters? Do you call the Goombas you fight in Super Mario RPG boring because they just attack you? Anyway, the variety of characters is still much greater than in R/B/Y, and Rival’s change of attitude at the end of the game is… well, not beautiful, but satisfying. How are the Gym Leaders so boring anyway? At least they actually have personalities and personal history. How can you compare the trend-slave Whitney to the mad researcher Bugsy anyway? Finally, it was a nice touch to include battles with the characters from Blue and Red.
Gameplay: 7
Many cool additions to the great play of Red/Blue/Yellow. Having Pokemon hold items to increase their stats or other odd things is one feature that lends an extra dimension to the already deep battle sequences. Speaking of the battle sequences, the new moves out there are incredibly creative. Perish Song, Aeroblast, and the many, many other strange techniques range from near-useless to unfairly powerful. The variety of Pokemon in this game is staggering, most notably the new legends. I agree that those three legendary dogs are way too hard to capture, which is why I haven’t tried, but why weren’t the two new legendary birds mentioned in the other Review? Sure, Lugia and Ho-oh may be cheapness incarnate, but they still have a repertoire of powerful moves and very cool looks.
Difficulty: 9
I, too, started with Chikorita. However, I thought most of the beginning game was just too easy. The key is in raising a good variety of Pokemon on your team and you’ll be prepared for anything. If there’s one thing I’m sick of, it’s players that play the game with their one starting Pokemon and no more. If you play like that, the difficulty is more like 34. Yes, out of ten. Anyways, after the third Gym, the game starts getting tougher. You will encounter hard teams and harder Gym Leaders. And if you manage to get through them and all the puzzles that are thrown in your way, then you face off with the Elite Four again, and this time they’re not pushovers like in the last game. Except Bruno, of course. After them, you face off in a final-climactic-battle-to-end-all-battles against everyone’s favorite dragon master and his team that probably out-levels yours by about ten. I got my first game over facing this guy, and I had the overpowered Lugia on my side too. It doesn’t get much easier in Kanto. If you manage to force your way through the original seven Gym Leaders, you face off with the character from Blue in a final-climactic-battle-to-end-and-all-battles. And then when you beat Blue, you face the absolute-final-climactic-yes-I-really-mean-it-this-time-battle-to-end-all-battles with Red and his team that likely outlevels yours by thirty.
Replay: 5
If you’re good at this game, then you’ll want to play it over and over again. There is a problem, however, as there is but one save file. Well, that’s the price you pay for having such a huge game. It’s frustrating, however, to restart the game or buy a new one when you want to play again.
Overall: 9
A great game that easily lives up to
the high standards set up by Red and Blue. However, to enjoy this game,
you must like strategy planning and puzzles. It all depends on your personality.