Recently Nintendo sent me an exclusive download code for the Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire Demo, in anticipation of the games release I figured I’d give it a whirl. My full copy of Alpha Sapphire is downloading now and in a weeks’ time I will have a full review up for you, but until then I wanted to have a quick look at the impression I was left with after the demo and the elements I hope to see implemented in the new release.

The demo was short and sweet as any demo should be, you begin by choosing from one of the three starter Pokemon, this time it’s : Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip. A nice idea as it gives the player the chance to experiment with the starter Pokemon before they have to make the tough decision at the beginning of their adventure in the full game.

Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip the starter Pokemon to choose from this time around.

Immediately you’re introduced to Team Aqua and Team Magma and you then have to run off to stop them stealing an unnamed Mega Evolving Pokemon. Already we know the major antagonists of the story, and are also shown that the concept of Mega Evolution introduced in Pokemon X and Y is a theme that will be continued this time around.

After progressing through a few very simple battles you eventually find and catch the Pokemon which turns out to be a Glalie, you are then given a mega stone for Glalie and are introduced to Glalie’s Mega Evolution. The demo is now effectively over, you are informed that your Glalie can be transferred into the full game when you purchase Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire and you’re all done. If you wish you can turn the demo back on and play it again, you are actually given different goals each time, from facing more trainers to finding a lost girl. I completed the demo three times and was rewarded with some pokeballs to transfer into the full game. Apparently if you finish the demo five times you get 10 Heal Balls and clearing the demo ten times nets you 5 Heart Scales. The rewards didn’t exactly enthral me so I left it at three.

Mega Glalie, transferable with its Megastone to the full version of the game upon completion of the demo.

The Demo didn’t introduce much that differed from the previous games X and Y, which is what scares me. Pokemon X and Y were fantastic games, and it was amazing (though about time) to see Pokemon and the Universe they inhabit realised with full 3D animations. Though, after the hours spent levelling up my Pokemon for the final Gym Leaders I felt that I’d been wasting my time as I easily flew through all of the final battles with almost no challenge at all. My other major gripe with the game, is that upon completion there was little to no end-game content. I had all these Pokemon that I had spent hours honing to be the very best, like no one ever was, and I had no one to challenge! There was of course on-line battling, that worked rather well, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

It bodes well for my concerns that the games being remade are the Gameboy Advance games, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire as they are well regarded for having a wealth of end-game content, so hopefully these remakes will benefit from the same attention to gameplay after completion.

Look out for my full review next week!

 

© 2014 – 2015, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post