We can all agree that the Pokémon license is one of the biggest franchises in the video game space. Selling over 12 million copies with its previous installment in Pokémon X & Y on the 3DS, Nintendo and Game Freak are preparing themselves for another big launch on the handheld this year with Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, remakes of the 2002 Gameboy Advance titles Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. Gamer Headlines was fortunate enough to try out the game’s Special Demo and here are our thoughts regarding Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. As always, this preview is based solely on the portion of the game that was played and does not illustrate the final product in any way.
Going into this sneak peek was a little puzzling, at first, because it simply did not feel like your traditional demo. As a matter of fact, it did not feel like it was a part of the actual game as everything was out of context and did not follow the standard conventions of the Pokémon games.
Grovyle, Combusken and Marshtomp are your starter Pokémon in this demo
As your character, named Orlando, arrives to the city of Mossdeep with a Latios Pokémon, you follow your partner Steven as you go through a series of scripted sequences to stop Team Aqua and Magma from finding the Mega Evolution secrets. Over the course of this 10-15 minute scenario, your starter Pokémon is picked and you get to test it out in a few battles. Oddly enough, for starter Pokémon, they were already evolved versions of Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip ranking at Level 35, resulting in fights where I was barely challenged because I was really overpowered. This is one of the main reasons why I came to the conclusion that the demo is an unrelated part of the game because it simply would not make sense to start with Level 35 Pokémon.
As expected, Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire is stunning presentation-wise; you wouldn’t be able to tell that this is a remake of a 12 year old game as it uses the same art style and graphical fidelity as last year’s Pokémon X & Y. The demo looks like a brand new game, but keeps the same Pokémon charm it has been using for almost 20 years now, especially with its music that will certainly bring back memories if you are an old-school Pokémon enthusiast. The same goes for battle system; it remains unchanged with the options to Fight, use items from your Bag, Run away and switch Pokémon, but because of the 3DS’ dual screen layout, the inputs are all located on the Touch Screen making for fast encounters with just a simple press on the screen. Combat animations still need some work as attacks will magically make their way to the opponent, yet they are smooth and visually impressive, just like in X & Y. As always, your Pokémon will earn XP after every combat sequence and you’ll earn currency after each encounter with an opposing Trainer. However, one thing I need to point out is the fact that the 3DS’ 3D functionality couldn’t be activated throughout the entirety of the demo. This lack of 3D support isn’t a big deal for me personally, but I found it weird that it did not have it for a demo that is supposed to give a first look at what’s to come in the full game. Hopefully, it’ll be included come the title’s official release.
I believe I can fly… wait I can!
One of Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire’s biggest selling points is the fact that it will elaborate more on X & Y’s introduction of the Mega Evolutions. If you are not familiar with this feature, it allows you to evolve a selected Pokémon once during each fight to enhance his overall strength. Though I barely even used it throughout the demo because I was one-shoting almost every single enemy Pokémon I encountered, it seems to involve more depth and plays a bigger role within the game’s story, even if it was never mentioned in the original Ruby & Sapphire. Once again, this brings me to the point of where I feel like ORAS is a totally different Pokémon game. Why is it marketed as a remake when it introduces so many new aspects that change the game’s core? Then again, this demo did not do a very good job of putting everything into context, so only the final game will be able to answer my question on that regard.
After completing the main part of the demo, there is the option to replay it as many times as you like to unlock additional gear, other than the Pokémon Glalie, that will be transferable to the full game. At first, I thought this would be where the demo would truly pick up and encourage exploration instead of following a series of scripted events, but I quickly realized I was wrong. I replayed the demo ten times to find out if there was an actual pay-out for all my time invested in it, yet it was a never ending cycle of tedious objective-based side missions that had nothing to do with the story. You can explore Mossdeep all you want, but there is literally nothing to do in it because all the areas are blocked off. Though it was cool to try out the different starter Pokémon, I couldn’t quite experiment with any of them since I was practically knocking out every single opposing foe with a single hit, making these fights pointless in the end. It was only on my fifth and tenth go of the demo that I was actually challenged by a trainer with the same leveled Pokémon as me. I appreciate the fact that the developers wanted to reward the die-hard Poké fans by giving them rewards for replaying the demo, but I simply did not see the interest in doing so when the rewards aren’t worth it.
A never ending cycle of favors will be asked if you spend a lot of time with the demo
Even though I am 100% sure this demo has nothing to do with the final version of Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, part of me is still skeptical as to the changes that have been implemented in this remake. It still has the soul and feel of a Pokémon game, but I just don’t recognize the 2002 GBA game after experiencing this small portion of ORAS. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing, this will certainly affect the players’ appreciation of the remake if too many aspects have been tweaked and reworked. As I always mention in any preview, I cannot express my final thoughts after playing such a small portion of a massive game, and I most definitely cannot with this disjointed and strange Pokémon ORAS demo. Nonetheless, we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out when Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire launches on the 3DS on November 21, 2014. Check back on the site as we are sure to have a detailed review of the game following its official release.
Have you had the chance to play the Special Demo for Pokémon ORAS? If so, let us know what you thought of it in the comments below and, as always, stay tuned to Gamer Headlines for all things gaming.
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