Hearing Nintendo will be releasing Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, remake of the third generation Pokemon games, made me ecstatic. I have always been a Pokemon fan since I was little.

You start out in the Hoenn Region and you come out of the moving van when you arrive to Littleroot Town. Ring a bell? It is the exact same beginning as the original Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald games. Even though the storyline follows the original, the addition of the higher quality graphics, a player easily becomes absorbed into the game. The 3D option during battles and some segments during the storyline almost make it seem like I’m watching a Pokemon movie.

One thing that gamers dislike about these games is that they are too easy, which is true, for the most part. Defeating Team Magma and Team Aqua was a breeze. The eight gym leaders don’t present a challenge, either. I was undefeated and  the entire campaign took me less than 24 hours until the legendary Groudon appeared. It took six restarts, 17 Ultra Balls and two Great Balls just to catch it. But all the tries it took me to capture it made the achievement that much more fulfilling.Platforms: Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL
Release Date: Nov. 21
Rating: 4.5 out of 5With the newer Pokemon bringing changes and more Pokemon, the developers applied many of them to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. In these remastered versions you can register more than one key item, reuse both Technical Machines and Hidden Machines (items that teach pokemon new moves) and last but not least, players can Mega Evolve certain pokemon. With the Mega Evolution it allows players to increase base statistics of their pokemon during a battle. It’s not just for the looks. One thing they did not include was the ability to go and personalize your character, which honestly isn’t a big deal to me.They added some new features as well, such as the DexNav. It allows players to identify what pokemon is in the rustling grass or splashing water. It becomes handy when you are looking for the more uncommon pokemon in the area.

Although the Gym Leaders were not at all challenging, I would definitely recommend this game to any pokemon fan. Players get to explore the Hoenn Region with better graphics, the storyline is the exact same and many of the more recent changes have been applied to the remakes, making the overall gaming experience more enjoyable.