Pokemon Fire Red

Since the initial release of the original Pokémon Red and Blue games in 1999 for Game Boy, the Pokémon franchise has been considerably successful. The success of the original releases was so immense that the recent release of new Pokémon FireRed is largely a remake of the first episodes. So is FireRed merely a remake or does it stand out in the gaming industry?

Graphics 4/5

An area of notable accomplishment is in the area of graphics. The graphics in Pokémon FireRed looks pretty amazing for a GBA game. All the Pokémon in the game come in unique sprites, with special effects in the game that include oceans, forests, tropical islands and volcanos that give the game a fresh feel at each stage. When compared to the graphic and audio presentation in Ruby/Sapphire edition, the FireRed is not much of an upgrade, with bare minimum graphical flair. However, the creators can be excused based on the fact that creating hundreds of animations for numerous creatures, and storing them in the limiting cartridge platform is tough. It is, therefore, not surprising that the environments in the game remain quite simplistic.

Gameplay 4/5

While the Pokemon Fire Red release somewhat fails when it comes to such areas as graphics and sound experience, it does pretty well when it comes to gameplay. The excellent gameplay of Red/Blue is maintained in the FireRed episode, with the game creators only adjusting things upwards to make sense to the direction that the previous version had created. In other words, new abilities and moves for the Pokémon creatures have been adopted, building more strategic aspects into the battle structure of the game as well as in monster raising. The gamer is also presented with new and more interesting locations to discover. The remake of the Red/Blue edition also retains the two-on-two battles that were introduced in the Ruby/Sapphire edition. Nonetheless, the transition from Game Boy to GBA has not changed the entire layout significantly, ensuring that the village structure remains intact in the update. In other words, while much of the game retains the gameplay of the original Red/Blue edition, the addition of aspects of gameplay from the Ruby/Sapphire keeps the experience updated and fresh.

Controls  5/5

In terms of controls, each copy of Pokemon Fire Red for GBA comes with an adapter which plugs into the link port of the GBA, thus turning the device into a receiver or transmitter. This considerably alters the multiplayer function of the game. It is an important upgrade from the previous edition, where players had to be tethered together during trades, something that limited the comfort of players. However, even with the wireless adapter, players still have to stay in a general area owing to distance limitation of the adapter.

Replay Value 4/5

Those who are fans of the original Pokémon games will have a sense of déjà vu as they go through the latest FireRed edition, although it will be much more fun seeing all their old favorite Pokémon creatures in full color on the GBA. Both new and old players will find this edition to be an involving and lengthy role-playing adventure. While the gameplay has not changed significantly over the years, the current version is still quite addictive. Where the Red/Blue episode ended, the Pokemon - Fire Red Version progresses and expands on the original environments, opening the game up even further to expand on the replay value of the game. You are given another good 10 hours over the initial 25-30 hours which were required to beat the game.

In-Game Purchases

The FireRed edition also has some interesting in-game purchases. Just like in the Red and Blue edition, this episode has few instances where gamers are asked to trade Pokémon with a non-player character. These purchases are not considerably different from the original edition, and leaving out Pokémon XD, they are still the only way of obtaining a specific Pokémon. However, some Pokémon in this edition carry special items.

The Bottom Line

Even with its status as a remake of the original Pokémon game, the FireRed edition stands out on its own as an engrossing game which is lengthy and full of adventure.