Pokemon Gaia Version, beta 2, Review
I have to say, I really enjoyed this game. On the surface, its a well made hack of Fire Red, however the story drew me in like few other Pokemon Hacks have. I tend to enjoy Pokemon hacks that take away the standard "Trainer" class, where you're not from the main town, and you don't go to the Prof to get your starter, so this game was great for me. While you do end up getting a classic starter from Prof Redwood, the Pokemon in the surrounding area give you the opportunity to have a balanced team very quickly. I really liked the original region that was created. While trying to remember which town was what was a little difficult for someone used to the standard maps, the region flowed together well, and from what I saw in the beta there will be quite the variety of landscapes and weather effects to check out.
A few things I noticed: A couple of the buildings would glitch out and restart the game when you entered them. It was never the same one twice in a row. It may have been because I ran through it, or if I had the space bar down while entering the building. The Pokemon Center at the Battle Swamp. If you try and heal there before you start, it glitches. Happened about 3 times for me. If you battle then go back over, the glitch doesn't happen.In the swamp, when you surf it says the water is "dyed a deep blue" while the screen shows it an ugly brown. It'd be nice if the text reflected that.I breed my Sylveon to try and get another Eevee (as I didn't realize how Eevee evolved into Sylveon in this game) and when the egg hatched it was a Level 1 Sylveon instead of an Eevee. Now, I haven't played the most recent version of Pokemon yet, but I am pretty sure it's supposed to be the lowest evolution stage of a Pokemon that hatches. Graphics: 9As I said in my recap, I really enjoyed the new map. The graphics were crisp and colorful, and felt like Fire Red. Some of the newer (Gen 6) Pokemon that were added into this game (such as Sylveon) appeared a little flat and blocky, something I know is hard to fix but none the less causes those Pokemon to stand out from the others.
Sound: 9
There are a few places throughout the game where the sound gets a little sharp, or at least it did on my computer. That said, the song selection was spot on, plenty of classic songs to enjoy, and a few remakes (or at least they sounded that way to me).
Addictiveness: 10
I finished this game in the course of and evening and an afternoon of solid playing. My save record says I played just shy of 19hrs, and some of that was sped through with the help of the fast forward button Vizzed has provided. I couldn't put it down.
Story: 9
The story really pulled me in. Its hard for a Pokemon hack to have a solid story, as all of the games are very linear; level up your Pokemon, defeat the gym leaders, defeat the league, save the world. Gaia's plot of being a research assistant was a nice change from that.
Depth: 7
The game allows you to explore about half the map and get 5 of the 8 badges. As I stated above, I was able to finish the game in about 19 in-game hours. This beta feels like the first half of the story, maybe a little less, and it would have been nice to at least get one of the moves that had been taunting us though out the game - Rock Climb.
Difficulty: 6
Once you get over the learning curve of how the map is laid out and what Pokemon are available where, the game is straightforward. I'm glad it still has that laid back Pokemon feeling, and that it didn't try and throw too many curve-balls our way.
Overall: 9
I am quite pleased with this game overall, and am eager to play the next version! Pokemon Gaia Version, beta 2, Review
I have to say, I really enjoyed this game. On the surface, its a well made hack of Fire Red, however the story drew me in like few other Pokemon Hacks have. I tend to enjoy Pokemon hacks that take away the standard "Trainer" class, where you're not from the main town, and you don't go to the Prof to get your starter, so this game was great for me. While you do end up getting a classic starter from Prof Redwood, the Pokemon in the surrounding area give you the opportunity to have a balanced team very quickly. I really liked the original region that was created. While trying to remember which town was what was a little difficult for someone used to the standard maps, the region flowed together well, and from what I saw in the beta there will be quite the variety of landscapes and weather effects to check out.
A few things I noticed: A couple of the buildings would glitch out and restart the game when you entered them. It was never the same one twice in a row. It may have been because I ran through it, or if I had the space bar down while entering the building. The Pokemon Center at the Battle Swamp. If you try and heal there before you start, it glitches. Happened about 3 times for me. If you battle then go back over, the glitch doesn't happen.In the swamp, when you surf it says the water is "dyed a deep blue" while the screen shows it an ugly brown. It'd be nice if the text reflected that.I breed my Sylveon to try and get another Eevee (as I didn't realize how Eevee evolved into Sylveon in this game) and when the egg hatched it was a Level 1 Sylveon instead of an Eevee. Now, I haven't played the most recent version of Pokemon yet, but I am pretty sure it's supposed to be the lowest evolution stage of a Pokemon that hatches. Graphics: 9As I said in my recap, I really enjoyed the new map. The graphics were crisp and colorful, and felt like Fire Red. Some of the newer (Gen 6) Pokemon that were added into this game (such as Sylveon) appeared a little flat and blocky, something I know is hard to fix but none the less causes those Pokemon to stand out from the others.
Sound: 9
There are a few places throughout the game where the sound gets a little sharp, or at least it did on my computer. That said, the song selection was spot on, plenty of classic songs to enjoy, and a few remakes (or at least they sounded that way to me).
Addictiveness: 10
I finished this game in the course of and evening and an afternoon of solid playing. My save record says I played just shy of 19hrs, and some of that was sped through with the help of the fast forward button Vizzed has provided. I couldn't put it down.
Story: 9
The story really pulled me in. Its hard for a Pokemon hack to have a solid story, as all of the games are very linear; level up your Pokemon, defeat the gym leaders, defeat the league, save the world. Gaia's plot of being a research assistant was a nice change from that.
Depth: 7
The game allows you to explore about half the map and get 5 of the 8 badges. As I stated above, I was able to finish the game in about 19 in-game hours. This beta feels like the first half of the story, maybe a little less, and it would have been nice to at least get one of the moves that had been taunting us though out the game - Rock Climb.
Difficulty: 6
Once you get over the learning curve of how the map is laid out and what Pokemon are available where, the game is straightforward. I'm glad it still has that laid back Pokemon feeling, and that it didn't try and throw too many curve-balls our way.
Overall: 9
I am quite pleased with this game overall, and am eager to play the next version! |