Pokemon Blue Review by: Zlinqx - 7.8/10
A masterpiece or one of the most overrated games of all time?So since my last review of Pokemon Crystal got some positive feedback I'm doing a 2nd review and this time it's a game I've wanted to review for a long time but haven't really been entirely sure about.
Ah Pokemon Blue... While I did get into Pokemon with the 2nd generation games this didn't stop me from playing the heck out of Pokemon Blue when I first discovered a way to play it on my computer. And I loved them almost just as much as I did the 2nd generation games. But taking off my nostalgia goggles and looking back at it, while this was by no means a bad game, I find it to not quite hold up to the standards of the other Pokemon games, so if you came here thinking I would only be praising the game for how revolutionary it was think again.
And to clarify while this might be self explanatory to some while this is a review for Pokemon Blue Version all that is mentioned in this review does apply to Pokemon Red Version more or less as they are almost identical aside from a few Pokemon being exclusive to each version. Pokemon Yellow on the other hand has a few differences which I might be covering sometime in the future.
Anyways all that aside lets get on with the review!
Sound: 9
The sound in this game is nothing to sneeze at sporting many memorable soundtracks such as the nostalgic and uplifting pallet town soundtrack or the chilling lavender town soundtrack, they all have that feel to them which gets you in the mood to play some Pokemon. The sound effects aren't anything too special again mostly just to add to the immersion and I feel that they fit the game fine. Sound wise this is in my opinion one of the best games on the system. A nitpick is that when using the bicycle (which is probably something you will be using a lot to speed up travelling around the world) the theme that plays while not bad doesn't stop untill you get off your bicycle which will get annoying after a while.
Graphics: 7
I'm kind of split on this honestly, the graphics for the most part aren't that bad but the sprites (especially the ones of the pokemon) can just be downright horrendous sometimes and this is something that could've been remedied and isn't because of graphical limitations. With that said this hasn't ever stopped me from wanting to play the game but I do feel it's something that could've very obviously been improved on. Otherwise there isn't too much else that differs from gold and silver besides the obvious lack of colours which it can't be blamed for since it was released on the original gameboy. I do feel that the town layouts could've been improved on slightly as I feel they are more repetitive here then in the later games again never to the point where it stops me from wanting to play the game but still something that could've been improved on.
But with all things factored in for the most part the graphics were pretty good for the system but some flaws hold it back from me giving it a better rating.
Addictiveness: 9
The Pokemon games are known to be incredibly addicting and the original does not disappoint. This game will consume you until you have played it until completion and even then you might play through it a few more times after that.
Story: 7
The story is pretty much like all the other games. Catch all the pokemon, defeat the pokemon league and defeat the -
insert evil team here- though it does get some points for being one of the original games meaning it wasn't as overdone. With that said this isn't always a bad thing the story isn't the focus nor should it be in a Pokemon game and like in the other Pokemon games it leaves a lot of things to think about. Did the Rivals Raticate Die? Are Dittos failed Mewtwo experiments? So on and so forth. And while these are fan theories sometimes it truly feels like the games are hinting at them being true and regardless thinking and speculating about them can be fun. Again though there are some things I feel could've been expanded on a bit more without hurting the flow of the game, like the lore or certain characters.
Depth: 8
Another thing Pokemon games are known for is the Depth, a Pokemon game usually comes packed with things to do and this is no exception to that. Conquering the Pokemon League, Getting all the Pokedex entries, exploring the world, and battling and trading with friends can all be fun and time consuming things to do. And while this game doesn't quite have the amount of content some of the other Pokemon games have it still is a big package. And very impressive considering it is a gameboy game.
Difficulty: 4
Along with Graphics this was probably one of the things I found the hardest to rate. When I first played this as a young kid I actually did find it harder then it successors on the other hand the game had a lot of balance issues compared to the later games. Psychic types were ridiculously overpowered only being weak to bug types which were all fairly weak and there was no really powerful bug move that you could use against them. Ghost types were supposed to counter Psychic types by being super effective against them but instead due to something which was apparently a programming error ghost types didn't even have any effect against Psychic types at all. Not to mention that Special Attack and Special Defense was rolled into one stat which besides causing balance issues for other Pokemon as well especially did so when it came to Psychic types as they typically had high stats when it came to both meaning they both dealt huge damage and could absorb special attacks fairly easily due to it being one stat. Meaning that a team consisting entirely out of Psychic pokemon could probably steamroll through the entire game with little effort. And this is without factoring in that even though I did find this game harder not using Psychic types then say Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon games are already fairly easy most of the time, meaning that this potentially could break the game as there would be no reason not to use them if you want the best possible team. This was fixed in later games but it is a huge problem here. And actually makes me have to lower the Overall rating of the game if you can get past this however (and you should) it is still a great game.
Overall: 7.8
This game is by no means a bad game, I could without a doubt call it a great game and at the time it was released it was quite revolutionary. However some glaring problems make it not hold up to today's standards and it has not aged nearly as well as the other Pokemon games. With that said if you like the other Pokemon games or RPGs I would still recommend you to play this game even if just for how revolutionary it was for the time. If you're completely new to the series I would recommend playing one of the 2nd generation games first (Gold,Silver or Crystal) then come back to this game later. So even though it hurts a bit to give it a rating this low because of how great this game still is for the most part, I still feel some problems make it necessary. Though the remakes Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green did fix almost all of the problems of these games, I would still recommend checking the original games out if you're a Pokemon Fan.
And this concludes the 2nd review I've ever written of Pokemon Red/Blue.
Feel free to leave some feedback telling me what you think of the review, if you agree with it or not (and why you think that way of course) and also ways I can improve my reviews until next time. Also please don't forget to rate my review (and rate it fairly not just based on that this is my 2nd review) and hopefully you'll read my next review which may or may not be another Pokemon game...
Graphics
7 Sound
9 Addictive
9 Depth
8 Story
7 Difficulty
4
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