Pokemon Fire Red Review (GBA) By Wriggy

8 / 10
04 Mar 2006 at 20:51

Review by: Wriggy

Playing the card game as a kid I loved swapping the cards in the school playground trying to get the best cards I could. Swapping Pikachu for Weedle, Mewtwo for Charizard and so on but then the game for the Gameboy Colour was released. All Pokemon fans got excited including me. I got Pokemon Red and was hooked to it for ages as it was so good. Then Pokemon Gold was released for the Gameboy Colour which I also got. Then I missed out Pokemon Ruby because I couldn’t afford it (I laugh now) but I got Pokemon Fire Red for the Gameboy Advance which is the same as Pokemon Red but improved.

The story is simple. You have moved into Pallet Town with your mum and you go and explore and you meet Professor Oak (a Professor who works at the laboratory. He tells you to go to his lab where he will give you something. When you get to his lab you get given a Pokedex (a Pokemon encyclopaedia) and a Pokemon. You get to choose from Squirtle (a water type turtle), Charmander (a fire type dragon) and Bulbasaur (a grass type dinosaur). Once you pick your Pokemon you meet your rival (who you name at the start). This is when you fight your first battle. Once you have lost or beaten your rival, Professor Oak tells you to go and get a package for him. Once you have got it then you get to explore everywhere and try to get the eight badges in order to get to face the Pokemon Elite Four and to become the Grand Champion so that you can access the cave where Mewtwo (one of the best Pokemon) lives.

During the game you pick up lots of useful items like a bicycle (which when equipped makes you travel faster) and you also get lots of useful attacks and items for your Pokemon. Special items called HM’s can be taught to your Pokemon to help you. One makes you fly anywhere you want on the map, one makes your Pokemon able to surf and there are loads more.

The best thing about the game is how it plays. You don’t have to be constantly looking at your Gameboy to play it which saves you pressing Start every two minutes when you want to look at something. There is also no time limit so it’s perfect for people who want to play but are too busy to sit for a few hours to play it.

The graphics aren’t much of an improvement from the original but they are effective as they are clear to make out certain things.

The game is really long and there’s always stuff to do. Whether it’s collecting the final Pokemon to your collection, to finding secret items in the ground.

The free wireless adapter is great for trading and battling your friends and makes it much easier as the wires don’t get tangled/messed up.

Overall for Pokemon Fire Red on the Gameboy Advance:

Graphics: 8 – Simple but very effective.
Gameplay: 9 – Runs very well.
Lifespan: 8 – One of those games which will keep you going.
Online/Multiplayer: 8 – It’s great connecting to your friends and either fighting against them or trading to finish your collection.

Overall: 8 – A very good game for the GBA but needs some slight improvements.

It’s a shame that the wireless adapter doesn’t work on a Niontendo Dual Screen as it would be nice to trade wirelessly with a DS (as it already has wireless built in) but other than that I would recommend this game to anyone who likes Pokemon or anyone who likes strategy games.

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