So, a 30 year old guy reviewing a Pokemon Game. Aren't I too old for this you ask. Definitely not. I've played through all the Pokemon RPG games. Blue, Gold, Ruby, Leaf Green - I've owned at least one of the games from all the different generations. I'm a veteran & for all their cuteness, Pokemon games are rock solid, long lasting & immensely tactical.

The gameplay is quite basic & easy to understand. You are a Pokemon Trainer. Pokemon are Monsters found in the wild that can be caught & trained by trainers for fighting. You begin with one & are able to catch more. You can hold a maximum or 6 but you can store over 500 on the game cart. Pokemon range in strength. This is displayed by their level. Level 1 is the lowest. Level 100 is the strongest that any Pokemon can become.

Each Pokemon has a type. There are close to 20 different types available & they are usually based on Elements. Fire, Water & Grass are 3 examples. Each type can beat some others easily although each type is vulnerable to some others too. Water beats Fire, Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water. There is no such thing as a perfect team of 6 & the options & combinations available are huge. The best option is for 6 different Pokemon all with different types. Based around these types. Each Pokemon have 4 moves to fight with. As they grow they can learn more. However they can only ever have 4 at once. Some moves hurt the opponen. Some heal the user. Again, how you play & the balance you put on attack & defence is up to you. I'm a very direct player & favour attack over defence & speed over health. I try to win quickly instead of by attrition. How you play is up to you.

There are 2 main aims to the game. The first is to use your team of Pokemon to become the League Champion. To do this, you improve your Pokemon as you go around the game world defeating 8 gym leaders in battle before taking on the Elite Four & becoming champion. Dependin on how focussed you are on this objective while playing it can be done in around 15 - 20 hours of gameplay. However if you also focus on the other aim as you progress it can take longer. The second aim is to collect & own all of the 493 Pokemon available. You don't have to own them all at once as the data is recorded on owning them the first time. You can also trade them with other players locally or over the internet to help you. You can even breed Pokemon to keep them or trade them. I am in the middle of trying to own all 493 at once & have around 300 of them.

On top of these objectives there are other things to do too. Contests provide a fun diversion & to win all 5 ribbons in all 5 catagories would take a good few hours play. Plus there is a battle tower where you can compete for prizes against pokemon uploaded by other players. I have spent over 220 hours playing this Pokemon Game so far in the 2 & a bit years I've owned it.

There are some downsides to the game. Firstly an updated version called Pokemon Platinum has been released. This is a better game with more options & can be bought for around the same price now. That is probably what you should get. Game play wise, it can get repetitive, so you do need to have some patience. Lastly, I have to take an issue with the number of Pokemon. 493 is far too many. Bearing in mind there's at least 100 that can't be caught on this game & have to be uploaded to the cart from older Pokemon games. Then there are some that can only be bred. Some that have to be traded & hold a specific item to evolve. The task verges on the impossible unless you want to cheat. They ought to lose some for the future games although this is very unlikely.

I do recommend the game. It is good fun. Will keep you entertained for a great deal of time & if you know people with a copy you could be playing for ages. The upsides really outweigh the down & it is a very good game.