The last time I played a Pokémon game was in primary school back in early 2000 during a time where we spent hours after school trading Pokémon cards and battling each other to win more, the game I can remember playing alongside the card game was Pokémon Red for the GameBoy - a game I still have sat on the 'classic games shelf'.
Back then I thought it was a mammoth task to collect all 150 pokemon but after recently playing Pokemon HeartGold on the 3DS I have come to realise that would have been a breeze compared to HeartGold's 493 Pokémon!
Since receiving a Nintendo 3DS for my birthday I have been itching to play a Pokémon game again, I looked at the current options of either HeartGold / SoulSilver or Black / White. I decided upon HeartGold as this looked similar to the previous games in the series I had played and it is a remake of the original Pokémon Gold.
Pokémon HeartGold has the same basic gameplay that we have all come to know and love over the years but with updated graphics and slight improvements its been a whole new experience again. Changes such as being able to assign more than 1 item to a function button for items such as fishing rods and bicycles, having the option to have any pokémon to walk along side you and interact with you (which hasn't been seen since Pokémon Yellow) and the fun new gadget - the Pokéwalker.
The Pokéwalker [pictured above] is a stepometer which lets you connect to the Nintendo DS and transfer a pokémon of your choice to the pokéwalker. You choose a route for your pokémon to walk along such as grass areas, beach areas ect...As you walk the steps gained earn XP towards levelling up the chosen pokémon and you earn Watts which unlock more routes. Other options include the Poké Radar - which allows you to fight and catch pokémon and the Dowsing Machine which provides a mini game to find items which are then transferred back to the game.
The storyline is fun yet simple with the ultimate goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, the good news with this is there are a total of 16 gym badges to collect, that's double the amount of other Pokémon games!
One of the reasons I love this game despite being a bit outdated compared to modern graphics is that they haven't changed some things - 'if its not broke, don't fix it' comes to mind. I love it when you start a battle sequence and you hear the famous battle music, hearing the pokémons 8-bit growl and there is even an unlock later in the game to convert all the music to the original 8-bit music.
Before I made my purchase of this game I was a little worried that a new Pokémon game would be released as soon as I brought this but I decided this would be a good filler game until that happens and now just this last week a new Pokémon game has been announced - Pokémon Black / White 2 for the Nintendo DS - not the 3DS which makes me even more happier that I went for HeartGold as this game is going to keep me busy for a long time, hopefully by the time I finish this a new Pokémon game for the 3DS will finally be announced.
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