It's amazing to come across anybody who hasn't at the very least <i>heard</i> of Pokemon. A worldwide obsession, the Pokemon games allow you the chance to become a 'Pokemon' trainer. You must travel across the virtual world, catching, training and battling Pokemon as you do so. There have been many, many Pokemon games spanning across all of Nintendo's systems from the Game Boy onwards - But this time I will be reviewing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, a remake of the original Red and Blue games.

I should start by mentioning that the map in the two games are identical. In many ways, everything about the games are the same - however, in each game there are a few exclusive Pokemon. Therefore if you want a certain Pokemon that isn't available on your version, you'll have to trade with a friend who has the other version, etc etc. As the games are practically identical there isn't really much point in buying both - it's much more fun to just find a friend that has the opposing one.

The first Pokemon you get will be either Squirtle, Charmander or Bulbasaur - basically a water turtle, a fire dragon, and a grass creature. It's up to you which one you choose, really they are all pretty equal so it's easiest to just go with whichever one you like the most, simply enough. Your starter Pokemon will be a very low level when you get it, so it's up to you to train it up. To do this you can battle other people (though it's not recommended to do so immediatley) or wonder around in the grass. By looking around in the grass you will be attacked by other wild Pokemon. You can either knock out the other Pokemon (by doing so you gain points, which will eventually allow you to move up a level. Levelling up your Pokemon leads to increased stats, learning new moves, and in many cases, eventually evolving your Pokemon) or you can weaken them and then capture them with a Pokeball. You can have up to six Pokemon on you at a time and hundreds more can be stored in your computer - so at the beginning it's easier to catch a full team of six and then train them up.

Battles are a very major part of Pokemon. You battle wild Pokemon, you battle other trainers, you battle your friends, you battle Gym Leaders. Battles are very simple and turnbased. Each Pokemon can learn a maximum of four moves= - some of which are attacks, some of which increase stats such as defence temporarily. It's simple enough to battle - just select one of your moves, and it's a turnbased battle from there. The aim of course being, to knock out the other Pokemon. As well as attacks you are able to use items such as potions to restore HP, antidotes to heal poisoning, etc etc. You cannot catch an opponents Pokemon - only wild ones.