Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire review (3DS) Gotta catch 'em all again

Release Date: November 28 (Europe), November 21 (North America)
Platforms available on: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Role-playing game

Pokemon X and Y gave the series a much-needed makeover when they launched last year, introducing a new generation of trainers to the world of Pokemon trading and battling.

As remakes of 2002 Game Boy Advance titles, Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby are cleverly placed to feed the cravings of any newly converted Pokemon addicts, all the while tapping into the nostalgia ducts of long-time fans.

Sticking with the same successful formula that has served the series so well, it's a winning combination of past and present, albeit one that tells us very little about the series' future.

As familiar as the action may be, it's difficult to be disappointed when you're having this much fun. After all, there's a reason why the games are so popular and why the formula hasn't really changed that much.

The games task players with collecting and cultivating Pokemon by battling fellow trainers, gym leaders, elite trainers and villains who want to use Legendary Pokemon to quite literally alter the landscape.

Despite the rather serious implications of such a dastardly plan, it's largely a jolly old experience in which players make friends and form relationships with their favourite Pokemon.

If you're new to the series, the lack of narrative is likely to disappoint and makes those early hours when you're learning the ropes potentially very tedious.

Sticking with the same successful formula that has served the series so well, it's a winning combination of past and present, albeit one that tells us very little about the series' future.

However, stick with it and you'll soon become so engrossed in collecting Pokemon and battling trainers that you'll fail to care about its narrative shortcomings.

What's more, when the core game is complete, users can play through the much more intriguing Delta Episode bonus story.

Revolving around a meteor bound for Hoenn, Delta Episode provides a sense of peril that's lacking from the main plot, all the while offering an insight into Mega Evolutions, which makes it an important piece of Pokemon lore.

Delta Episode's biggest problem is one of timing, as you'll have to go through a huge non-story to unlock it, and then cover lots old ground to see it through to its conclusion.

Even without Delta Episode, long-time fans will likely be happy to be back in the Hoenn region, and seeing it what it looks like with a new lick of paint.

It's not the most visually spectacular game in the world, but it's cute, colourful and charming, and most certainly looks better than it did in 2002.

Battle sequences are flashier, especially when you unleash some of the more powerful moves and Mega Evolutions, while the Hoenn region is much more detailed and alive thanks to the inclusion of animated wildlife and explorers.

We especially liked the ability to explore Hoenn from the skies, a new function that shows off the game's visuals, while also giving you a few new secrets to unearth. It's not a game-changing addition, but it does, at least, help to distinguish the remake from the original.

Elsewhere, a host of new and returning features make discovering fellow players and Pokemon more efficient.

The Player Search System is great for finding and sorting fellow users, while the brand new DexNav tool alerts you if rare Pokemon are nearby in the wild.

Once Pokemon are have been spotted, players must sneak up and battle them. It's a minor addition, but a useful one that makes it easier to expand your collection.

Even something as simple as the experience share function makes the world of difference, letting users level up multiple Pokemon without too much fuss.

Less successful is the fluffy side content. You can stroke and feed your Pokemon to improve your relationship and participate in mini-games to train individual stats.

Fun at first, these features certainly give the evolution process more depth, but they could do with more options and activities to boost their long-term appeal.

Ultimately, it's the deceptively deep battle system that will keep players hooked, and quite wisely this hasn't been touched.

The same is true of Pokemon Contests, which are essentially Pokemon pageants with sketchy rules and little in the way of rewards. They're fun while they last, but not something we're likely to keep coming back to once we've unlocked Cosplay Pikachu.

Secret bases, meanwhile, sound more compelling on paper than in practice, with users able to decorate bases and share them with friends.

A potentially game-changing feature that should appeal to Animal Crossing fans, Secret bases are a little underdeveloped, making them another nice distraction but nothing more.

Ultimately, it's the deceptively deep battle system that will keep players hooked, and quite wisely this hasn't been touched.

There are so many Pokemon types and battle permutations that you could literally spend hundreds of hours in the same game, experimenting with your best lineup in the quest to find the rarest breeds.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby don't innovate, but they do a good job of bridging the gap between old and new.

This year's games have plucked the best functions and features from Pokemon games past and present, blending them into a package that ticks the right boxes, but doesn't think outside of them.

Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire