Pokémon Black/White Review by Sheldon Greenaway

Pokémon Black/White Review

 Controls:

                                                 

TOUCH SCREEN: Controls the C-gear, and like last time, make battle choices

ARROWS: Move, make menu selection

BUTTONS:

A: Talk, confirm selection

B: Talk, Back

X: Menu

Y: Use registered key item – you can even register more than one!

TOP SCREEN: This is where pretty much everything visually takes place. Watch the battles scenes and explore with your character.

     

OUT: now

PRICE: £30

PLAYERS: 1 – 5

PUBLISHER: Nintendo

DEVELOPER Game Freak

GENRE RPG

PLATFORM: Nintendo DS

Fans love to speculate on what colours they use as names for Pokémon games. Game Freak seemingly ran out of colours after then first generation of Pokémon, and had to use common shiny stones instead, then resorting to rarer ones as the generations were invented. But finally, the wait is over, and Pokémon is back to its roots – standard colours (most unexpected ones), a completely new region with absolutely no new Pokémon to be found in it and countless new features. Could this be the return of a great series (provided it ever died)?

A tale of two heroes

The game starts out how every game in the main series starts – I found myself talking to a professor, who explained what Pokémon are, and what she does to help solve the mysteries behind them. Yes, for the first time ever, the professor is a girl. Prof. Juniper, with a somewhat more comforting smile than the other mascots of Pokémon research, shows off a cute little chinchilla Pokémon as an example. This time, the Pokémon is in constant animation, which is quite a welcoming introduction to this games fresh new graphics. Then of course, you get to name yourself, and you get introduced to your rivals, whom you cannot name this time around. So no more calling them genital related names.

The storyline flows almost the same as any other Pokémon game sadly – You journey as a Pokémon trainer through a dungeon such as a forest or a cave, fighting trainers who stand in your way, then reaching a town with a gym, figuring out the gym’s puzzle, beating the gym leader, fighting your rival (or in this case, rivals) shortly after. Repeat 8 times until you reach the Pokémon league, defeat them, then fight the champion and conquer the region thus finishing the game. Let’s not forget that random evil team that aim to resurrect a legendary Pokémon for some reason, that you fight continuous times during the story and eventually encounter the legendary yourself. But it’s this kind of storyline that Pokémon players absolutely love, and this time its somewhat tweaked in various areas to make it more appealing, surprisingly in the script. “Summoning a legendary? Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” “Little miss, you are too soft.” “He is no longer a human. He is just a freak of nature! Who wants to be with a person like him?”

   Surprising lines like this litter the game, as well as unpredictable events like meeting the champion early on, then finding out he has suffered in his life. And with team plasma who believe that Pokémon trainers are enslaving Pokémon and that mysterious child N, there is a lot of stuff to think about with this story. Towards the ending of the game, the storyline quickly accelerates into an adventure of epic proportions, to an extent that you will not even believe that this is a Pokémon game. The ending is unforgettable. It’s seriously that good. So I refuse to spoil it, Mr. I want to know everything.

This music is super complete!

I have heard from several players that they turn down the sound when playing Pokémon because the music is annoying or not very appealing. But this time, there is truly no need – all the music is completely new, and what’s there is really good. The music can get instruments added to it in different ways, and each song sounds good with or without the extra instruments, really. When you walk on route 4, a marching beat gets added, when you ask the drummer and pianist to play in the second town, those get added and it just sounds beautiful all together. The battle music is also catchy and suitable as usual. The music against the different types of trainer are in completely different genres as well, so you’re never hearing similar things. From the fast paced elite four battles to the jolly rival battle to the dance - like gym leader battle, there is a song for everyone somewhere in this game. Especially you techno freaks.

 

A match to remember

Here is where things sound really mixed up and easy to pass off as bad. The battles in Pokémon Black and White are exactly the same as the battles from the first games – which is sort of a good thing and a bad thing. The extremely basic turn based system of choosing an attack for your Pokémon, then watching the animation, and occasionally switching out or using an item to assist it. But it’s this kind of game play that makes Pokémon game. But surely there’s a sense of lacking innovation, at least until you’re able to witness the triple or rotation battles. Triple battles see you sending out three Pokémon at once (what did you expect?) with the ability to shift their position, but the inability to attack cross arena. Rotation battles have once again three Pokémon out at once, but this time only the middle one attacks. You have the choice of attacking with your other sent out Pokémon; by shifting the flooring and attacking with you’re new choice in the same turn. Either battle introduces a completely new, impressive sense of strategy never before experienced in a Pokémon game, so there is something good for older players or new ones. However, there are only two of these battles in each version – and the version specific battle can be done daily, but the opponents never change, so unless you have friends to enjoy those new battle styles with, it’ll feel like a pointless addition. This is a shame because the battles are undeniably fun.

    Now replacing the Pokémon contest is the interesting sounding Pokémon musical, which can be instantly tried once you reach the pretty Nimbasa city. You are given the fun chance to place props on your Pokémon again, which this time, almost magically attach to the specific areas on a Pokémon, making it far easier to decorate your cute friends. For example, when I first tried this, I gave my Dewott an umbrella, which it tightly held onto once I lifted the stylus close to its hand. However once the actual competition starts, the disappointment starts as well. The musical sees your Pokémon dancing to a chosen song, competing with three other Pokémon for the audience’s attention. But all you do is watch the sprites spin and bounce, and depending on the props given to your Pokémon, make them use an “appeal” to have a light shine on them for a moment. A competitive game that only has one conditional button as a control and is entirely based on luck just sounds like a CD-I game. Fortunately, you’ll never have to play a musical.

Heart stamp! It’s super effective!

When you think of a Pokémon game, you’ll always know that it has limitless hours of game play value. Of course, there’s completing the pokédex, beating all the frontier brains, and loads of extra areas or characters with little missions to solve, which usually takes about  50+ hours of game play time to finish. And then there’s being the better of your friends (or the world), or making that ultimate dream team of super Pokémon or legendaries. And although Black and White have the best storyline and features of all Pokémon games yet, there is not a lot to do after the games ending. Sure, there are some places that you haven’t been to on your town map, but there really isn’t anything to do there. One has a legendary; one has surprise reappearance, the last a version exclusive area that will be useless unless you’re able to connect with friends. Each area only lasts about five minutes of game time. Normally, I start training my dream team after completing every last bit of story in the game, but this time I found myself training in the middle of it, which is a sign of either repetitive story or just plain boredom out of how easy it is to predict.

   A lot of stuff has gone missing here – the ability to reface trainers or gym leaders is removed, Wi-Fi options have been slimmed, and there’s no longer a battle frontier. There is the battle subway instead, but that only allows you to take options available from the battle tower. After the games ending, this game quickly gets boring unless you have friends to compete with often. And even so, you can’t just battle forever, let alone train new Pokémon. At least there’s more of an achievement for “catching em’ all”, as there are now 650 different Pokémon. This is the first time a Pokémon game has lacked such replay value, and been so unfair to players. You HAVE to have friends who often play this game as well, or it will not be worth £30.

Verdict

Strong points: Impressive new graphics, animation and visuals, including completely 3D cut scenes. A much better soundtrack this time around. The brand new Pokémon and battles are some of the most innovative creations ever.

  Weak points: Glitch infested, limited online, and a very weak replay value. Too many good features from the older games have been removed.

  Overall: This game feels completely new and like one of the best games on DS, but once the main story is over, there is just too little else to do compared to most Pokémon games. In order to make this game worth keeping, you’ll need friends to play with often.

8.5/10

        ~Sheldon Greenaway