Pokémon Black and White (DS) Review
Pokemon Black and White are the Pokemon games we had to have. After last year’s nostalgia-fest that was Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, we needed a fresh new Pokemon game and that’s what we’ve been delivered.
Black and White are a bit weird to start off with. From turning it on you’re treated to a flashy new intro to the game, even the Game Freak logo is all nicely animated. But then old tricks return, you get introduced to the world of Pokemon and you’re on your journey after a short indoor battle. It all feels very familiar, but then it’s not. Something is different. Things change the minute you walk into the tall grass. This time you’re in a new world, there’s new Pokemon and you have no idea what type they are – it’s all very different.
Game Freak have made it so even the most experienced Pokemon trainer feels green, and it works. There’s 156 new Pokemon, they range from the bizarre to the awesome. Sure, the battles are still fundamentally the same but when Pokemon show up and you immediately don’t know how to combat that – that’s very cool and a great development decision, one of the best things they’ve done to make it feel fresh. While long time fans might feel off playing a game that has absolutely no nostalgia factor due to the newness of it all, fear not there’s a couple of neat throwbacks for us old bastards.
The second best decision of the game is that everything has been simplified (not overly) and streamlined everywhere. The battle interface is quick, clean and easy to use, the whole online infrastructure is easy to setup and always on (if you so wish), the game has seasons which last a month and the real time clock is back. The region of Unova also has no Poke Marts, with the stores now found within fancy looking Pokemon Centers. Unova also has a new ’team’. That’s Team Plasma and their goal to free Pokemon from humans. They see Pokemon battling as evil and try and steal Pokemon off trainers in order to set them free. It’s a great viewpoint in the world of Pokemon, one that hasn’t been touched on before. The story itself is told with the hours and hours of dialogue you’ve come to expect from a Pokemon game, but every so often, you’ll get a (in game) video call to mix things up a bit.
There is a bigger difference between the two versions this time around. Normally, the differences between a Pokemon game come down to a different range of Pokemon available to capture, a different legendary and maybe a few other things. This time around, the difference between the two goes further with different battle types thrown in, a different gym leader in a city, and a whole different area to each game which completely differentiates between the two versions. Those two areas are known as Black City and White Forest. Black City offers a new place to battle and explore, whereas White Forest will offer older Pokemon to catch. The two areas though are in the same place in the game, just completely different.
So you now know the world is all new, the Pokemon are all new – but Game Freak went one step further and teched up this game with tons of crazy new features. Game Freak know you’ll be spending most of your time playing this game over the long haul. To that note, they’ve not only made tons of great improvements to local multiplayer, but also online.
On the local multiplayer front, things are made easier with the introduction of the C-Gear. Not only does this device, which resides in the bottom touch screen make it easier to setup trading and battles, but it is always looking for local wireless battles, online connections and infrared connections. Think of it very much like a ’3DS Lite’ mode. With a tap of a button, you can be battling, trading or swapping a friend code. Naturally you can turn it off, it does drain the battery quite a bit. There’s also a neat ’Feeling Check’ minigame. Not as gross as it sounds. The Underground modes from previous games return as the ’Entralink’. The new local wireless mode allows you to play, trade, battle and do missions with a friend in a monochrome version of the Unova. Just randomly, one little neat addition I found to the game is the ability to add more than one key item to the Y key. With two items on the key, up will pop a little (and quick) menu to select a key item. Simple addition, but a good one.
With online things, it gets even better. The Global Terminal makes it glorious return to the game offering random online battles and the Global Trading System like before. Joining the Global Terminal in the online fun is the Global Link and the Xtransciever. The Global Link is actually a whole collection of different things to do. The biggest part and perhaps the most progressive thing we’ve seen from Nintendo in relation to online is the Game Sync. The Game Sync literally uploads your save file to the Internet, where through a website, you can do a bunch more other things with it. The website, Pokemon Global Link, isn’t live yet but when it is, you’ll be able to sync up and send a Pokemon to the ’Dream world’ in order for it to play mini-games online. There are also Pokemon to catch, berries to grow and you’ll be ranked among others on the site with the battles you complete online. All of the above paragraph we’re yet to be able to use, Nintendo won’t put it live yet – so the promise of it at least sounds awesome.
It’s been known for some time that Black and White are DSi enhanced, so what does that mean exactly? Well, in this instance, it not only allows you to use WPA encryption to connect online (in a DSi, DSi XL or 3DS obviously) but also it allows you to video chat with friends. Using the Xtransceiver, you can video chat with up to four people locally and two over the Internet. The video quality of the chat isn’t that great, but it’s yet another fun addition to the game. As you may have guessed, there’s a lot of content in this game. More so than any Pokemon game before it. I haven’t even mentioned the Battle Subway, Pokemon Musicals, House Decoration; there’s just so much to explore in this game. To quote a show I used to watch, “it’s a whole new world we live in.”
After 15 Years, Pokemon still has a specific charm to its graphics (they’re in super awesome 3D), but what they’ve managed to do with Pokemon Black and White looks great. The overworld has never looked better with grand sweeping camera angles revealing the world of Pokemon like never before. Unova is a very unique region and for once you can see it. The world also is more alive; the cities are bustling with people, cars on the freeways, boats in the water. The games are colourful, detailed and great to look at, which is also good because this translates to the battles too. No longer are battles slow, drawn out and bland. Pokemon now move and react to the battle, show signs of being injured and look asleep when they fall asleep; both from the front and the rear of the Pokemon are in action the entire battle. That’s every single Pokemon as well, not just a few of them.
The game’s soundtrack again lives up to the series’ legacy of great little tunes, the Pokemon games outside the main themes don’t get a lot of love out there. They should though. The battle theme for Team Plasma is my standout theme of the game. The music when you get a Pokemon on low health too plays along as well as the warning sound that you’re all accustomed to. As for sound effects, there’s not much change here, all the Pokemon still chirp as they did on the Gameboy. It’s just something we have to learn to live with.
Pokemon Black and White are the Pokemon games people have been waiting for. They’re the games for new gamers to the series to jump into and for veterans to return to. This one actually feels like a new game and is fully loaded with not only a great game, but a showcase of technology. The multiplayer options alone make this game more advanced than any Nintendo game that’s come before it. A great send off for the Nintendo DS as the curtain closes.
Pokemon White was played through for the review, see the review above for the differences between the two.
Graphics 8.5
Stretching the Pokemon engine to its most extreme yet. The world and battles are colourful, animated and cute. The DS itself gets a work out before retirement. Unova is a weird and wonderful place.
Gameplay 9.5
Pokemons the best, the best it ever was. Everything is just so polished now its not even funny.
Sound 8.5
Great soundtrack as they usually are, classic sounds however are getting old but part of the charm at the same time.
Tilt 9.9
Great huge adventure, great story and then more multiplayer options and tech in one little cartridge that you couldnt even imagine in one tiny cartridge.
Value 9.9
Apart from HeartGold last year, Ive been off Pokemon for a while despite being on the biggest fans in the early years. This is the game that has brought me back. I want to keep playing it!
