Pokemon is a series that's been around for a long, long time. It's a marketing phenomenon. Some people at this point have departed from the Pokemon train, and some have even called this the worst Generation of Pokemon games ever, for various reasons that I'll express my opinion on in this review.
At the moment I've beaten the Elite Four for the first time, and am currently doing post-Elite Four events. So it's safe to say I've seen most of, if not all of, the essential content for a review. Let's do this.
---Summary:
Pokemon games are pretty basic, each with a slightly different flavor of the same opening. You play as a boy/girl living in the Unova region who has just received starter Pokemon for yourself and your two best friends, a bookworm named Cheren and ditz named Bianca. As you start your journey, you soon find out about Team Plasma, an organization who wishes to force the idea that Pokemon should not be used for battle, but instead should be treated as equals to humans. However, as you meet a member of this whole shady group, a young man named N, you find that it's important that Team Plasma be stopped before they go too far to get their message across.
So it's - and I may be using this term a lot - more of the same. You're starting a journey and you come across an antagonist group. The difference here is you have a rival who's heavily involved with that group, which I DON'T think has been done before. But I'll get to that in a bit.
---Gameplay:
More of the same, but with tweaks here and there. The display system on the bottom DS screen that I loved from Generation 4 is gone, which is now replaced with WiFi stuff that, at the time that this review is posted, is unusable for the US gamers. However, that's only an optional side to the game.
You should know the gameplay by now so there's not much to comment on otherwise. A thing that they've added is healers on certain areas, mainly BIG areas that have importance. There's one in Victory Road, one in a desert area that has some Team Plasma grunts around it, you get the idea. It's nice to have em there.
There's a complaint I've heard that the game seems to baby you. As I said, there's healers in various places. The comment I've seen falls in line with the old gamer rant that people jokingly do; "BACK IN MY DAY WE DIDN'T HAVE _____ AND THEY ADDED IT BECAUSE KIDS TODAY ARE STUPID!" - I honestly don't think it's a big deal at all. In fact, coming from someone who is also an old gamer, I have been playing Pokemon games for a long, long time; I'm glad they finally put healers in so I don't have to do so much work. I welcome the convenience. But I guess your preference may vary. You don't have to use healers, so if you don't want to, ignore all the doctors and nurses you see.
There's a thing this game sets up that I couldn't find a place for in the writing section below, but it's the fact that the game sort of sets up the Unova region as being PokeAmerica, whereas every game prior to this has been PokeJapan. This stems from the overall design phase, whereas all the regions of previous games were based on parts of Japan, the Unova region is based around New York, of all places.
This PokeAmerica thing in mind, the Pokemon you encounter are interesting in that all you encounter for most of the game is stuff introduced in this game. Previous Generations mixed it up at least, where at least 75% of the things you got were new and the rest were from previous games. Here, it isn't until you get past the Elite Four that you get introduced to the second half of the Unova region, where all the "foreign" Pokemon reside.
I've racked up a lot of captures since beating the Elite Four, some I didn't think would be so easy to get my hands on. Think of how the post-Elite Four events worked in HeartGold/SoulSilver to get an idea of what I mean. I'll leave it up to you to finding out what (or who) you encounter on your journey.
---Writing:
Pokemon games don't have much in terms of writing, usually the most depth you get is the inner workings of the antagonist group - such as Team Rocket, Team Galactic, etc. - with some character development once in a while for major characters. However, I feel that they went a step further than usual here.
While in previous games, the gym leaders were simply just there to battle, they play a much more prominent role this time. The process in usual games was usually this; you go to a city with a gym in it, you go into the gym, you make your way to the gym leader, you get your gym badge, then you leave. Here, you're introduced to practically every gym leader as part of a cutscene. You get to see most of them interact with each other as the plot progresses. It gives a sense of unity - these guys know each other.
On top of that is the rivals you've been given this time 'round. Whereas before, you were given a rival, this time you have three. N is the most notable, given he's part of Team Plasma, and is an usually young man who seems to have the ability to understand Pokemon. However, he is not the one you battle most.
The other two rivals are Cheren and Bianca, your best friends. They show up frequently and often battle you when they're not just there for a cutscene. Cheren is very intelligent and knows a lot about strategy, he doesn't have the heart, he doesn't realize he has to strategize but also care. Whereas Bianca, she's not very bright, reliable or good at Pokemon battles, but despite her lack in confidence she's very stubborn and determined to keep trying until she can do something right. They're very basic character types, but types that really fall in line with the games overarching theme of black/white when you read into it a certain way.
The game overall is very basic in story, because it's essentially gym-route-gym-route-occasional cave-gym, admittedly with less pitstop cities on the way. But the stuff they do inbetween gyms is enjoyable, it's nice to see where the story progresses. And I won't spoil the ending, but I will say, it was probably one of the better endings of the Pokemon games I've seen. The credits don't come as quickly as you think.
---Graphics:
The games graphics are more or less the same as you've seen in the latest Pokemon games starting from Generation 4 with Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and HeartGold/SoulSilver, but when comparing them side by side, they ARE slightly different in how the body types work. The sprites for battle are still the same kind of stuff you've seen since Generation 3 with Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and FireRed/LeafGreen. There's a couple few cutscenes that use things like closeup images of the characters on a display screen, as well as a couple major CGI scenes (with no humans present.) It gives me the impression they were trying new things to see what works and what doesn't, I suspect the theoretical third Generation 5 game (and even more theoretical Generation 6 games) will feature more of these kinds of cutscenes.
A major thing that comes up is that Pokemon sprites are now animated! That have a looping animation cycle which I believe loops three times then has some kind of alternate motion, which all then repeats. It's a very nice touch that makes the game feel more alive. On top of that, the animation moves much slower which a Pokemon is low on health, and they also close their eyes when asleep. I've seen some comments where, while this is praised, it is commented that "It took them this long to do it." I agree, yet I have to imagine budget goes into it, because keep in mind... we're now up to 649 Pokemon as of this game. That's a lot to animate. The fact that they did this is amazing in of itself when you have that number in mind, and they didn't even have to! But I like that they did.
---Sound:
There's not too much to say as a whole. The only thing resembling voice acting is the Pokemon, and I have no particular yays or nays on them. The sound effects are basically on par with previous games. The music, in all honesty, I don't pay attention to, mainly because I'm listening to podcasts while playing. However, I do like the gym leader music, the final battle music, and the bicycle music. Those are pretty fun to listen to.
---Final Thoughts:
Overall, I think that, even though some of the things added to the gameplay in Generation 4 are not present, this is a very solid game. It's fun, familiar, but new at the same time. In fact, the way this game plays out, I'm VERY curious where Pokemon will be heading in the future. Of course we can expect a third release to go alongside Black and White - some say Grey, some say Prism - but I'm curious if we'll also get a remake of Ruby/Sapphire to bring them to the 3D era as well.
On top of that, I'm curious if we'll even see Generation 6, because Black and White are... pretty definitive titles. If this were the name of a comic series, I'd think this was the finale. I'm kinda hoping not, because I would VERY much like to see this franchise continue, even if most of us will end up saying "It wasn't as good as Black and White."
I'd say pick it up if you've ever been a fan of Pokemon, because this is the story I think fans have been waiting to see happen; The ultimate question of "Should Pokemon really be used for fighting?"
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