Despite a later debut, the Pokemon series has joined the Mario and Zelda franchises as the cornerstones of Nintendo. However, while Mario and Zelda have evolved over the years, Pokemon has stayed mostly the same. Pokemon Black and White have stuck close to the formula that the original versions of the game set all the way back in 1996. The games have changed plenty since their inception, but each generation only offers fairly subtle changes from the previous iteration.
Some of the changes in this generation include a visual update, with more dynamic cameras, 3D cut-scenes and more motion from the Pokemon themselves. Pokemon has never been known for its technical prowess, but this game is a big step above Diamond and Pearl. Some other changes include reusable TM’s, no more contests, the addition of seasonal changes to the environment and triple and rotational battles. All of these are really just tweaks, but the original formula worked so well there hasn’t been a need for any huge changes since the second generation. Other than that the story remains the same, grass-water-fire starter, rivals, evil team, eight gym badges, Elite Four. While any game without these features may feel incomplete, it would really be interesting to see them depart from their comfort zone a bit. Personally I would enjoy seeing them implement a tournament after you collect the eight badges (such as in the Anime) and the winner earns the right to face the Elite Four.
The evil team, Team Plasma, in this version almost brings the story to a new level. Their goal is to separate people and Pokemon in an obvious allusion to animal fighting and cruelty. It is a more mature theme then having an enemy that just wants to take over the world. However, it never quite gets developed enough to leave a lasting impact, which was a big missed opportunity.
The biggest change from any previous generation is the introduction of the new Pokemon. This generation introduces 156 new pokemon to collect, the most of any single generation. The problem is maybe they should have scaled it back and been a bit more selective in their design process. The quality of a Pokemon design is largely subjective, but many of these monsters are just- bad. It can’t be easy creating over 600 different Pokemon, but some of these designs appear quite lazy. Throh, Garbador and Vanillite stand out as particularly bad designs. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia glasses that makes it all seem inferior to the original 151, but these monsters just don’t stack up, not even compared to Generation Four.
One thing this game does get right is the amount of post-game content. Many people say the game doesn’t begin until after you beat the Elite Four. There are many new areas to explore, legendary Pokemon to catch and more trainers to fight. These trainers include a re-vamped Elite Four for the second go-through, as well as a powerful opponent from a previous game. Beating the Elite Four also opens up the National Pokedex with all of the Pokemon from previous games finally available. Black and White only allow the player to use the new Pokemon for the main story of the game. It was a gutsy call, as even Pikachu wasn’t available, but it did force players to become acquainted with the new generation of Pokemon. The exclusion of the familiar faces did make for a more challenging game, as it was more difficult to matchup your team with the unfamiliar typeset of the new Pokemon. This led to a particular challenging gym battle against the electric type gym leader who used the electric/flying type Emonga who had very few weaknesses. I was still glad to see all of the old Pokemon once I beat the game, so glad that I likely wish they had just included them in the first place.
All in all, Pokemon Black and White are what you should come to expect from a Pokemon game. The game in and of itself is an enthralling RPG experience with deceptive depth. It is a must own for Poke-freaks or a new fan who finally wants to give the games a try. However, for jaded veterans of the games or people who have never been interested, these games won’t do much to bring you back or change your mind on the series. And for those who have to catch them all, good luck!
Score: 7/10
