Pokemon Black and White Review for DS

SIR Games Rating: 8/10
More than 10 years ago, Game Freak unveiled a game that truly expanded the gaming world - Pokemon. Now, with its recent release of Pokemon Black and White, it just proved that the Pokemon franchise is simply unstoppable. Being what is known as the 5th generation of Pokemon, always on the move, always evolving and always improving, the franchise is simply able to captivate and generate more and more audiences with every new release.


Attracting - Snivy, Tepig, or Oshawott
From the start of the game, you will feel the same, familiar 'Pokemon-like' feeling which you will relate to any other previous Pokemon Game. Meeting the Professor (Juniper), choosing your first Pokemon to meeting your counterparts (Cheren & Bianca) and your mother...everything just feels the same. Like any other versions, you will be given a choice of 3 Pokemons - a fire-type, water-type or a leaf-type. Personally, at first look, the fire pokemon, a fire pig with curly tail, stood out the most as it was extremely, superbly, awesome-ly cute! Anyways, that's only my personal opinion and it may vary but generally, Pokemons are still extremely, extremely cute! >.<

Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott

Addicting & Assuring
Though everything seems so similar, it just simply is a miracle that it is good enough to captivate us all again and lure us into the world of Pokemon once again. Maintaining its tradition, Pokemon White re-uses its original formula to run its core story; engaging Team Plasma to be the evil villians, gym leaders who are always so friendly and seemingly unbeatable and you to be the protagonist of the story. After all, with 4 generations successfully using the same, absorbing formula to hype up gamers, why should Game Freak suddenly change this time?

Emboar, an evolution from Tepig, is a fire and fighting-type pokemon, much like Blaziken!

New Additions

• 2 New Battle Modes: Triple and Rotational Battles. 

Triple Battles, as its name suggests, is a 3vs3 battle. Though it can be rather interesting at first, after a while, it will merely feel like an extended doubles battle, nothing really exciting. On the other hand, Rotational Battle, is something worth finding for. First of all, before every attack, you will have the option to rotate/change your pokemon, either to receive the damage or to deal the attack; this new feature adds a new level of strategy to the game and creates a greater gaming experience.

Triple battles occur in Pokemon White and Rotational battles in Pokemon Black

• Visual Enhancements  
Both the battle system and the general visual standards now receive much improvements to make the game more realistic and lively. While your pokemons wait for your command in battles, they move a little and one pokemon, holding a wood stick, swing it as though it really is getting ready to fight. Also, at some points in the game, you will be able to experience the city at large, literally! Camera angles in the 5th generation now depicts a better, more enhanced overview of the city as it zooms out at certain parts or steadily turns for better views.

• Various tweaks here and there:
Increased Convenience

One of the first things I noticed is that Game Freak wanted to make our life easier while playing Pokemon. Thus, the latest version combines Pokemon Center with Pokemon Mart, allowing us to heal our pokemons and purchase stuff at the same place, instead of travelling to another building. Also, if you notice, Game Freak now place 'doctors' or 'nurses' at the entrace of some major training/lots-of-trainers-and-pokemon zones to let us conveniently heal our pokemon when they faint, instead of travelling a long distance to reach the Pokemon Center. It may be more convenient, but I reckon it made the game a tad too easy; after all, we still have potions don't we?

A scene in Pokemon Center - You can now find Pokemon Mart at the bottom right of the Center (see the boys with apron?)

Replacement for Pokemon Contests

There is one thing that you should know about the Pokemon Contests. They were extremely awesome and entertaining. Now, having no idea what Game Freak was thinking, Pokemon Black and White deleted the Contests and introduced another 'competition' - Pokemon Musical. However, it's nothing like a musical. It's simply a barbie, dress-up feature that allows you to put hats and shoes and ties and umbrella on your pokemon! Simply dazzling =.=

Verdict
Attracting pokemons, addicting gameplay, assuring visual enhancements, Pokemon Black and White will surely lure you into exploring the vast world of the Unova Region despite some losses here and there! But those who never, never liked the game, don't waste your time trying to 'like' this one. Anyways, we hope all fans out there ~ enjoy Pokemon-ing! :D

Like what you read? Please subscribe to us!

Follow @sirgames