Pokemon: Black/White Review

Written by Troy Benedict Wednesday, 16 March 2011 13:00

Nintendo is the only video game company that can release iterative versions of its games, year after year, and gamers still love them for it.

Think about it: look back at 2009’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii and then REALLY look back at 1988’s Super Mario Bros. 3. In the 20+ years between the two games, not a whole lot has changed. Somebody from 1988 could have time traveled to 2009, picked up the controller and immediately began playing and would not miss a beat.

Sure different versions of Nintendo’s popular franchises have grown up and evolved, like Super Mario Galaxy and the Metroid Prime games, but the goals and ideas behind them are still very similar, some more so than the others.

To some people this is the strength of the Nintendo name: their games are timeless and generations of people love them. While others feel that the predictable formula of backtracking through a Zelda or Metroid game to access areas that were inaccessible without the proper weapon or tool, is in serious need of a reboot.

The people at Game Freak were listening to the latter group when they began creating the Pokemon Black and White games. At least they were listening more than they ever have before.

Pokemon Black and White is, at the ground level, the same game you may have played back in the 2nd grade: You’ll choose one of 3 starting Pokemon, your mother will encourage you on your journey to become a Pokemon trainer, you’ll participate in gym battles, and beat the antagonist at the end and save the world.

Where Black and White differs from the previous games is that you will not see a single “classic” Pokemon until you complete the main storyline. That’s right -- you won’t see a single Squirtle, Pikachu, Jigglypuff or Snorlax until those credits roll, baby!

This is a nice break for those who don’t subscribe to the Pokemon Bible, as you really don't know what to expect with these new additions. Part of the enjoyment of encountering and capturing a brand new Pokemon is that you have no idea what the next evolution is, when it evolves, and what kind of powers it will eventually unlock.

The downside however, is that instead of encountering the millionth Geodude or Rattata, you’ll instead be annoyed by Pidoves and Lillipups.

There were already nearly 500 Pokemon before Black and White came along, and here we have over 150 new Pokemon created especially for this game (which is actually an inflated number as this includes the original and two evolutionary forms of the base Pokemon). Some of the Pokemon character designs are cute, but others are t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e.

For example, the starter fire-based Pokemon Tepig looks like a cute, happy pig-thing. However, if you let him evolve he becomes a bipedal leotard wearing Mexican-wrestler-style pig, and it looks downright horrible. I hate him now. Seriously. And it’ll only get worse when he evolves further into an Emboar, when he becomes a giant hulking pig-samurai. I want to smack my forehead and then throw in the towel.

Other improvements in Black and White focus on making things more accessible. Pokemon Centers and Pokemarts have been combined into one location, so you can get all of your Pokemon needs done under one roof!  (I feel like that’s a commercial right there!) The wireless/Internet hub is also a half-screen up, and you no longer have to go up or down a set of stairs in order to go online and propose a trade or get matched up for a battle.

Some of the other things Black and White also does right is finally being able to connect to a WPA-secured wireless router. (Sheesh, it's about time, am I right tech-nerds??!) In previous versions of the series, specifically Diamond/Pearl and HeartGold/SoulSilver you could only connect to the less-secured, WEP-encrypted networks. While the Nintendo DSi resolved the wireless security issue on the hardware side, you still could not play any of the earlier games on a DSi without knocking your home router down to a much less secure WEP.

This might not mean much to the casual gamer or those who still have “Netgear” as the name of their unsecured home wireless router, but to downgrade your home network security so that you could put in a ridiculous trade request for a level 100 Mew with your level 5 Weedle was just downright bad idea on so many levels.

Pokemon Black/White offers a significant improvement in the graphics department over the previous games in the series. The animations during Pokemon battles looks more fluid, probably due to extra animation scenes. After besting the 2nd gym leader, you’ll travel to Castelia City, which is on the other end of a very modern (and 3D rendered bridge). Castelia City is also the first city-looking location in a Pokemon game, while most are small towns with a few homes and a couple of Pokemon-related stores.

Overall, Pokemon Black/White is a step in the right direction. While the game didn’t change as much as it probably could have, Game Freak deserves some credit for trying something new. While I’m hoping the next series is a complete reboot, I’m not so sure that we’ll ever see that. Since the next game will likely be used to help promote the new 3DS, what we'll probably get will be Pokemon Black/White... in 3D!!!!!!!!

Truth be told, as much as I hate Nintendo's iterative nature, I'll probably be more interested than I should be when the next game is announced.