Well the new generation of Pokémon games has finally arrived and unless you have been living under a big cliché rock for the past fifteen years then you know how big of a deal this is. If you are familiar with the series then you probably already know that this the 5th generation of Pokémon games to hit the world and that with it comes the 5th generation of new creatures to trap in confined spaces for later forced combat. Fans of the series will be happy to know that the core mechanics that made the series famous back in 1996 are still very much intact in the new games but they have some new elements that will make people who haven’t thrown a PokéBall in years want to pick one up again.
The story picks up once again with a new hero who’s just turned ten and is now ready for their first Pokémon, although this time around you will be joined by your two childhood friends Cheren, the rival character, and Bianca, a pseudo-rival who will assist the player on their journey and who will also be receiving Pokémon on this day. As per usual the Pokémon Professor, Professor Juniper, the only female professor thus far, has given you your first Pokémon, a PokéDex, and a mission to capture all the Pokémon in the world. As you set out on your journey you discover that yet again you must travel around and collect eight gym badges from various Pokémon Gyms around the Unova (pronounced {you-ni-va}) region, this time round the block. As the player progresses through the game you discover that the Unova Region, similar to all the others, has a roaming gang of Pokémon thieves and abusers known to the people of Unova as Team Plasma.
While Pokémon White & Black contain the same basic run around, catch Pokémon, and battle gyms elements, the game feels almost different to the others, almost like picking up a Pokémon game for the first time. Some of the first noticeable differences which you will see immediately after starting up your Nintendo DS are that the game has changing seasons similar to when Gold & Silver introduced changing times, and that Pokémon are now animated throughout the entire battle sequence instead of just at the beginning of a battle as in the last few games. Speaking of Pokémon battles, they too have received a nice tweak; just like when generation 3 introduced double battles, generation 5 now gives you triple battles - which have an added twist which will take a bit of skill to master - and rotational battles, which consist of three Pokémon rotating when given the order to fight in a traditional one on one battle. One of the biggest changes to the game is the change in the region in which you travel; the older regions from generations 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all presumably connected to the same mainland continent, and all based off of locations in real world Japan, which explains why they all have connections to the same group of Pokémon whether it be finding Pokémon from previous generations or introducing new evolved and pre-evolved forms to Pokémon from older generations they all had a similar and connected set of creatures.
The new Unova Region features a new and completely different set of Pokémon with no connections whatsoever to the old sets of tiny critters and locations based on real world locations in the United States, such as New York City. The game features a rich soundtrack with similar sounds to previous entries slightly re-mastered to fit the game’s new aesthetic and new Pokémon and the graphics have received a similar upgrade to match with the new settings such as side scrolling cities, and top down high soaring bridges and fully rendered 3D cut scenes. As with any Pokémon game you can choose to pit your virtual pets in fights against, or trade Pokémon back and forth with, your friends. Though this has carried on through all games thus far you now have three different forms of communication with which to do battle, standard DS wireless, Nintendo Wi-Fi and now you can even do battle over infrared connection for faster connections with people just across from you. You may remember the addition of the Global Trade System in Pokémon Diamond & Pearl sticking with this, the folks over at GameFreak have now added random battles over Nintendo Wi-Fi, something most people have been wondering about for a while now.
Time to wrap this up, to sum the main points, story = 9/10, graphics = 9/10, soundtrack 8/10, gameplay 9.5/10. Overall the game gets a solid 9 out of 10 and a must buy rating. I would recommend this to anyone with a Nintendo DS and especially to anyone who is a fan of Pokémon. This can comfortably be called the best Pokémon game to date and wonder how GameFreak will improve if they ever decide to pump out a generation 6.
"Pokemon White" is on sale March 6, 2011 and is rated E. RPG. Developed by Gamefreak. Published by Nintendo, The Pokemon Company.
