My Review: Pokemon Black Version (DS)

Note: While this review is based on Black Version, it is by extent also a review of Pokémon White Version. Outside of a few version-specific Pokémon, a different mascot Legendary, and a couple minor location differences, they are the same game.

I’m always going to have a soft spot in my heart for the Pokémon series.  Granted, having skipped the entire last generation of the games (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum), I haven’t really been keeping up with them, but it’s hard not to look fondly on the series that introduced me to RPGs, and was probably the first video game series I ever got really in to as a kid. It doesn’t hurt that the Pokémon series is one of the most long-running in the history of gaming. The games have been incredibly successful ever since their 1998 debut for the original Game Boy, and over the years have introduced millions of children to the wonders of monster collecting and battling, and to gaming in general. With Pokémon Black (and White), Nintendo begins the fifth generation of Pokémon with a customary new region to explore and a bevy of new collectable critters; but is it enough to make a lapsed fan such as myself want to catch them all again?

STORY

Taking place in the brand-new Unova region, Pokémon Black follows a familiar pattern that should be all-too-familiar to series veterans. You know what, if you’ve heard this one before, say it with me: “You start out in a backwater town and after choosing a starter Pokémon that is either a Grass Type, a Fire type, or a Water type, set out to collect eight Gym Badges, defeat a comically inept crime syndicate, and become the ultimate pocket monster champion.” Pokémon Black tries to shake up its story a bit more than in past Pokémon games: Team Plasma’s Pokémon-liberating agenda plays a much larger role in the story than the plans of prior series villains, the lore relating to the series’ trademark Legendary Pokémon is a little more in-depth, and there are efforts to flesh out some of the characters. Unfortunately, other aspects of the story fail to improve where their successors have always failed, such as laughably bad writing and one-dimensional characters which, while keeping in line with the series’ target audience, is still a little off-putting. It’s nice that Game Freak tried to tell a more interesting tale with Pokémon Black, but they didn’t really succeed. It’s the same Pokémon song-and-dance we’ve seen several times before, but with a few more extraneous subplots.

GAMEPLAY

Much like with the story, Pokémon Black introduces several new elements to a tried-and-true formula, but has yet to break a few old habits. For those who somehow don’t know, Pokémon games are single-player RPGs with six member parties of collectable monsters known as Pokémon, which the player uses to battle and trade with other players, both in-game and in real life by linking their game system with that of a fellow trainer. The series’ customary connectivity is better than ever, thanks in no small part to C-gear, which is an ad-hoc wireless system which allows players to trade and battle each other on the fly, although other online services such as the Global Trade Center remain. An interesting aspect of Pokémon Black is the omission of older Pokémon, with the game instead featuring an entirely new roster of Pokémon. Without being able to rely on old standbys, players will have to get used to the 150+ new critters until they reach the end of the main game, after which some fan-favorite Pokémon start making appearances. For the record, I actually liked quite a few of the new Pokémon; even if some of them are obviously present to serve as replacements for older ones (Timburr= Machop, Roggenrolla = Geodude, et cetera), there are still quite a few cool-looking/useful new monsters to collect. Perhaps my favorite is the Fire type starter, Tepig, a cute little pig which eventually evolves into a massive flaming BOAR.

                                     Oddly enough, the WHITE Pokemon is the mascot for Pokemon BLACK version.

Battles in Pokémon Black adhere to a very traditional turn-based battle system, where Pokémon fight based on their stats and on a rock-paper-scissors mechanic that requires players to take into account the elemental ‘type’ of the Pokémon they are using: for example, using a water type to defeat a fire type. Building a well-balanced team of Pokémon is absolutely critical, and while it’s relatively easy to find and capture Pokémon with the elemental alignments you require, grinding out an evenly-leveled team quickly becomes a chore. Other little problems, such as an often ridiculously high random encounter rate, can start to grate on the player. The difficulty curve is also a tad unbalanced. Several times throughout the game you’ll find yourself fighting an opponent who vastly out-levels your party, but once you level up a few good Pokémon with the proper elements, the game becomes a cakewalk. The types of Pokémon you’ll encounter vary regularly, forcing the player to constantly adjust their team if they want to stay competitive.

If it sounds like I’m down on this game, I’m not. Pokémon Black is basically the same Pokémon game I’ve played for years, and at its core Pokémon is a very solid game. However, despite small improvements here and there (Pokémon Marts are now in the Pokémon Centers? Yay), several long-lasting issues persist (why can Pokémon still only learn four moves?), and many of the game’s new features are barely present throughout the game (Triple and Rotation battles are fun, but there’s so few of them…). Pokémon Black is a solid, fun game- it’s just not as much of a ‘new game’ as one would hope. For some people, that’s perfectly fine, but for me, the series is starting to show its age a bit.

PRESENTATION

Pokémon Black does have a slight visual upgrade over prior games, rendering most of its world in polygons, although the mash-up of 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds isn’t as smooth as in some other games. At times it looks fine, but other times it’s a little jarring. The presence of a few FMVs and animated Pokémon sprites during battle do add a little more visual flair, however, and while it clearly isn’t pushing the DS hardware, it’s not a terrible-looking game. The music is surprisingly good, the catchy battle themes, although the electronic Pokémon cries that sound at-home on the original Game Boy are starting to get obnoxious. Overall, Pokémon Black’s presentation is decent, but not spectacular.

                                                               This game LOVES bridges.

                                           

CONCLUSION

Pokémon Black is not a bad game by any means. What it is, though, is a game that brings several additions to a classic franchise, but little in the way of actual improvements. Pokémon fans have already bought it, naysayers have already decried it, so all I can really say is that if you, like me, are a lapsed Pokémon fan looking to try one of the newer games to see how they hold up, proceed with the knowledge that what you’re getting is a slight facelift of a game you played when you were nine. If you can look past a few blemishes, Pokémon Black is still an entertaining trip down memory lane for old trainers like us.

SCORE- B