"Pokemon Black and White will be one of the most unforgettable experiences a Pokemon fan will ever have."
Pokemon Black/White introduces us the fifth generation of the Pokemon world, with a brand new region called Unova, arguably one of the most detailed and beautiful regions in the entire series. Its towns are highly detailed and its landscape is far and wide. One of the few notable changes is that the PokeMart is now in the Pokemon Centre, which makes it far more convenient to not usually use a couple of more seconds of time to go buy items that you need. Sure, it's not a large amount of time, but it's better than leaving the Centre just to go to the other side of the town.
The plot of Pokemon Black/White is typical Pokemon plot fodder: boy gets chosen to fill up PokeDex, decides to become the champion of the region and keeps on catching Pokemon to become the Pokemon Master. Oh, yes, and there's some evil organisation causing havoc on the region. The organisation in Pokemon Black/White is Team Plasma, whose motive is far more interesting than all the other teams in the franchise. They don't want to rule the world with a banish beast or flood the entire world, oh no, they want to free Pokemon from their human companions. Will they succeed? You'll have to play to find out.
Black/White's beginning is interesting compared to the other titles in the franchise, as you don't obtain your starter from a lab or find it in the wild, oh no, you obtain it as a gift – except your two childhood friends also receive their starters the exact same way. Along the course of the game, you'll actually receive free Pokemon from strangers, one you will receive before the first gym. As with the franchises other titles, you'll be able to trade with the Non-Player Characters to receive some Pokemon you might not otherwise get normally in the game.
Pokemon Black/White introduces players to one hundred and fifty new Pokemon and they can range from adorable to absolute fierce and powerful, two of which appear on the front covers of their games respectively and are the legendaries of the game. They are Zekrom and Reshiram, and they are quite powerful once obtained in the game. There are several kinds of Pokemon that you would expect in the game, such as an over-flowed trash bag to ice-cream. The less we actually mention their English names, the better, because they're all full of puns. Some are enjoyable, some aren't.
The overall battle mechanics are significantly changed since their appearance in the fourth generation titles. The first thing you will notice is that Pokemon will move during the battle and depending on their damage, they will either be moving quite fast or very slowly. Something else that's also noticeable, whenever your Pokemon is dramatically low on health, the battle music will alter and will not only seem to play slowly, but it will seem that it changes completely. That annoying beeping sound now goes with the music, so now you don't even have to worry about that annoying tone being the bane of your existence.
Another noticeable gameplay mechanic that's been introduced in Black/White is Triple Battles. Double Battles was the interesting concept in the third generation when it was introduced, but with Triple Battles, the mechanics are far complex compared to Double Battles. For example, in Triple Battles, you can choose to attack any of the three opposing Pokemon. However, you can do that if the Pokemon you have selected is in the middle. If a Pokemon is at the left or right side, it'll play like a Double Battle, as that Pokemon will be unable to attack the Pokemon furthest from it. There's also a type of Triple Battle where you can rotate your three Pokemon, making your Triple Battle into a normal single battle.
When Pokemon Gold/Silver introduced the day and night cycle, many gamers were astounded as they had never experienced anything like it before. Nowadays, it's been taken for granted, so they decided to put in another unique feature – Seasons. As with day and night, the seasons will also have certain Pokemon in the wild in certain seasons. The landscape changes significantly, for example, in Autumn, you can see that every tree will have brown leaves and in Winter, areas are covered in Snow. Interestingly enough, there's a certain Pokemon that changes its appearance depending on the season. And, don't worry, its evolution does as well.
Since its debut in Ruby and Sapphire, contests have been a huge part in different styles of gameplay, instead of battling, you get points. Diamond and Pearl changed that and turned it into a mini-game festival. So, Black and White gives us the Pokemon musical. The amusing thing is that it's absolutely different to the mini-games in the contests in the last generation. You don't have to dance to the music – you play the music. If you're doing well enough, the crowd will through you items to customise your Pokemon with. Yes, you can play dress-up with your Pokemon again and neglect them to you will.
Connectivity seems to play a massive part in Black and White, as the game's cartridge has an infrared sensor built inside of it, as did HeartGold and SoulSilver. The infrared primarily uses the new C-Gear, which acts as your PokeGear and Poketch. As with the PokeGear in HeartGold and SoulSilver, you're able to have different skins for your C-Gear. The C-Gear has several forms of connectivity, such as connecting to the Dream World and talking to people via the safe chat system. It is highly advisable that you don't use it in places such as airports and hospitals. A feature similar to Pal Park is also in the game, but you can do it as many times as you want and you use a bow to capture the Pokemon to transfer in your new game.
Music in Pokemon Black and White seems to have a significant improvement over the previous generation. It seems like the music has been orchestrated, as it's possibly the closest we'll ever get to having such epic music on the DS. High praise goes specifically to the Team Plasma battle music. Battling mere mooks with that music can give the player such a high adrenaline rush. Similarly, the Elite Four music is epic even compared to that of the CHAMPION'S music. There are several calm, casual tracks that can calm a player.
Online play seems to have gone up in quality since the previous generation. Friend Codes seem to almost be a thing of the past in this game, as you are now able to battle random strangers online. You can choose from either single, double or triple battles. You're also able to play with rules or without rules. You're still able to trade with people online with specific details and whatnot. Also, with the new Dream World feature, you're able to make one of your Pokemon go to sleep and you're able to catch some Pokemon that you couldn't catch otherwise or catch Pokemon that have abilities they wouldn't normally have.
Two other interesting concepts are the White Forest and Black City. But connecting with players that own the game opposite to the one you own, you're able to either have more Pokemon in the White Forest if you own Pokemon White or you will receive more NPCs to battle in Black City if you own Pokemon Black. The entire concept of actually socially encountering others with the other version to obtain more Pokemon and experience says a lot, it's as if Nintendo doesn't want you to think that the online is all that important and that they still encourage their players to actually play the game with their friends.
Despite all the praise above, Black and White has its fair share of problems. First of all, the game is actually easier than its predecessors as some of the Pokemon you obtain earlier in the game can actually be stronger compared to ones you will encounter later. Secondly, there's not enough post-National PokeDex. Again, compared to previous games, especially HeartGold/SoulSilver, this is a shame, because it seems to rely more on what you've already experienced throughout the main game. It's a shame that Black/White seems to lack all of the materials that could've made it a better game.
Black/White gives the player a more genuine experience compared to the other games in the series, as it follows the template that Red/Blue gave us – no Pokemon from other regions, just region-exclusive Pokemon. Despite the lack of extra content once you've completed the main game, Pokemon Black and White offers the player hundreds of hours of content, and with the improved online play, Pokemon Black and White will be one of the most unforgettable experiences a Pokemon fan will ever have.