Pokemon is still running strong - a faithful update and an improvement over the original Silver
The story continues from where Red/Blue/Yellow left off. Team Rocket have got back together after disbanding and are back to cause more havoc in the world of Pokemon. Your trainer, either a male of a female sets out on a quest to complete the Poke' Dex for proffessor Oak and become the champion of the Pokemon League. The starter Pokemon you get to pick from are a little cute grass Pokemon Chikorita, a fire mouse Cyndaquil and an amusing crocodile called Totodile.
f you've played another Pokemon game you'll find no surprises here. you travel from town to town battling other trainers and Team Rocket goons along the way. During your travles through forests, oceans and caves you will find wild Pokemon which can be caught by weakening them and throwing Poke' Balls at them. In the various towns and cities there will be gym leaders, of which you have to defeat all eight before you can enter the Pokemon league.
Each gym specialises in a different type of Pokemon. For example Faulkner of Violet City uses flying Pokemon and Whitney of GoldenRod uses normal Pokemon. The fighting uses a turn based system and certain types have strengths and weaknesses against other types. Sadly, this remake has taken a page out of Diamond and Pearls book. Gym leaders can be cheap, When they only have a tiny few pixels of a HP bar left, the pokemon will restore health with a berry, and then when you get the HP bar back down the gym leader will use a potion to fully restore their Pokemon's health. This isn't a game breaker and you can mimic this, but it's still annoying.
To travel through certain areas in the game, your Pokemon will need to know a move from a HM. For example you will need to learn Surf to cross the ocean. TMs can also be used to teach Pokemon moves and they can also learn moves by levelling up. Since you can only have four attacks per Pokemon, research what moves they can learn to help avoid screwing up their attack combinations.
This remake did introduce a few upgardes. Your current Pokemon now follows you around and you can talk to them to see how they're feeling. The gyms have been completely redesigned with new puzzles. There is also a "Pokeathelon" which is a bunch of touch screen controlled sporting events in the areas of speed, strength and skill. I've only entered it once, but it seems like a pretty cool distraction for a while. The story seems to borrow some elements from Crystal with Suicune (I've never played Crystal, but I know it had a Suicune plot - and there is a Suicune plot here, so I assume it's more or less the same thing) The game also has updates which are standard to the series now. Some double battles and the ability to catch Pokemon from other regions (including Sinnoh) upon completion.
But one thing taht was better in the original was the fact that you don't need to level grind as often for as long. For one thing, the game was easier so you didn't have to gain as many levels back in the day. Also the original moved alot faster so fights were never as long. This remakes biggest flaw is the level grinding time. You can spend anywhere from days to weeks (even months like me if you get fed up or grinding so don't play it for a bit) to get to the approprate levels to stand any chance of winning the fights in your way. This is a game breaker in my opinion. It's even worse than it was in Diamond and Pearl. Rant over
So what's the difference between Heart Gold and Soil Silver? Not much - some of the Pokemon you can get are different. In SS you can get Ledyba and Vulpix, but in HG they were replaced with Spinarak and Growlithe respectively. Also some Pokemon are more likely to appear in a certain area in one version than in the other. The biggest difference is that the capturing of the Legandary Pokemon story section is different.
The game did have a Tamagotchi like device released with it. My version didn't come with one, so I am unable to comment on the success / faliure of it. From what I've heard, it's a fun novelty where you can get items and EXP points, but something which quickly grows boring.
Graphically, the game is pretty nice. The environments are nice and colourful and some of the attacking sprite animations are pretty fun to watch.
The music is great. The tunes are direct remixes of the original, some even surpassing their original tunes. A nice light hearted happy soundtrack with some great intense battle music
Pomemon Soul Silver isn't too different from Pokemon Silver. It's the small updates and nods which make this superior to the original. It's a highly addictive and engrossing game which sucks you in. Even after you have completed the main story there is a second story to keep you occupied and even after that, it is fun to go back and collect and raise Pokemon you missed. Definitely of Gold and Silver standards to me!
Milesprower2k9 Original Reviews