even better then pokemon white and black!
Story: 4.75/10
Not that pokemon really needs a great story but many awesome things in this game were set up for a great story but didn't really live up to their potential. It definitely doesn't take away from the story but I personally just thought they could have gone more in depth with the things they had set up to do.
Score 8/10
There is some classic pokemon music here which is always enjoyable along with some cool music that helps carry the game.
Characters/ character development: 6/10
The characters you meet up with are interesting and most are from the first original game. Although they have cool designs we don't learn much except the basics about them (like there goals for pokemon, there relationship with pokemon etc). Hugh (your rival) has a bit of a back story as to why he hates team plasma and it does make him a better character and N has now converted to the good side after seeing the errors of his ways but that is about the extent of character development in this game.
Graphics 8/10
Graphics are very good for a ds game. It does look exactly like the graphics from pokemon black and white so if you enjoyed those graphics you will enjoy it here as well.
Difficulty 5/10 (0 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest)
There is a perfect difficulty curve in this game. You're going to get a good sense of a challenge but it's not going to force you to have to do the same fights over and over. Typically for me the gym leaders came down to my last pokemon in which one attack would have won or lost me the battle. Because of this you get the feeling that the gym leaders really aren't just some pushovers. The champion also provided a great challenge in which you will really have know what you're doing to overcome.
Organization/ Clarity 9.5/10
All of your items are neatly arranged in your bag and you can even rearrange items to your desire. There is also a free space pouch in your bag to put items that you use most often in for quick and easy to find access. The habitat feature on the pokedex is simply wonderful and something that makes you feel as though the pokedex is actually useful. You can now view pokemon by area. For example lets say that im on route 13 and looking for a new flying pokemon. With this new pokedex feature you simly click on route 13 and and it will show you all the pokemon that you have seen that can be caught in that area. You will also receive a stamp when you have seen every pokemon in that area so you'll know what pokemon are where.
Fun 9/10
This is a pokemon game and pokemon games never let you down. There's always caves to explore or battles to participate in or rare pokemon to hunt down and catch meaning that it's going to be about 120+ hours before you have finished everything in this game.
Gameplay 8.75/ 10
Your given a pretty big world to explore which allows for a lot of possibilities of what you want to do. This game is extremely non-linear so you'll always feel like you can do what you want when you want to do it. The battling itself is just as fun as it has always been in previous pokemon games. Learning new moves makes hunting down TMs worthwhile and the leveling up system is just as advanced as it's always been
Recommended for:
Anyone looking for a fun lengthy rpg
Pokemon fans
Anyone who played the original pokemon black and white versions
A good multiplayer game to play with friends (who also have pokemon)
This game took me 80 hours to beat but I still have so much more to do and I'm looking very forward to doing it.