Most Pokemon games seem to start the same as the last anymore, and Pokemon Black/White is no different. You start off by meeting the professor of your town, obtain your first Pokemon friend and take off along with your rival (and the occasional friend) on your long Pokemon journey. Obtain the 8 badges and triumph in the Pokemon League while thwarting the plans of the evil team terrorizing the region. There are a few things it does differently of course, but Pokemon White will seem all too familiar……and yet it is somehow still fun to play. Thanks to an improved battle system and a vast region, along with a decent storyline, White is still worth checking out regardless and it’s a pleasure to play through.
After giving you and your two friends (Cheren and Bianca) a choice between 3 Pokemon (Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott), Professor Juniper summons you to her lab. There, she asks you to become Pokemon trainers and help her research by exploring the Unova region and cataloguing as many Pokemon as you can find. Soon, you come across an activist organization known as Team Plasma, who pretty much play PETA and hope to free Pokemon from their trainers (by using Pokemon themselves). Team Plasma is basically the backbone of this entire story, and their motive touches on the thought of keeping Pokemon in balls and making them fight each other. Some of the bigger questions they ask are kind of ignored like “is it right to battle them?” or “is it right to lock them away in tiny balls?”. However, as far as Pokemon stories go, this is probably one of the best in the series. IT certainly isn’t of any high quality, but it’ decent enough to keep you playing.
The graphics continue to use sprites in a bird’s eye view, but it looks much better than previous games. The environments themselves look large and beautiful in their 3D upgrade, especially one city that kind of gives you a 3D perspective as you traverse the city. The battles have especially been upgraded in appearance, Pokemon are now constantly in motion, as opposed to just fidgeting around once at the beginning of each battle. The visuals do a great job making you feel small in such a large and vast world, especially when you go through certain areas of the game and the camera gives you a good view of the world around you.
The Pokemon formula has hardly changed this time around. You explore the region with your very own team of Pokemon. How do you get more? Well just walk into the tall grass until you run into a random encounter with one. You will send out your own Pokemon to do battle, and then you have the option to make it faint (gaining experience) or by weakening it and then throwing a pokeball, catching it for your own use. Each Pokemon is unquie as each one has a different type that may be good against other specific types, and choosing the right one for battle is crucial. In addition, each Pokemon is equipped with their own moves that they learn by leveling up or being taught, and they can evolve into even bigger and stronger. You can use your own team to fight other rival trainers scattered throughout the world, gym leaders (stronger trainers who you must defeat to get to the Pokemon League), the pokemon league and also, other players whether they be around the world or your local friends.
This is about how every Pokemon game plays and this one is no different. There are of course new moves and over 150 new Pokemon added to the already large list, but the battles remain similar. Fortunately, that’s not entirely a bad thing, because this sort of gameplay works very well. Fans of older Pokemon might be disappointed to know that the new Pokemon are the only Pokemon available to you prior to beating the game, though this isn’t such a bad thing. It really gives you a chance to experiment with the new Pokemon available, even if not all of them are that appealing.
The game is as fun as every other Pokemon game, but the problem is this is another one that was afraid to change too much. In fact, the only bigger changes involve the addition of triple battles and rotation battles. There are more additions to multiplayer, however, now called C-gear. The C-gear is displayed in the bottom screen and it gives you quick access to other players at any time. Very handy compared to having to go all the way to a Pokemon Center like previous games. Using the C-gear, you can instantly trade and battle others over WiFi. Battling and trading with others is always a joy. Then there’s the feeling check mini game, a rhythm game which is played locally and tests the bonds between you and your Pokemon, It’s not very exciting, but at least you are rewarded with items.
In one way, Pokemon White’s new visuals, battle modes and online features make an attempt to make the experience feel like a new and refreshing one. In another way, at its core, White feels a little too familiar to past games in the series. However, that doesn’t mean that this game is in anyway bad. In fact, it’s still a fun and deep RPG adventure that fans of the series shouldn’t gloss over. Beneath the familiarity is an improved battle system and online mode that should keep you busy. If you’ve never seen the appeal of the Pokemon franchise before, this is not the game to change your mind, but fans shouldn’t be scared away.