The Power of Catching Them All (a short review)
I love this game. It's so much fun and it's renewed my love for the series and for console gaming itself. I've been so wrapped up in WoW and raiding and team playing that it's nice to be solely accountable for myself and only myself and battling the AI without any social play. Of course there's plenty of social opportunities in this game, but I don't need them.
Story
Pokemon White (Black) introduces the world of Unova and the 156 Pokemon that inhabit it. There are some things in the introduction that I wish could be bypassed (like learning to catch a Pokemon), but it's not enough of a complaint to warrant a change. There are two rivals this time, instead of one, and both portray a different type of stereotyped personality. The boy, Cheran, is the smart intellectual type, with his glasses. He smartly picks the Pokemon your starter is weak to. The girl, Bianca, is blonde, ditzy and not that smart. She picks the Pokemon whose weak against your starter. Throughout the game, you encounter them and battle them, and listen to their antics and small back stories. (Bianca has one, which seems weird.)
I'm impressed with the story overall. Team Plasma (the Team Rocket of Unova) is an interesting enemy. Instead of the usual "we steal pokemon and take over random centers of interest because we're so bad," Team Plasma has taken a more political approach. They are led by N, who doesn't believe owning Pokemon and battling with them is right (although he battles you several times). He is on a journey to form better relationships with Pokemon, but at the same time, his entire team spends the game harassing you and preaching about freeing Pokemon from us, the trainers. I was kind of shocked with the political nature of this conflict. I'm sure we won't be freeing the Pokemon any time soon, so I wonder how they will justify us as trainers capturing, collecting, and battling with them.
For some reason this story seems more mature than the game's intended audience. Good thing. Hell yah.
Graphics
I'm not a techie, spec person, so I don't understand the nature of what the DS is capable of. However, that being said, I would think that the height of the DS's graphics is Kingdom Hearts 365/2. Pokemon has always been a sort of 2d adventure. And while they maintain the same feel of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, they've also managed to make the graphics feel updated. The Pokemon have unique animations. There's even "3d" type areas, including a whole city, that brings some depth into the game without overwhelming anyone. Celestial Tower has a winding staircase that you can actually climb and wind with. Impressive.
Battles
The battle system hasn't changed much at all. The new types of battles, Triple Battles, and Rotation Battles (which are Black), are the new additions. I guess Triple battles are exclusive/more common in Pokemon White. I'm not a big fan of Triple battles. Your Pokemon are restricted depending on where they are standing (the one on the right can't reach the Pokemon on the left) and there's a lot going on. Two battles I think are enough.
I like that the leaders are strong enough, but not over powering. I remember when "super effective" moves would barely hurt a gym leader's Pokemon, even if you out level'd them by a ton. The level gaps aren't nearly that big either, so the game is nicely paced so far.
Leveling
I love leveling. Power-leveling has been given a nice boost in the form of "shaking" grass and the elusive Audino. You run back and forth near a grass spot (don't have to be in the grass, so you can avoid the random battles), and when you see a shaking grass spot, you enter an encounter, usually with Audino. This cute Pokemon yields a ton of XP, even to higher levels.
EXP is now distributed differently. If a Pokemon is lower, it gains extra EXP, while a higher lvl will gain slightly lower. This is great when coupled with EXP Share item, which now shares the experience with just one Pokemon instead of all of them. You can easily level a lower Pokemon to reach the right level using this method.
There's still a level of "farming" for the shaking grasses, but it bypasses the need to be constantly in a random encounter.
Bravo!
Overall so far
I'm loving this game so far. It's reminded me of how awesome the series is and that despite how old the anime is getting, the games never do get old. Nintendo and Game Freak do a great job at updating the game while keeping the same formula that makes the game great. I'm not sure about Post-Credit content, but I''ll update more when I reach there.
Happy catching!
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