Introduction
I bet none of you saw this coming. A review of the new Pokémon games, coming from ME. I have been stubbornly anti-fifth generation ever since Zorua and Zoroark were released, and none of the new designs have even come close to appealing to me. Why the hell did I even consider buying this game, then playing it,, and now reviewing it? Surely there has been some terrible mistake, and my account has been hacked, or I’m deliberately trolling?
…well, I’m afraid there is no mistake. A combination of pestering from my mother (who has a copy of White, and doesn’t like socialising with people online to get Pokémon she needs…not that I blame her) and a couple of lengthy conversations with a member on here who will go unnamed (Mark) convinced me…why the hell not? Pokémon is Pokémon, and I could always hack myself a decent team if/when I cracked (unfortunately, my Action Replay is out-dated, so that idea went straight down the drain) and it’d give me something to play on my DS…and, best of all, it would stop my mother from whinging. Lots of rationalising later and I end up getting a copy of Black on launch day, along with my mother’s copy of White.
The first few hours were, predictably, hell. I was about ready to tear someone’s (Mark’s) throat out for convincing me to get it. However, the more I played, the more I realised that, asides from the crappy new Pokémon, nothing had really changed. A bit of a backhanded compliment there, but one nonetheless. I’ve been a Pokémon fan since the very first episode aired, and I’ve stuck with it…up to this point. So, how did the fifth generation measure up? Read on!
On a side note, I’d like to point out that asides from White Forest, the standard fare of version exclusives, and catching Zekrom instead of Reshiram, Pokémon Black is identical to Pokémon White, so this review could function as a review for both games. However, since Black is the game I played, Black is the game I will be reviewing. I will touch upon aspects of Pokémon White in the review, though.
Storyline: 4.5/10
You are a Pokémon Trainer, and it is your task to travel the land of Unova, collecting all eight Gym Badges of the region, challenge and defeat the Elite Four, thwart the schemes of the evil Team Plasma, and become a Pokémon Master.
In single paragraph, I’ve summed up the essence of what qualifies for a story in this game – and every other Pokémon game in the main series that has preceded it, in fact…as well as almost 700 episodes of anime. Absolutely nothing has changed here, and if you’ve played a Pokémon game before, you’re going to recognise the pattern and, beyond this, there is little to say.
Your main protagonists here are Team Plasma who, rather than attempting to conquer the world through Pokémon use, are attempting to liberate Pokémon by having their trainers release them. This sounds revolutionary and interesting when compared to previous games, and Team Plasma are afforded considerably more time than Team Galactic in the previous generation were, but it is no more unique or detailed than having two different teams with conflicting goals was in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, so fans of the series shouldn’t be expecting anything new here. Team Plasma provide little more than a break between the travelling, battling and, indeed, the complete lack of story you’ll be getting outside their occasional appearances.
Like all of the games, Pokémon Black also has little in the way of a backstory: there are a few legends regarding the Legendary mascot Pokémon, Reshiram and Zekrom, but these are rarely mentioned over the course of the story, outside of Team Plasma events, and only then to justify their appearance and inevitable capture at your hands. If this were any other RP, the score would be considerably lower than this; it’s a standard “call upon the deity to save the world” storyline that gets hardly any attention whatsoever and feels more like an excuse to be doing something else than the main reason you’re playing the game. But, to be fair, this was to be expected. Pokémon has never been about a gripping, involving storyline (at least, not with the mothership titles) and Pokémon Black is no exception. Unless you absolutely must have a good storyline in your games, you shouldn’t let this score sway you in the slightest.
Outsiders who come into this game expecting a proper storyline are going to be hugely disappointed, as are fans who were expecting something a little more elaborate this time around. This is Pokémon through and through, and for fans with no expectations it will as satisfying as all the previous instalments have been.
Characters: 4.5/10
With the exception of a few unique NPCs (for example, your childhood rivals), Team Plasma officials, and Gym Leaders, you’ll spend your time surrounded by bland, almost indistinguishable NPCs who have maybe two or three lines of dialogue that they’ll just repeat every time you speak to them. Much as it was with the other games, none of the characters really stick out: were it not for the detail of the aforementioned character’s sprites, it is likely that they would be completely forgettable as well. The cast of Pokémon Black is just as poor as any of the other games has been and, if you go into this with any expectations whatsoever, you’re going to come away extremely disappointed. But, as with the story, the character development has always been non-existent in Pokémon games, and you’ll remember characters more for the Pokémon they use (or, in the case of the Professor, for being the first female Professor) rather than for their individual personalities, which are sadly lacking. Some of them (for example, N and the Champion) have barely explored backstories to justify their infrequent appearances, although most of the characters in this game you’ll see once and then never again, unless you seek them out, and they give you absolutely no reason to do that.
There are a few cameos to be found though, in the form of Cynthia, the Champion from Sinnoh, and Looker, the highly annoying detective from Pokémon Platinum, but these are very minor appearances, and more for fans of the series than anything else.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
The next few paragraphs will give a brief overview of the mechanics of how Pokémon Black works, for those of you who are new to the series. For those that aren’t, skip ahead a little to see what is new with these games…and what they miss out.
Pokémon Black is a top-down RPG in which you take the role of a Pokémon Trainer. Your objectives are threefold: a) travel the land of Unova to defeat the eight Gym Leaders and obtain their Gym Badges so that you can enter the Pokémon League and prove yourself to be the strongest Pokémon Trainer, b) foil the plans of Team Plasma, a mysterious organization you will learn more of as the game progresses, and c) complete your Pokedex by obtaining one of each type of Pokémon. The third objective is, thankfully, optional, whilst the first two you will do naturally through the course of the game.
Pokémon battles, what you’ll spent most of your time doing in this game, are turn-based, and involve picking one of the four moves your Pokémon will have to attack (or possibly to heal your own Pokémon or increase your stats) the other Pokémon with, be it a wild Pokémon, or a trainer’s. Since the fourth generation, moves have been split into physical and special categories, adding a further level of strategy to the gameplay: Pokémon with a higher special attack stat, naturally, will do more damage if they use a special move. You can also use items in battle to restore your Pokémon’s health, or increase its stats, although this will use up your turn. There are a total of sixteen types, each with their own weakness and resistances, and most Pokémon now have two types. Using a type that has a resistance to your opponent’s, naturally, improves your chances of victory, and if you use a move that is of the same type as your Pokémon (for example, having a grass type use a grass move) it will do slightly more damage. Moves also have different levels of power and accuracy – naturally, the most powerful moves come with a reduced accuracy.
If you are battling a wild Pokémon, you can also attempt to capture it by throwing a Pokeball once you have sufficiently weakened it. There are a variety of Pokeballs, some of which work better in certain situations than others. Whether or not you capture a Pokémon is determined by a very long and complex formula involving the difference between a Pokémon’s remaining health and maximum health, the ball you’re using, and whether or not it has a status effect. Sufficed it to say, this isn’t something that you’ll be able to calculate with any degree of accuracy, so it is often a case (especially in the case of Legendaries) of chipping its health away, inflicting a status effect (such as putting the Pokémon to sleep), and then throwing the best ball you have (often Dusk Balls, which offer a considerable bonus if you use them in caves or at night) and hoping for the best. At times, it feels extremely random, and can be highly frustrating because of this. Catching a Pokémon will make it yours to use in battles as you please…or you can simply stash it away in your PC, to be forgotten or used at a later date.
Upon winning a battle, Pokémon that participated in the battle will earn experience points and, naturally, once they acquire enough experience points they will level up, increasing their stats, possibly learning a new move, and some will also evolve once they reach a certain level. There are other ways to teach your Pokémon moves (through use of TMs and HMs, which usually contain moves they would not learn through levelling up) and to level them up (via trade, use of particular stones, making them happy, etc.) but, for the majority of the game, these methods won’t really feature and, unless you play the game after defeating the Elite Four, you may not even encounter these gameplay mechanics at all.
For those of you wanting something a little more involving, there are many more subtle elements to the gameplay regarding the way in which you train and breed your Pokémon: for example, Effort Values (EVs) are hidden points that are awarded after completing a battle, which will increase your stats further upon levelling up. Different Pokémon give different EVs, and each Pokémon can acquire up to 510 EVs total, with a maximum of 255 per stat. Each Pokémon also has different Individual Values (IVs) that determine stat growth, and different natures will allow for different stat growth (for example, a Pokémon with an Adamant nature will experience considerable growth to its attack stat, but a reduced special attack stat) and this, combined with the ability to breed Pokémon to acquire different moves that they would not otherwise learn, means that the game can be extremely involving if you so choose for it to be. Understanding and exploiting these mechanics is essential if you are going to battle online, but they are not essential for the main story.
Pokémon Black, like every other Pokémon game preceding it, is very accommodating in allowing you to choose your play style: if you wish to rigorously plot your Pokémon’s development or simply cruise through and catch whatever takes your fancy, the game allows you to do either and still be able to finish the main story without a huge level of difficulty.
There is a huge variety of different strategies and gameplay elements, and covering them all in detail would probably triple the length of this review. You can choose to exploit these elements, or you can ignore them – whilst online play is very restrictive (i.e. you either play a certain way or you lose) the game itself allows you to do as you choose, and won’t punish you for ignoring things. In short, it is as simple or complicated as you choose to make it. For its part, the game attempts to ease you in gradually, starting off with the basics of battling, type advantage (which the first Gym focuses on) and levelling up, before introducing different aspects such as different weather conditions, or introducing Pokémon that can only evolve via trading along routes.
Now then, to the part the majority of you will have been waiting for: how does Pokémon Black differentiate itself from the games that have preceded it?
Firstly, we’ll cover the obvious: an entirely new region to explore. The Unova region is roughly the same size as Sinnoh was, although almost the entire right side of the map is locked until you finish the game, meaning that whilst you may not have as much to do after completing the game (see below) you certainly have a lot more than usual to explore. Exploring Unova is, sadly, very linear – were it not for random NPCs occasionally stopping you from proceeding unless you defeat the Gym Leader. In all previous Pokémon games, you have always required HMs to proceed past obstacles, meaning you had to defeat the Gym Leaders as you came to them. Without this, there is no real sense of progress to be had in the game: it feels as though you are simply following a path laid out for you; the only point to defeating the Gym Leaders is to get an NPC out of your way so you can keep exploring, not so you can develop as a trainer and gain access to new moves that open up new areas in the game.
There are also 156 brand new Pokémon (three of which, surprise surprise, cannot be caught in the game), bringing the total up to 649. Putting the designs aside, there is a wide variety here, and some new type combinations that haven’t been seen before. This is a stand-alone generation; there are no pre-evolutions or new evolutions of existing Pokémon. Stat-wise, the vast majority of these new Pokémon are tremendously imbalanced, and have thrown online tiers further into chaos. When compared to previous generations, some of the Pokémon available here are simply too powerful and, rather than enhance the strategy, they reduce it – rather than a carefully executed battle, it becomes a case of who starts with the strongest Pokémon and then spams the most powerful moves, enhanced by Choice items or a Life Orb. Whilst the same could be said of the fourth generation, the fifth adds to the problem significantly. There are a variety of new moves to go with these new Pokémon also, which does enhance the strategy to a degree in-game, however.
Rotation Battles have also been included, in which you battle with three Pokémon on a rotating platform. Only the Pokémon at the front can attack, yet you can rotate this platform at will, allowing one of your other Pokémon to battle, or intercept an attack. Whilst this opens up all-new windows of opportunity for strategy, the execution is clumsy and awkward, and you will encounter perhaps three or four trainers over the course of the main adventure that actually battles you using this method. Whereas Double Battles, when they were first introduced, were everywhere, Rotation Battles are hardly utilised at all, and feel like little more than a tacked-on afterthought, rather than the ground-breaking strategy leap they could have been.
Once you complete the game, you gain access to the PokeShift function, which allows you to transfer Pokémon from your previous games, although the transfer is, annoyingly, one way. There are a few stupid restrictions (for example, you cannot transfer any Pokémon that know HM moves, despite the fact that the HM moves are exactly the same in this game as well) but this is quite an interesting, gimmicky little feature: similar to Pal Park, you must first capture the Pokémon you want to transfer before you can use them, which involves a top-down mini-game in which the Pokémon will jump from bush to bush, and you must catapult Pokeballs at them before the timer runs down. You can do this as many times as you like in a day, as well.
Completing the game also earns you the National Pokedex, and suddenly a flood of Pokémon become available to you. This makes the game feel quite unbalanced: you’re stuck with the fifth gen Pokémon for the entirety of the story, and the routes that you can visit post-game are so jam-packed with Pokémon from previous generations that it’s a wonder the grass isn’t overflowing with them. Levels also make a considerable jump to between level 50 and 70, and trainers along the route also get considerably stronger. This adds to the challenge, but by this point it’s likely you’ll have your old Pokémon over from your previous games. The Elite Four also get a significant upgrade once you go to challenge them again.
Pokémon Musicals are a new, optional feature, although these are little different from the Pokémon contests of the previous generations: after dressing a Pokémon up in various accessories, they perform on stage and, depending on the audience’s reaction to this, they’ll throw items at your Pokémon in appreciation, that you’ll get to keep. As with the Pokémon contests before them, musicals have categories such as Cool and Cute, and different accessories will improve your rating in this category. However, unlike the Pokémon contests before them, the competitive element has been lost, and these feel more like a distraction than an actual side event.
Pokémon Black also sees the introduction of different seasons. Each season lasts a month, and alters the entire landscape. For example, as you would expect, if it is currently winter in the game, lakes are frozen over, and snow covers everything in sight. There is also a certain degree of day and night in this game, although it is not exploited to the same degree that it was in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Different Pokémon will appear during different seasons, but not at different times of day.
The most prominent version exclusive feature comes in the form of Black City which is unlocked after you complete the main story. Black City is a giant city, which will begin with very little to it – a few trainers, and some small buildings. However, as you connect with people (see below for details regarding the C-Gear feature) you will gradually begin to acquire (and lose) people, unlocking new items for purchase, and stronger trainers to battle. Pokémon White’s equivalent is White Forest which, rather than having trainers to battle, has wild Pokémon in their base form to capture.
The game also has an abundance of online features: the GTS makes a return, allowing you to trade Pokémon with people from all across the world (although you can only ask for Pokémon you have already registered in your Pokedex, and you can also have random matchups with trainers from across the globe as well. The Friend Code system makes a return also: by exchanging friend codes with individual people, you can trade and battle with them specifically. The C-Gear is Pokémon Black’s new online feature, and the interface sits on the bottom screen outside of battles. With friends in close proximity, this acts in much the same way as the Union Room feature, allowing you to trade, exchange friend codes, and battle one another. The Wireless element of the C-Gear allows you to receive Pokémon you have caught from the Dream World, an online service that allows you to capture Pokémon not available in the games.
However, when compared to previous games and their post-game content (read: Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver) Pokémon Black has very, VERY little to offer. Without going on a collect-a-thon, compared to exploring the Kanto region and battle the Kanto Gym Leaders and re-battle both sets of Gym Leaders – an entire game’s worth of content in its own right – that those games offer, there is absolutely nothing here worthy of note. Once you have finished the main story and explored the scant few new areas that open up, you’ve essentially done everything there is to do in the game, and it’s extremely disappointing.
One of the most frustrating flaws with this game is the ridiculously high wild Pokemon encounter rate. You can literally take a single step and be thrust into a battle, and then take another step and be thrust once again into a battle. This can go on until you either get out of the grass or the cave you’re in. Other times, you can run through areas and not encounter anything at all for the entire time. The random battles in Pokémon have never been that big of an issue before – after all, many other games utilise a similar system, and it is something you either love or hate. However, with Pokémon Black, it is something that will frustrate even the most patient of people.
Unlike some of its predecessors (HeartGold, SoulSilver and the third games released a year after the original two, for example Pokémon Platinum) Pokémon Black does not go above and beyond with its gameplay, instead providing us with the bare bones. It has a very “good enough” feel to it, much as Diamond and Pearl did before it, and this predictable lack of effort is its greatest downfall. To conclude, the gameplay is solid, but there isn’t anything to recommend it over any of the other games in the series and, whilst solid is better than many games on the market these days, there is nothing exceptional here.
Controls: 9.8/10
With the exception of the PokeShift mini-game, which can be somewhat gimmicky or slow to react on occasion, as you’re required to pull back the crossbow by sliding your DS on the touchscreen, and then hold it there before releasing it, the controls for Pokémon Black are essentially identical to the controls for the other Pokémon DS games, which were absolutely fine. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. You use the D-Pad to move around, and you can utilise the touch screen in battle or in menus if you so choose, or us the D-Pad for that as well. Both methods work perfectly, and you won’t encounter any particularly frustrating or difficulty here.
Graphics: 8.0/10
Pokémon Black is a definite step-up from previous instalments, as the world shifts from static, flat 2D to a polygonal, “3D” approach. Whilst the DS is capable of far more than what is on show here, the top-down world is more impressive than it has ever been, and a real sense of scale is shown here, particularly when you are travelling across bridges, or are in the larger cities, where the buildings dwarf you in size – and, in the case of Black City, the camera scrolls out to encompass the entire city, reducing your trainer sprite to little more than a speck. The camera angle is no longer fixed, and moves around quite a bit – it will zoom out to give you a sense of scale, or shift slightly if you are ascending stairs. What little variety there is shows off the game quite nicely and, considering that the game is based on a fictional New York, the lack of colour and grungy setting is quite appropriate, and makes those few pristine forest areas you’ll encounter all the more special.
Battle sprites have also received an upgrade, and are more animated than they’ve ever been – they constantly move in battle and, if you leave the game idle, the camera will pan around the battlefield, giving you different angles. For 2D sprites, their movement is surprisingly fluid on a normal DS screen, and the attack animation has been upgraded significantly as well. There is a greater sense of connecting with your opponent, as attacks appear to come from your Pokémon and actually strike the opponent, rather than static special effects that come out of nowhere. Whilst these static effects are still present for some moves – most notably, physical moves – overall, the effect is quite impressive, and battles are a more enjoyable experience for it.
However, whilst the polygonal “3D” visuals are very striking, that the world map sprites have not received an upgrade along with them makes them feel very out of place. The graphical update this game has received, whilst impressive, feels incomplete, and there are times when it can’t seem to decide whether or not it wants to be a 3D game or a 2D one. Seeing 2D sprites run across a seemingly 3D environment is a very odd perspective, and there are occasions when it appears that your character is, for lack of a better word, hovering across the landscape. Also, due to the setting of the game, there is not quite as much variety in the locations as there are in previous games, and once you’ve crossed yet another bridge, the sense of wonder begins to wear off.
Sound: 6.2/10
The soundtrack for this game is, regrettably, mediocre and highly forgettable. It is all relatively well-composed and not so intolerable that you’ll turn the volume down immediately, but the most noticeable flaw is that there is nowhere near enough in the way of variety: once you’ve heard the same tired battle theme for the umpteenth time, you’ll quickly just turn the volume down. The soundtrack isn’t exceptionally bad, but you’ll be hearing a lot of the same themes repeatedly over the course of the game. What few remixes there are are of a good standard and will bring smiles to those who recognise them, but they crop up infrequently. Pokémon cries make a return and they are, unsurprisingly, as ear-splitting and aggravating as they’ve ever been.
A nice touch, however, is that music now changes to suit the pace of battle. For example, when your Pokémon is on red health, a more fast-paced, dramatic piece will play in place of the default battle music, and will only stop when your Pokémon dies or you heal it. When you have whittled down a Gym Leader to their last Pokémon, a faster version of the timeless Pokémon menu theme will play in its place. This actually serves rather well to make the battles much more exciting and this, combined with the additional animations of the sprites in battle, makes for quite an entertaining experience.
Unique/Extra Features: 5.0/10
Like every other Pokémon game that has preceded it, Pokémon Black brings some prominent new features to the tables, most notably a cycle of seasons and a new battle style. To call it an all-new Pokémon game would be an exaggeration, because it is, in essence, the same game released on the Gameboy Colour back in the 90s, just with a new coat of paint. There is a lot here that hasn’t been seen before – the entire region and the Pokémon themselves are new – but this is a tactic that Nintendo utilised with Gold and Silver, then again with Ruby and Sapphire, and then again with Diamond and Pearl. Unique in presentation, but not unique in execution.
If anything, however, Pokémon Black has less extra features in it than any of the other Pokémon DS games to come out. Many of the extra features that have featured in past games – such as the ability to re-battle Gym Leaders – have been removed for some unknowable reason (likely so that they seem special when the inevitable third game comes out) and, as a result, you’re left feeling very short changed. Unfortunately, the new features in this game do not outweigh the extra features that it lost.
Replay value: 6.0/10
Whether or not you’ll want to play this game again depends, ultimately, on how much effort you invest into it the first time around. If you explore every gameplay element, building up a team of tournament-worthy Pokémon and painstakingly collecting every Pokémon you can get your hands on, it is practically guaranteed that you’ll never want to start the game again. Even if you play it casually, then you’ll probably want to leave it alone for a while before starting it again, since the main adventure takes about 20 hours to finish, and much of that will be spent levelling up your Pokémon. For most people, Pokémon Black will be a game that you play once, then occasionally go back to when you feel like catching more Pokémon, or exploring the post-game content.
Overall Rating: 6.8/10
Pokémon Black measures up to the standards we’ve come to expect of the Pokémon franchise. You wander the lands, defeating Gym Leaders and the barely explored evil team, catching Pokémon, challenging the Elite Four, and you get this wonderful feeling of satisfaction when you’re finished. It was a good formula back then, and it’s still good even now, despite how old and tired it is. It’s FUN. If that is all you’re looking for, then look no further: Pokémon Black is the same as any other Pokémon game.
However, if you’re in the market for a Pokémon game on the DS, this would be my last recommendation. These games just cannot compare to the previously released HeartGold and SoulSilver, simply because there is so much more to them than there is here: two regions, the ability to re-battle Gym Leaders, miniature Pokémon sprites that follow you around, AND an awesome little pedometer that lets you take your Pokémon with you. Were it not for these two games, my final scoring of Pokémon Black (and, by extension, Pokémon White, given the games are practically identical) may have been much higher. However, they just cannot compare and, pretty visuals aside, they feel like a step backwards in every other way. There is less to do, until you finish the game there is considerably less to catch, and there is little to differentiate this from any other instalment in the handheld series.
No doubt fans have already bought a copy of this game, finished it, and are either nodding their heads in agreement at my review or have closed it long since. Fans of the series who have not bought it, because they have the same concerns I have had, my advice would be this: wait until the inevitable third game in the series comes out, because (hopefully) they will correct some of the mistakes they made with these games, at least in terms of omitted content. If you’re considering buying this game, be warned: the first two hours are a long, tedious slog, due to the ridiculously high encounter rate and the complete lack of variety you’ll be faced with for the first few routes. You won’t assemble a good team until at least your third badge.
For those of you who have not yet hopped onto the Pokémon bandwagon (where the hell have you been these last fifteen years?!) and are considering it now: take a step backwards and get HeartGold or SoulSilver. There is infinitely more value for your money in those games, and they are superior in every way imaginable. Pokémon Black (or White) is not the ideal game to start with: this is a game that is, really, solely for the fans, and then only the patient ones who won’t let the unoriginality of the designs of the new Pokémon interfere with their ability to enjoy themselves.
In summary: it’s Pokémon. Your initial feeling about whether or not you would enjoy this game is likely to be accurate: Pokémon fans will enjoy it, because nothing has changed, and those who dislike the series will likely continue to dislike it, because nothing has changed. A new coat of paint to a franchise that hasn’t changed for fifteen years, nothing more, nothing less.
I bet none of you saw this coming. A review of the new Pokémon games, coming from ME. I have been stubbornly anti-fifth generation ever since Zorua and Zoroark were released, and none of the new designs have even come close to appealing to me. Why the hell did I even consider buying this game, then playing it,, and now reviewing it? Surely there has been some terrible mistake, and my account has been hacked, or I’m deliberately trolling?
…well, I’m afraid there is no mistake. A combination of pestering from my mother (who has a copy of White, and doesn’t like socialising with people online to get Pokémon she needs…not that I blame her) and a couple of lengthy conversations with a member on here who will go unnamed (Mark) convinced me…why the hell not? Pokémon is Pokémon, and I could always hack myself a decent team if/when I cracked (unfortunately, my Action Replay is out-dated, so that idea went straight down the drain) and it’d give me something to play on my DS…and, best of all, it would stop my mother from whinging. Lots of rationalising later and I end up getting a copy of Black on launch day, along with my mother’s copy of White.
The first few hours were, predictably, hell. I was about ready to tear someone’s (Mark’s) throat out for convincing me to get it. However, the more I played, the more I realised that, asides from the crappy new Pokémon, nothing had really changed. A bit of a backhanded compliment there, but one nonetheless. I’ve been a Pokémon fan since the very first episode aired, and I’ve stuck with it…up to this point. So, how did the fifth generation measure up? Read on!
On a side note, I’d like to point out that asides from White Forest, the standard fare of version exclusives, and catching Zekrom instead of Reshiram, Pokémon Black is identical to Pokémon White, so this review could function as a review for both games. However, since Black is the game I played, Black is the game I will be reviewing. I will touch upon aspects of Pokémon White in the review, though.
Storyline: 4.5/10
You are a Pokémon Trainer, and it is your task to travel the land of Unova, collecting all eight Gym Badges of the region, challenge and defeat the Elite Four, thwart the schemes of the evil Team Plasma, and become a Pokémon Master.
In single paragraph, I’ve summed up the essence of what qualifies for a story in this game – and every other Pokémon game in the main series that has preceded it, in fact…as well as almost 700 episodes of anime. Absolutely nothing has changed here, and if you’ve played a Pokémon game before, you’re going to recognise the pattern and, beyond this, there is little to say.
Your main protagonists here are Team Plasma who, rather than attempting to conquer the world through Pokémon use, are attempting to liberate Pokémon by having their trainers release them. This sounds revolutionary and interesting when compared to previous games, and Team Plasma are afforded considerably more time than Team Galactic in the previous generation were, but it is no more unique or detailed than having two different teams with conflicting goals was in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, so fans of the series shouldn’t be expecting anything new here. Team Plasma provide little more than a break between the travelling, battling and, indeed, the complete lack of story you’ll be getting outside their occasional appearances.
Like all of the games, Pokémon Black also has little in the way of a backstory: there are a few legends regarding the Legendary mascot Pokémon, Reshiram and Zekrom, but these are rarely mentioned over the course of the story, outside of Team Plasma events, and only then to justify their appearance and inevitable capture at your hands. If this were any other RP, the score would be considerably lower than this; it’s a standard “call upon the deity to save the world” storyline that gets hardly any attention whatsoever and feels more like an excuse to be doing something else than the main reason you’re playing the game. But, to be fair, this was to be expected. Pokémon has never been about a gripping, involving storyline (at least, not with the mothership titles) and Pokémon Black is no exception. Unless you absolutely must have a good storyline in your games, you shouldn’t let this score sway you in the slightest.
Outsiders who come into this game expecting a proper storyline are going to be hugely disappointed, as are fans who were expecting something a little more elaborate this time around. This is Pokémon through and through, and for fans with no expectations it will as satisfying as all the previous instalments have been.
Characters: 4.5/10
With the exception of a few unique NPCs (for example, your childhood rivals), Team Plasma officials, and Gym Leaders, you’ll spend your time surrounded by bland, almost indistinguishable NPCs who have maybe two or three lines of dialogue that they’ll just repeat every time you speak to them. Much as it was with the other games, none of the characters really stick out: were it not for the detail of the aforementioned character’s sprites, it is likely that they would be completely forgettable as well. The cast of Pokémon Black is just as poor as any of the other games has been and, if you go into this with any expectations whatsoever, you’re going to come away extremely disappointed. But, as with the story, the character development has always been non-existent in Pokémon games, and you’ll remember characters more for the Pokémon they use (or, in the case of the Professor, for being the first female Professor) rather than for their individual personalities, which are sadly lacking. Some of them (for example, N and the Champion) have barely explored backstories to justify their infrequent appearances, although most of the characters in this game you’ll see once and then never again, unless you seek them out, and they give you absolutely no reason to do that.
There are a few cameos to be found though, in the form of Cynthia, the Champion from Sinnoh, and Looker, the highly annoying detective from Pokémon Platinum, but these are very minor appearances, and more for fans of the series than anything else.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
The next few paragraphs will give a brief overview of the mechanics of how Pokémon Black works, for those of you who are new to the series. For those that aren’t, skip ahead a little to see what is new with these games…and what they miss out.
Pokémon Black is a top-down RPG in which you take the role of a Pokémon Trainer. Your objectives are threefold: a) travel the land of Unova to defeat the eight Gym Leaders and obtain their Gym Badges so that you can enter the Pokémon League and prove yourself to be the strongest Pokémon Trainer, b) foil the plans of Team Plasma, a mysterious organization you will learn more of as the game progresses, and c) complete your Pokedex by obtaining one of each type of Pokémon. The third objective is, thankfully, optional, whilst the first two you will do naturally through the course of the game.
Pokémon battles, what you’ll spent most of your time doing in this game, are turn-based, and involve picking one of the four moves your Pokémon will have to attack (or possibly to heal your own Pokémon or increase your stats) the other Pokémon with, be it a wild Pokémon, or a trainer’s. Since the fourth generation, moves have been split into physical and special categories, adding a further level of strategy to the gameplay: Pokémon with a higher special attack stat, naturally, will do more damage if they use a special move. You can also use items in battle to restore your Pokémon’s health, or increase its stats, although this will use up your turn. There are a total of sixteen types, each with their own weakness and resistances, and most Pokémon now have two types. Using a type that has a resistance to your opponent’s, naturally, improves your chances of victory, and if you use a move that is of the same type as your Pokémon (for example, having a grass type use a grass move) it will do slightly more damage. Moves also have different levels of power and accuracy – naturally, the most powerful moves come with a reduced accuracy.
If you are battling a wild Pokémon, you can also attempt to capture it by throwing a Pokeball once you have sufficiently weakened it. There are a variety of Pokeballs, some of which work better in certain situations than others. Whether or not you capture a Pokémon is determined by a very long and complex formula involving the difference between a Pokémon’s remaining health and maximum health, the ball you’re using, and whether or not it has a status effect. Sufficed it to say, this isn’t something that you’ll be able to calculate with any degree of accuracy, so it is often a case (especially in the case of Legendaries) of chipping its health away, inflicting a status effect (such as putting the Pokémon to sleep), and then throwing the best ball you have (often Dusk Balls, which offer a considerable bonus if you use them in caves or at night) and hoping for the best. At times, it feels extremely random, and can be highly frustrating because of this. Catching a Pokémon will make it yours to use in battles as you please…or you can simply stash it away in your PC, to be forgotten or used at a later date.
Upon winning a battle, Pokémon that participated in the battle will earn experience points and, naturally, once they acquire enough experience points they will level up, increasing their stats, possibly learning a new move, and some will also evolve once they reach a certain level. There are other ways to teach your Pokémon moves (through use of TMs and HMs, which usually contain moves they would not learn through levelling up) and to level them up (via trade, use of particular stones, making them happy, etc.) but, for the majority of the game, these methods won’t really feature and, unless you play the game after defeating the Elite Four, you may not even encounter these gameplay mechanics at all.
For those of you wanting something a little more involving, there are many more subtle elements to the gameplay regarding the way in which you train and breed your Pokémon: for example, Effort Values (EVs) are hidden points that are awarded after completing a battle, which will increase your stats further upon levelling up. Different Pokémon give different EVs, and each Pokémon can acquire up to 510 EVs total, with a maximum of 255 per stat. Each Pokémon also has different Individual Values (IVs) that determine stat growth, and different natures will allow for different stat growth (for example, a Pokémon with an Adamant nature will experience considerable growth to its attack stat, but a reduced special attack stat) and this, combined with the ability to breed Pokémon to acquire different moves that they would not otherwise learn, means that the game can be extremely involving if you so choose for it to be. Understanding and exploiting these mechanics is essential if you are going to battle online, but they are not essential for the main story.
Pokémon Black, like every other Pokémon game preceding it, is very accommodating in allowing you to choose your play style: if you wish to rigorously plot your Pokémon’s development or simply cruise through and catch whatever takes your fancy, the game allows you to do either and still be able to finish the main story without a huge level of difficulty.
There is a huge variety of different strategies and gameplay elements, and covering them all in detail would probably triple the length of this review. You can choose to exploit these elements, or you can ignore them – whilst online play is very restrictive (i.e. you either play a certain way or you lose) the game itself allows you to do as you choose, and won’t punish you for ignoring things. In short, it is as simple or complicated as you choose to make it. For its part, the game attempts to ease you in gradually, starting off with the basics of battling, type advantage (which the first Gym focuses on) and levelling up, before introducing different aspects such as different weather conditions, or introducing Pokémon that can only evolve via trading along routes.
Now then, to the part the majority of you will have been waiting for: how does Pokémon Black differentiate itself from the games that have preceded it?
Firstly, we’ll cover the obvious: an entirely new region to explore. The Unova region is roughly the same size as Sinnoh was, although almost the entire right side of the map is locked until you finish the game, meaning that whilst you may not have as much to do after completing the game (see below) you certainly have a lot more than usual to explore. Exploring Unova is, sadly, very linear – were it not for random NPCs occasionally stopping you from proceeding unless you defeat the Gym Leader. In all previous Pokémon games, you have always required HMs to proceed past obstacles, meaning you had to defeat the Gym Leaders as you came to them. Without this, there is no real sense of progress to be had in the game: it feels as though you are simply following a path laid out for you; the only point to defeating the Gym Leaders is to get an NPC out of your way so you can keep exploring, not so you can develop as a trainer and gain access to new moves that open up new areas in the game.
There are also 156 brand new Pokémon (three of which, surprise surprise, cannot be caught in the game), bringing the total up to 649. Putting the designs aside, there is a wide variety here, and some new type combinations that haven’t been seen before. This is a stand-alone generation; there are no pre-evolutions or new evolutions of existing Pokémon. Stat-wise, the vast majority of these new Pokémon are tremendously imbalanced, and have thrown online tiers further into chaos. When compared to previous generations, some of the Pokémon available here are simply too powerful and, rather than enhance the strategy, they reduce it – rather than a carefully executed battle, it becomes a case of who starts with the strongest Pokémon and then spams the most powerful moves, enhanced by Choice items or a Life Orb. Whilst the same could be said of the fourth generation, the fifth adds to the problem significantly. There are a variety of new moves to go with these new Pokémon also, which does enhance the strategy to a degree in-game, however.
Rotation Battles have also been included, in which you battle with three Pokémon on a rotating platform. Only the Pokémon at the front can attack, yet you can rotate this platform at will, allowing one of your other Pokémon to battle, or intercept an attack. Whilst this opens up all-new windows of opportunity for strategy, the execution is clumsy and awkward, and you will encounter perhaps three or four trainers over the course of the main adventure that actually battles you using this method. Whereas Double Battles, when they were first introduced, were everywhere, Rotation Battles are hardly utilised at all, and feel like little more than a tacked-on afterthought, rather than the ground-breaking strategy leap they could have been.
Once you complete the game, you gain access to the PokeShift function, which allows you to transfer Pokémon from your previous games, although the transfer is, annoyingly, one way. There are a few stupid restrictions (for example, you cannot transfer any Pokémon that know HM moves, despite the fact that the HM moves are exactly the same in this game as well) but this is quite an interesting, gimmicky little feature: similar to Pal Park, you must first capture the Pokémon you want to transfer before you can use them, which involves a top-down mini-game in which the Pokémon will jump from bush to bush, and you must catapult Pokeballs at them before the timer runs down. You can do this as many times as you like in a day, as well.
Completing the game also earns you the National Pokedex, and suddenly a flood of Pokémon become available to you. This makes the game feel quite unbalanced: you’re stuck with the fifth gen Pokémon for the entirety of the story, and the routes that you can visit post-game are so jam-packed with Pokémon from previous generations that it’s a wonder the grass isn’t overflowing with them. Levels also make a considerable jump to between level 50 and 70, and trainers along the route also get considerably stronger. This adds to the challenge, but by this point it’s likely you’ll have your old Pokémon over from your previous games. The Elite Four also get a significant upgrade once you go to challenge them again.
Pokémon Musicals are a new, optional feature, although these are little different from the Pokémon contests of the previous generations: after dressing a Pokémon up in various accessories, they perform on stage and, depending on the audience’s reaction to this, they’ll throw items at your Pokémon in appreciation, that you’ll get to keep. As with the Pokémon contests before them, musicals have categories such as Cool and Cute, and different accessories will improve your rating in this category. However, unlike the Pokémon contests before them, the competitive element has been lost, and these feel more like a distraction than an actual side event.
Pokémon Black also sees the introduction of different seasons. Each season lasts a month, and alters the entire landscape. For example, as you would expect, if it is currently winter in the game, lakes are frozen over, and snow covers everything in sight. There is also a certain degree of day and night in this game, although it is not exploited to the same degree that it was in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Different Pokémon will appear during different seasons, but not at different times of day.
The most prominent version exclusive feature comes in the form of Black City which is unlocked after you complete the main story. Black City is a giant city, which will begin with very little to it – a few trainers, and some small buildings. However, as you connect with people (see below for details regarding the C-Gear feature) you will gradually begin to acquire (and lose) people, unlocking new items for purchase, and stronger trainers to battle. Pokémon White’s equivalent is White Forest which, rather than having trainers to battle, has wild Pokémon in their base form to capture.
The game also has an abundance of online features: the GTS makes a return, allowing you to trade Pokémon with people from all across the world (although you can only ask for Pokémon you have already registered in your Pokedex, and you can also have random matchups with trainers from across the globe as well. The Friend Code system makes a return also: by exchanging friend codes with individual people, you can trade and battle with them specifically. The C-Gear is Pokémon Black’s new online feature, and the interface sits on the bottom screen outside of battles. With friends in close proximity, this acts in much the same way as the Union Room feature, allowing you to trade, exchange friend codes, and battle one another. The Wireless element of the C-Gear allows you to receive Pokémon you have caught from the Dream World, an online service that allows you to capture Pokémon not available in the games.
However, when compared to previous games and their post-game content (read: Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver) Pokémon Black has very, VERY little to offer. Without going on a collect-a-thon, compared to exploring the Kanto region and battle the Kanto Gym Leaders and re-battle both sets of Gym Leaders – an entire game’s worth of content in its own right – that those games offer, there is absolutely nothing here worthy of note. Once you have finished the main story and explored the scant few new areas that open up, you’ve essentially done everything there is to do in the game, and it’s extremely disappointing.
One of the most frustrating flaws with this game is the ridiculously high wild Pokemon encounter rate. You can literally take a single step and be thrust into a battle, and then take another step and be thrust once again into a battle. This can go on until you either get out of the grass or the cave you’re in. Other times, you can run through areas and not encounter anything at all for the entire time. The random battles in Pokémon have never been that big of an issue before – after all, many other games utilise a similar system, and it is something you either love or hate. However, with Pokémon Black, it is something that will frustrate even the most patient of people.
Unlike some of its predecessors (HeartGold, SoulSilver and the third games released a year after the original two, for example Pokémon Platinum) Pokémon Black does not go above and beyond with its gameplay, instead providing us with the bare bones. It has a very “good enough” feel to it, much as Diamond and Pearl did before it, and this predictable lack of effort is its greatest downfall. To conclude, the gameplay is solid, but there isn’t anything to recommend it over any of the other games in the series and, whilst solid is better than many games on the market these days, there is nothing exceptional here.
Controls: 9.8/10
With the exception of the PokeShift mini-game, which can be somewhat gimmicky or slow to react on occasion, as you’re required to pull back the crossbow by sliding your DS on the touchscreen, and then hold it there before releasing it, the controls for Pokémon Black are essentially identical to the controls for the other Pokémon DS games, which were absolutely fine. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. You use the D-Pad to move around, and you can utilise the touch screen in battle or in menus if you so choose, or us the D-Pad for that as well. Both methods work perfectly, and you won’t encounter any particularly frustrating or difficulty here.
Graphics: 8.0/10
Pokémon Black is a definite step-up from previous instalments, as the world shifts from static, flat 2D to a polygonal, “3D” approach. Whilst the DS is capable of far more than what is on show here, the top-down world is more impressive than it has ever been, and a real sense of scale is shown here, particularly when you are travelling across bridges, or are in the larger cities, where the buildings dwarf you in size – and, in the case of Black City, the camera scrolls out to encompass the entire city, reducing your trainer sprite to little more than a speck. The camera angle is no longer fixed, and moves around quite a bit – it will zoom out to give you a sense of scale, or shift slightly if you are ascending stairs. What little variety there is shows off the game quite nicely and, considering that the game is based on a fictional New York, the lack of colour and grungy setting is quite appropriate, and makes those few pristine forest areas you’ll encounter all the more special.
Battle sprites have also received an upgrade, and are more animated than they’ve ever been – they constantly move in battle and, if you leave the game idle, the camera will pan around the battlefield, giving you different angles. For 2D sprites, their movement is surprisingly fluid on a normal DS screen, and the attack animation has been upgraded significantly as well. There is a greater sense of connecting with your opponent, as attacks appear to come from your Pokémon and actually strike the opponent, rather than static special effects that come out of nowhere. Whilst these static effects are still present for some moves – most notably, physical moves – overall, the effect is quite impressive, and battles are a more enjoyable experience for it.
However, whilst the polygonal “3D” visuals are very striking, that the world map sprites have not received an upgrade along with them makes them feel very out of place. The graphical update this game has received, whilst impressive, feels incomplete, and there are times when it can’t seem to decide whether or not it wants to be a 3D game or a 2D one. Seeing 2D sprites run across a seemingly 3D environment is a very odd perspective, and there are occasions when it appears that your character is, for lack of a better word, hovering across the landscape. Also, due to the setting of the game, there is not quite as much variety in the locations as there are in previous games, and once you’ve crossed yet another bridge, the sense of wonder begins to wear off.
Sound: 6.2/10
The soundtrack for this game is, regrettably, mediocre and highly forgettable. It is all relatively well-composed and not so intolerable that you’ll turn the volume down immediately, but the most noticeable flaw is that there is nowhere near enough in the way of variety: once you’ve heard the same tired battle theme for the umpteenth time, you’ll quickly just turn the volume down. The soundtrack isn’t exceptionally bad, but you’ll be hearing a lot of the same themes repeatedly over the course of the game. What few remixes there are are of a good standard and will bring smiles to those who recognise them, but they crop up infrequently. Pokémon cries make a return and they are, unsurprisingly, as ear-splitting and aggravating as they’ve ever been.
A nice touch, however, is that music now changes to suit the pace of battle. For example, when your Pokémon is on red health, a more fast-paced, dramatic piece will play in place of the default battle music, and will only stop when your Pokémon dies or you heal it. When you have whittled down a Gym Leader to their last Pokémon, a faster version of the timeless Pokémon menu theme will play in its place. This actually serves rather well to make the battles much more exciting and this, combined with the additional animations of the sprites in battle, makes for quite an entertaining experience.
Unique/Extra Features: 5.0/10
Like every other Pokémon game that has preceded it, Pokémon Black brings some prominent new features to the tables, most notably a cycle of seasons and a new battle style. To call it an all-new Pokémon game would be an exaggeration, because it is, in essence, the same game released on the Gameboy Colour back in the 90s, just with a new coat of paint. There is a lot here that hasn’t been seen before – the entire region and the Pokémon themselves are new – but this is a tactic that Nintendo utilised with Gold and Silver, then again with Ruby and Sapphire, and then again with Diamond and Pearl. Unique in presentation, but not unique in execution.
If anything, however, Pokémon Black has less extra features in it than any of the other Pokémon DS games to come out. Many of the extra features that have featured in past games – such as the ability to re-battle Gym Leaders – have been removed for some unknowable reason (likely so that they seem special when the inevitable third game comes out) and, as a result, you’re left feeling very short changed. Unfortunately, the new features in this game do not outweigh the extra features that it lost.
Replay value: 6.0/10
Whether or not you’ll want to play this game again depends, ultimately, on how much effort you invest into it the first time around. If you explore every gameplay element, building up a team of tournament-worthy Pokémon and painstakingly collecting every Pokémon you can get your hands on, it is practically guaranteed that you’ll never want to start the game again. Even if you play it casually, then you’ll probably want to leave it alone for a while before starting it again, since the main adventure takes about 20 hours to finish, and much of that will be spent levelling up your Pokémon. For most people, Pokémon Black will be a game that you play once, then occasionally go back to when you feel like catching more Pokémon, or exploring the post-game content.
Overall Rating: 6.8/10
Pokémon Black measures up to the standards we’ve come to expect of the Pokémon franchise. You wander the lands, defeating Gym Leaders and the barely explored evil team, catching Pokémon, challenging the Elite Four, and you get this wonderful feeling of satisfaction when you’re finished. It was a good formula back then, and it’s still good even now, despite how old and tired it is. It’s FUN. If that is all you’re looking for, then look no further: Pokémon Black is the same as any other Pokémon game.
However, if you’re in the market for a Pokémon game on the DS, this would be my last recommendation. These games just cannot compare to the previously released HeartGold and SoulSilver, simply because there is so much more to them than there is here: two regions, the ability to re-battle Gym Leaders, miniature Pokémon sprites that follow you around, AND an awesome little pedometer that lets you take your Pokémon with you. Were it not for these two games, my final scoring of Pokémon Black (and, by extension, Pokémon White, given the games are practically identical) may have been much higher. However, they just cannot compare and, pretty visuals aside, they feel like a step backwards in every other way. There is less to do, until you finish the game there is considerably less to catch, and there is little to differentiate this from any other instalment in the handheld series.
No doubt fans have already bought a copy of this game, finished it, and are either nodding their heads in agreement at my review or have closed it long since. Fans of the series who have not bought it, because they have the same concerns I have had, my advice would be this: wait until the inevitable third game in the series comes out, because (hopefully) they will correct some of the mistakes they made with these games, at least in terms of omitted content. If you’re considering buying this game, be warned: the first two hours are a long, tedious slog, due to the ridiculously high encounter rate and the complete lack of variety you’ll be faced with for the first few routes. You won’t assemble a good team until at least your third badge.
For those of you who have not yet hopped onto the Pokémon bandwagon (where the hell have you been these last fifteen years?!) and are considering it now: take a step backwards and get HeartGold or SoulSilver. There is infinitely more value for your money in those games, and they are superior in every way imaginable. Pokémon Black (or White) is not the ideal game to start with: this is a game that is, really, solely for the fans, and then only the patient ones who won’t let the unoriginality of the designs of the new Pokémon interfere with their ability to enjoy themselves.
In summary: it’s Pokémon. Your initial feeling about whether or not you would enjoy this game is likely to be accurate: Pokémon fans will enjoy it, because nothing has changed, and those who dislike the series will likely continue to dislike it, because nothing has changed. A new coat of paint to a franchise that hasn’t changed for fifteen years, nothing more, nothing less.