Pokémon White (DS) Review - PAGE 1

For the fifth generation of Pokémon games, Game Freak sought to reboot the series by not only introducing the usual set of changes – new Pokémon, battle and overworld features – but also allowing players to relive their first days as an amateur Pokémon trainer in a totally unfamiliar world filled with unfamiliar creatures.   While the effort is much appreciated, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White turned out surprisingly disappointing.

Pokémon players know the drill by now: travel around the land, see new Pokémon, catch said Pokémon, and create the ultimate dream team.  The roster is all new here with none of the previous 493 critters showing up until after the Elite Four, though the main storyline still plays out in the familiar “earn badges, beat crime organization, become champion” routine that’s been done for years.  The plot has a few twists here and there but nothing outstanding to set it apart from previous entries.

Black and White features those familiar turn-based battles, be they against wild Pokémon or another trainer. As always, every Pokémon type has its weaknesses and strengths when it comes to elemental affiliation. The new games do offer a fair share of new features and enhancements. This time, however, Game Freak really dropped the ball with implementing some of the more major features players are more likely to use. 

Both Black and White boasts a few subtle improvements that any player can appreciate. The Day Care is now made available earlier in the campaign, and finding Pokémon has gotten easier thanks to clues the game offers. Visual improvements are just about everywhere you look, and Unova’s seasonal cycles keep the world fresh and dynamic.  

In battles, long-time trainers might notice that certain moves have been rebalanced, mostly to hit harder, and several new hold items have been introduced, bringing with them new effects like boosting stats for pre-evolved monsters or increasing elemental power. Pokémon have also been given idle animations for battles, which a definite step up from the older sprites that were limited to wobbling around, and color overlays better convey status ailments.

Outside of combat, Technical Machines now offer infinite usage, and you’ll find a new Battle Box in your PC that makes switching between your teams much easier. Not all gameplay changes work out so well, though.

The earliest games started with one-on-one matches, and since then, we’ve seen two-on-two setups introduced to the mix, but Black and White adds more variety with the new Triple and Rotation battles. Triple Battles are three-on-three matches that restrict which Pokémon can be attacked depending on their position; Rotation Battles also have three Pokémon on each side, but only the front most creature can attack and be switched with one of the two partner Pokémon at the player’s discretion.  Annoyingly enough, Rotation Battles come off as pure guesswork, not requiring any strategy except to pray that you knock out the other player first.  Oddly, the frequency with which you encounter these battles varies between Black and White.

C-Gear, Black and White’s multi-use “gadget” for this generation, is another example of a promising idea gone awry.  The C-Gear is meant to help you find other players in the vicinity, streamline certain tasks such as trading, and start quests that can potentially offer up pretty decent gameplay effects (i.e. increased money or experience earned).  My problem with C-Gear though is that it's primarily meant for multiplayer sessions, which limits its usefulness as a feature. The C-Gear can be turned off, but there aren’t any alternatives to swap out for, like Diamond and Pearl's Pokétch – something I find to be infinitely more useful than C-Gear.

Then there are the random online matches, which I’m sure every Pokémon player has been looking forward to.  Before you’re ready to take on the world, you have to be aware of a few limitations.  Your preferred battle style of choice – whether Single, Double, Triple, or Rotation – limits the number of Pokémon you can use.  Want to use a team of six?  You’re stuck with Triple and Rotation because Double and Single have a smaller limit.  Also, only half of the powerful legendary Pokémon are banned from these matches, meaning you'll run into quite a few teams of these overpowered monsters that, quite frankly, require no skill to use.

Like the previous DS Pokémon games, Black and White let you do one-way Pokémon transfers to bring in your favorite critters from previous games while taking advantage of new moves and items.  However, the process has gotten more annoying than ever; rather than hunt them down in patches of grass, you have to play a timed mini-game to properly bring them over.  Transferred Pokémon can’t bring items with them either, so say goodbye to all those goodies you wasted hours acquiring.

Not only that, there’s a separate transfer feature called the Relocator that only allows certain Pokémon through, and you need to use it when transferring specific creatures in order to unlock special events in Black and White.  Even so, players have no way of discovering this function in-game.  If you didn't already know about the Relocator and end up transfering the select Pokémon through the usual fashion, then you've lost the ability to activate the associated event.

Another series staple is including exclusive Pokémon found in only one version, which drives players to seek out others with the opposite version so they can trade 'mons for full completion.  Game Freak does uphold this tradition, but they also broke it badly.  Exclusive Pokémon are associated with certain cities and gym leaders, but none of that matters when you find out White offers more Pokémon to find over Black (good ones too).  What do owners of Black end up with?  EXP from extra trainer battles. Exclusivity is very broken here, making White the better game of the two. 

This "reboot" from Pokémon Black and White comes off as a roster update more than anything.  Die-hard fans who buy the game anyway may brush off these problems at first but I believe the inconveniences will catch up to them at some point.  Longtime players who want a good reason to put up with grabbing more gym badges may want to wait for the inevitable third version to see if things get better.