By Adam Weinstein, Contributing Editor
To understand how great I think the two latest installments in the Pokémon series are you need to know a little about me.
I am child of the Pokémon era, complete with the accent mark above the “e”. When the original Pokémon games, Red & Blue, were released in the US in 1998, my 9-year old mind was blown. It seemed as if all of my friends had embarked on their very own journeys and, together, were in on something bigger than I could comprehend. When I clamored to my parents that I wanted a Gameboy and a Pokémon game of my own to play, I told them that I was feeling left out at school simply because I couldn't play. I'm not sure if I convinced them, but when they went into parent-teacher conferences and had my plight confirmed by my 4th grade professor, I too entered the world of Pokémon.
The Pokémon games were always a huge part of my childhood. To that add all of the movies, TV shows, cards, and collectables that became part of who I was in grade school, high school and, well, actually I still play the games today – two months short of college graduation. I played through the all the rehashes, the remakes of old games, and, to be honest, the lazy money-grab games that saw very few changes in the series. For me, nostalgia was definitely a factor in why I played games like Fire Red (a remake of the original Red version), Soul Silver (a remake of the later Silver version), and the like.
That being said, Pokémon Black & White far surpass the “great game if you haven't already played Pokémon” trope. This Pokémon is a big deal.
The first thing that struck me was that the game looks good. Recent additions to the series have been content to just color in the sprites and add a couple of animations here and there. Black & White's graphics intensify the immersion you feel while playing the games. When I crossed the huge bridge on the way into the game's central Castelia City for the first time, I felt a sense of grandeur that I had really never felt while playing the series in the past (thanks in no small part to the new 3D graphics). Most of the flow-breaking aspects of the game have been fixed, in part, by the improved graphics, as well. Boulders that require Pokémon to move, for instance, have gone from puny and person-sized to massive and intimidating. For games on a handheld system, Black & White really do a lot to make you feel like a small part of a big, but polished, world.
Something else that sets these games apart from the rest of the series is plot. While Pokémon games, including these, probably won't ever be considered for movie-adaptations that aren't mind-numbingly awful for those above the age of ten (see: every Pokémon movie to date), the plot in this game is compelling. This is because, without giving too much away, the conflict questions the actions and lifestyle of the player and those living throughout the game world. The game's main plot no longer ends with the usual, unfulfilling “you're the best trainer ever” speech, but, instead, with a pretty powerful culmination of legendary Pokémon, a rival, and the original quest. Oh, and also the world might end, or be ruled by the force of some bad dude, but I actually thought that was the least compelling of the reasons to want to beat the game, oddly enough.
Even with all of the changes to the graphics, the story, some of the battle mechanics, and the addition of a ton of new features, this is still a traditional Pokémon game. If you're not a fan of RPGs, this probably won't change your mind. If you didn't like Pokémon or the games in the past, this definitely won't change that. However, if you've never played Pokémon, or have played the games and enjoyed them, you'd have to be lazy or insane, or both, to not pick this game up. Make no mistake, there are aspects of this game that I really dislike: the insistence on creating another round of largely uninspired Pokémon (these are the only ones obtainable until you beat the main plot), the improved but still-laughable AI, the fact that “catching 'em all” is more or less impossible. You'll notice, though, that I didn't compare Black & White to games outside of the Pokémon series, because there's really nothing, for me anyway, that I could compare them to. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy Pokémon, but these game made me feel the same way I did when I picked up my copy of the Blue version, and that's something I'll never pass up. That's why it's easy for me to say that Pokémon Black & White are both the latest and best installments of the Pokémon series.
