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Pokemon Black (DS)
by maoflro
Nintendo are now on their fifth generation of Pokemon games, but have they simply done too many now? How they gone from the slightly bizarre to the sheer ridiculous? Having played the game for about three months ago, there is no obvious answer either way.
For Pokémon black and white, they have decided to modernize the games to ... fit in with the ever modernizing society of today, but it somehow seems that they have changed it a little too much for the games to have that old pokemon charm that we all know and love.
The main basis of the game is exactly the same as all the others, you start off in a very small town with only 4 tiny houses and by the end of your journey you've just past a huge city with 30-40 buildings and you've beaten the elite four etc... Also the same as the other games is the storyline. There is a big team of bad guys - in this case 'team plasma' - who want to steal yours and everyone's pokemon and they also want to take control of one of the main legendaries, but by the end everyone has their pokemon back and you have have the legendaries and the bad guys are never to be seen again. This repetitiveness is what makes all pokemon games great, there's nothing drastically new, it's never too difficult and to play through the storyline doesn't involve a huge level of thinking.
What I feel is wrong with these games is that it relies too much on connectivity. First of all and the problem that annoys me the most is the 'Dream World'. This is a website you can go to on your computer and look after your pokemon and help them sleep and stuff like that, if I wanted that I would have bought a Tamigotchi. I want to be able to play a pokemon game and complete it possibly with a few trades and a few downloadable event pokemon from Nintendo. I don't want to have to go on a website that was clearly designed to be aimed at 3 year olds to bring back friends and more items.
Another thing I find it a tad odd about this game is simply a lot of the pokemon. It was always going to happen right from the very start, there's only a certain amount of pokemon they can design before they are all just inanimate objects with eyes, for example: 'Trubbish' Basically just a rubbish bag with eyes; 'Litwick' A candle with eyes. The list could go on. The other types of pokemon which annoy me are once which are clearly just an animal: 'Sandile' it's literally just a picture of a crocodile; 'Lillipup' and the rest of it's evolution family are just dogs!
My ranting above may make it seem like I don't like these games, but I do honestly think that they are still brilliant installments into the work of pokemon games, but they need to scrap the dream world and be a bit more imaginative when it comes to their new pokemon. That is all.
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Pokémon Pearl (DS)
by Arorah77
This review will discount the 'newness' of this game. That is because I am reviewing this game almost four years after its release date. Please bear with me on this, all will become clear.
The Pokémon RPG's have been a household staple for adults and children alike for years and years. I'd like to say a few words about ... Pokémon games in general, specifically about their addictiveness and sheer playability. If you are a mother/father that is looking for a suitable game for their fanatical 5 year old, buy this game. If you are a middle aged technophile with a gaming itch to scratch and a 2 hour daily commute to fill, buy this game. If you are retired, and feel the urge to fill a few hours after the gardening, something with a bit of purpose, something that can be developed to resembe a hobby, buy this game. If you are a nineteen year old with a hankering for some old school nostalgia, and EMA to blow, buy this game.
Never has something hit the world with such universal force. Pokémon Pearl is not going to dissapoint those with a love for the older Pokémon RPG's, as we still have a firm grip here on the adventure from town to city, city to town and finally to the Pokéon league. This game will also, never disappoint the younger generations with a thirst for new gadgets. This game, of course had the first 3D stylings for Pokéon RPG's and contains other cool features like the Pokétch...(something they really should have developed through the later games).
This review could have been written to dazzle and bimbazzle with technicalities of this game, because the game has the uncanny ability to be as ultra technical in its methodologies (i.e battling) as you make it; this review could also have spoiled or given away the magic in the story; this review could indeed have dwelled on the great little nuggets of morality that come with Pokémon RPG's, but instead it aims to tell you, once Pokémon Pearl has been "completed (i.e the Elite Four have been defeated)" there is scope for hours, days, years of gameplay afterward, and I'm sure that many out there will agree, that each time you switch on the DS, it feels like coming home.
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Pokemon Black (DS)
by claurentzius
First off I must say I was chuffed with how good the graphics have become. Playing pokemon since the first red version came out in the mid 90s I have been playing all the different games ever since.
Its a completely new world with all new pokemon that awaits you. I wont b giving away to many secrets as thats whats so great ... about the pokemon games, all the little extra bits and that you have to think to progress in the game.
Besides the normal story (collecting, training and batteling with your pokemon, eventually beating all 8 gym leaders and then off to the elite four) its got a few new additions. The pokemon musical, where you dress your pokemon up in different props. You dont win anything, but it can be quite fun sometimes. The battle subway let you win special prizes and status enhancers for your pokemon - that part on its own is VERY time consuming should you choose to try and clear all of it.
Pokemon being famous to be able to go off to different worlds (previous games) once you have cleared the main one sadly doesnt accur in this one. That left me quite dissapointed on what had so far been the best pokemon game by far.
Its still a big game, takes around 40 hours to clear if you investigate everywhere and try to catch everything you meet - so not bad but not as brilliant as the old ones.
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