The freshest pokemon game out there: it's the most story and character driven game in the series and dosen't interrupt the gameplay too much (like future entries), the main story has nothing but entirely new pokemon to use which really helped it feel new at the time of release, the gym / 10 year old conquering villian team / elite four & champion structure is still here but with some interesting twists here and there (especially the ending), the game is a little easier than previous ones but nowhere near as mindless as every pokemon game after this generation (not that the old games are hard per se but you still had to try), the new sprite artwork and camera in battle is so good and really helped the battles feel more alive and that soundtrack man so damn great.

The game is sadly more linear than gens 1-4 because of the bigger story focus but thankfully the areas are still pretty open to explore and not hallways (looks at sun & moon / sword & shield) but besides that and a few other little niggles (like the slightly lesser post-game than that of the other ds entries) all-in-all it's a fantastic game: it's fresh, it's fast and it's fun not much else to say really, play it!