This review contains spoilers
Generation 5 was the one that everyone wanted me to play when I started going through all the Pokemon games, and I never really understood the hype around this title, and Black 2/White 2 which I also am looking forward to playing.
Going into this, I wasn't looking forward to much within this RPG as I was just expecting the same old plot, with the same battle mechanics that I was used to with this franchise. So where do we start with the plot? Well, you play as either Hilbert or Hilda moving out of Nuvema Town with your childhood friends Cheren, a boy keen on becoming the strongest out of your friend group, and Bianca, a sweet girl who isn't keen on fighting and wants to help Professer Juniper out with her research. While you are becoming the very best by making your way through all the gym leaders and to make it as Champion, you come up against Unova's threat being Team Plasma. We'll get to them in a minute. Already I was interested in seeing what Unova had to offer as this was the first region to not be based off an area in Japan, but rather based on America, more particularly New York. Now there was nothing wrong with the previous regions, but you could tell that they all were based on Japan in some way. But Unova seemed to have broken the mold and changed the geography of what we know about regions up to this point.
The locations within Unova were rather memorable to me, like Accumula Town being the first area you visit past Route 1, Castelia City with its breathtaking skyscrapers and the bridge that was impressive on the DS at the time, and Opelucid City with its almost futuristic design. One area that stood out to me was in the post game being Black City/White Forest, which marked the first time a location changed based on the game you played...although it was a more lacklustre place as its where you would train your Pokemon up, but hey, that's just me.
The music for this game is magnificent, one of the best soundtracks the series has to offer going back to each generation. Some tracks that stand the tests of time are Driftveil City's theme, Accumula Town, Nimbasa City, the Gym Leader theme, N's battle theme, and the Reshiram battle theme. All of these are such bangers!
The gameplay is the same, you catch Pokemon, beat gym leaders, and become the Champion. Only Black & White changes the formula a little. First, the Pokemon themselves. Instead of finding your classics like Pikachu, Ralts, or Machop, you are stuck with the all new 158 Pokemon found in Unova. You are limited to these until the post game, the trainers use just these guys, the gym leaders use only Unovan mons, and it's all to make the player stick and familiarise themselves with these new critters which is a very bold move to make at the time since the designs were controversial. But some of these wound up as my favourites to use for the final battle, my starter being Emboar, Zebstrika, Krookodile, and my favourite Pokemon of all time - Whimsicott, the perfect grass Pokemon in my eyes.
Next, the battles. In terms of battling, it's all the same as it was in gens 1-4, but with generation 5, they added an all new type of battle. In Black it is Rotational Battles, a structure where three Pokemon are sent and you can swap a Pokemon to the lead to attack. And in White it's Triple Battles, where it's like double battles, but triple. While these were very fun when the moment occurred, the game actually doesn't use these much...only for a few battles and that's it. Which is a shame cuz I really liked how these turned out and that I think they should use these more in the game, maybe dedicate a whole gym to it.
Finally, the pace of the game. Let's get back to the story with this. During the time with this game's region, the gang end up going against Team Plasma, a group who is both royalty and has an actual cool plotline against it all. N, the king, has the ultimate goal of liberating Pokemon away from the Trainers as he considers the ideals of what the Pokemon feel towards being commanded by the Trainers and used for their activities/battles. The leader of Team Plasma, Ghetsis, wishes to instead use these Pokemon to be used under his control and so that no one else could become a trainer. While Ghetsis was a little weak within his character, N was actually the more stronger character; fighting you over the truth behind Pokemon's morals and desires, and becoming a better rival than Cheren ever could. The biggest twist in the end of the story is when you are about to fight the Champion, Alder, but end up seeing N being victorious, making you have to fight him with a ZEKROM IN HIS TEAM, having you catch the opposite dragon to then battle him one last time. It was such an epic battle and N is becoming one of my favourite characters in the series. But you do get to fight the Champion in the post game, which is still good if you wanna become the champ, just be wary of the high levels.
Black & White I now respect within the Pokemon community and I think it is one of the greatest games I've played within the series. Looking forward to playing the sequel next, experiencing more of Unova, and if you are able to play this (or if you find a cheap copy cuz good lord it's gotten expensive), I highly recommend it.
Going into this, I wasn't looking forward to much within this RPG as I was just expecting the same old plot, with the same battle mechanics that I was used to with this franchise. So where do we start with the plot? Well, you play as either Hilbert or Hilda moving out of Nuvema Town with your childhood friends Cheren, a boy keen on becoming the strongest out of your friend group, and Bianca, a sweet girl who isn't keen on fighting and wants to help Professer Juniper out with her research. While you are becoming the very best by making your way through all the gym leaders and to make it as Champion, you come up against Unova's threat being Team Plasma. We'll get to them in a minute. Already I was interested in seeing what Unova had to offer as this was the first region to not be based off an area in Japan, but rather based on America, more particularly New York. Now there was nothing wrong with the previous regions, but you could tell that they all were based on Japan in some way. But Unova seemed to have broken the mold and changed the geography of what we know about regions up to this point.
The locations within Unova were rather memorable to me, like Accumula Town being the first area you visit past Route 1, Castelia City with its breathtaking skyscrapers and the bridge that was impressive on the DS at the time, and Opelucid City with its almost futuristic design. One area that stood out to me was in the post game being Black City/White Forest, which marked the first time a location changed based on the game you played...although it was a more lacklustre place as its where you would train your Pokemon up, but hey, that's just me.
The music for this game is magnificent, one of the best soundtracks the series has to offer going back to each generation. Some tracks that stand the tests of time are Driftveil City's theme, Accumula Town, Nimbasa City, the Gym Leader theme, N's battle theme, and the Reshiram battle theme. All of these are such bangers!
The gameplay is the same, you catch Pokemon, beat gym leaders, and become the Champion. Only Black & White changes the formula a little. First, the Pokemon themselves. Instead of finding your classics like Pikachu, Ralts, or Machop, you are stuck with the all new 158 Pokemon found in Unova. You are limited to these until the post game, the trainers use just these guys, the gym leaders use only Unovan mons, and it's all to make the player stick and familiarise themselves with these new critters which is a very bold move to make at the time since the designs were controversial. But some of these wound up as my favourites to use for the final battle, my starter being Emboar, Zebstrika, Krookodile, and my favourite Pokemon of all time - Whimsicott, the perfect grass Pokemon in my eyes.
Next, the battles. In terms of battling, it's all the same as it was in gens 1-4, but with generation 5, they added an all new type of battle. In Black it is Rotational Battles, a structure where three Pokemon are sent and you can swap a Pokemon to the lead to attack. And in White it's Triple Battles, where it's like double battles, but triple. While these were very fun when the moment occurred, the game actually doesn't use these much...only for a few battles and that's it. Which is a shame cuz I really liked how these turned out and that I think they should use these more in the game, maybe dedicate a whole gym to it.
Finally, the pace of the game. Let's get back to the story with this. During the time with this game's region, the gang end up going against Team Plasma, a group who is both royalty and has an actual cool plotline against it all. N, the king, has the ultimate goal of liberating Pokemon away from the Trainers as he considers the ideals of what the Pokemon feel towards being commanded by the Trainers and used for their activities/battles. The leader of Team Plasma, Ghetsis, wishes to instead use these Pokemon to be used under his control and so that no one else could become a trainer. While Ghetsis was a little weak within his character, N was actually the more stronger character; fighting you over the truth behind Pokemon's morals and desires, and becoming a better rival than Cheren ever could. The biggest twist in the end of the story is when you are about to fight the Champion, Alder, but end up seeing N being victorious, making you have to fight him with a ZEKROM IN HIS TEAM, having you catch the opposite dragon to then battle him one last time. It was such an epic battle and N is becoming one of my favourite characters in the series. But you do get to fight the Champion in the post game, which is still good if you wanna become the champ, just be wary of the high levels.
Black & White I now respect within the Pokemon community and I think it is one of the greatest games I've played within the series. Looking forward to playing the sequel next, experiencing more of Unova, and if you are able to play this (or if you find a cheap copy cuz good lord it's gotten expensive), I highly recommend it.