Real Talk By: J. Valdez

September 30th 1998, Pokemon Red and Blue graced the lands of America and started a phenomenon that few games could ever live up to. Almost 13 years, 5 generations of the game and hundreds upon hundreds of new Pokemon later, it’s becoming apparent that GameFreak and Nintendo have been milking this for way too long.

I was 8 when I started playing, and being a big fan of the series I’ve kept playing, every version, every generation, on each new handheld. 13 years later and I’m still giving these people my money. The gameplay hasn’t changed much, you do get new areas and Pokemon, and new handhelds to play on, but like they say, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” (or something like that).

Even if the gameplay hadn’t changed much, this game, with all it’s new camera angles and cities and shiny graphics, actually seems a bit uninspired…in the beginning, the professor gives her speech (yes it’s a she this time), instead of having to walk all the way to the lab, the 3 Pokemon are actually delivered to your room where you and your rivals get to choose your Little pocket monsters and battle it out in your room.

Unlike generations 2-4, this game has only new Pokemon, no more zubats and geodudes or ratattas, now you can learn to hate woobat, roggenrolla and some weird prairie dog/rat thing. If there’s something that gamefreak hasn’t learned, it’s that sometimes, that shit’s annoying. I can’t walk more than 5 steps in a cave without having to run or shoot down some type of batlike pokemon. Enough about the annoying ones, the pokemon this time around actually look uninspired, I know they’ve made over 600 by now, but a little more creativity could have gone into these creatures while making them. Also the names in English could not be lamer, well they could, but that would have probably required some more creativity on their part. It seems like I’m spewing hate on the pocket monsters, but I’m not, I like the series a lot, I just don’t see why a Pokemon named Trubbish (yes, trash and rubbish had a baby) was ever invented, it’s a bag of trash with eyes on it…

There are a lot of good additions and changes to the game. Leveling up is a bit easier for lower level Pokemon, but the new exp system makes it hard to level grind because the higher your level, the less experience you get. You no longer have to worry about which Pokemon to start with because the first gym will always have your weakness. TMs are now reusable like HMs have always been, and it’s great because I can teach dig to just about any Pokemon I want to.

Another great thing, (that should have been done a few generations ago) is being able to trade from anywhere, no longer do you have to be at a pokemon center to trade, your wireless connection can always be on (or off to save battery life) having you ready for battle or trading from anywhere in the game. You can also register more than one item to the Y button, and a first for pokemon games, there are highways and moving vehicles throughout the Unova region.

The camera is no longer static and moves to better accommodate the view as you move about the cities. Team plasma (the bad guys) also plays a bigger role in the story, it’s almost as if you can’t move from town to town without bumping into one of their idiot grunts. Your rivals are also very involved with you throughout the game, challenging you almost every chance they get. So even though the story is deeper, it still the same game we’ve been playing since 98. I’m currently about 4 badges in, working on the 5th, and hoping things do change a bit. The ferris wheel and roller coaster were a nice touch, but I think the game will need a big leap forward in the next generation, or hopefully in Pokemon grey when it comes out next year (cause you know they always add that 3rd game). Maybe I’m being generous, even after all the hate

Pokemon Black and White Gets MF MF MF MF out of five. For new and old fans, it’s a great game, just seems like they lost their mojo when drawing up some of the new pokemons.

What’s Legit

+Still A great game, but its starting to show age.

What’s Perpetrating

-New Pokemon Just aren’t as good as the classics