Despite how fantastic each installment is, as time has worn on the series' tried and true formula has begun to get more than a little tired and predictable. While Black and White aren't nearly as groundbreaking on the story front as they should be, the progression that is made in terms of the story and the overall points towards a brighter, more engaging future for the series.
Many things are pretty much guaranteed when it comes to a Pokemon game: you get set on an adventure with one of three starter Pokemon, the objective of which is to challenge the region's eight Gym Leaders and then the Elite Four and the Champion. Black and White, without surprise, follow suit. The major changes that have been made relate to the villainous team that proves to be a constant thorn in your side throughout the game and character establishment and growth throughout the game. If you're at all familiar with Pokemon then you're certainly familiar with Team Rocket, the villains of the first generation and the anime series. From generation to generation, though there is a new team with a new name and seemingly new ambitions togo with it, little has changed. Their objective always falls down to one desire: to rule the world. Team Plasma of Black and White prove to be a refreshing departure from this series cliche. Their motives are not to take over the world, but a PETA-inspired desire to free Pokemon from their trainers. This brings deeper and darker moral dilemma to series, definitely making it more grown up than any of it's predecessors. To tie in with the exploration of more mature issues and themes is a newfound focus on character development and growth. In previous games you had a rival who showed up every now and then to challenge you, and they all had the same attitude and outlook towards Pokemon and being a trainer. Thus their characters were relatively flat and two dimensional. Black and White more or less throws out the idea of having a rival, in favor of two long time friends by the names of Bianca and Cheren. To begin with, the fact that they are friends establishes a much stronger relationship between them and the player but it goes farther beyond that. As you delve further and further into the story, both of their characters get fleshed out as they interact with you and deal with other characters and make discoveries about themselves. Not only does Gamefreak make great strives with developing the companion characters, they make strives with the Gym Leaders as well. No longer do they simply sit in their Gym doing nothing but waiting for you to challenge them. They now take an active role in the story. Though this isn't one hundred percent, the first Gym Leaders really make no appearance and the Icirrus Leader makes very little impact, the fact that the Gym Leaders have significance beyond simply handing you a badge on your way to the Elite Four is a large step forward.
Not only do Black and White take giant steps forward in terms of story and character development, they also make an exhaustive effort to instill a sense of awe and discovery in the player that has largely been absent in since the start of the series. Gamefreak primarily pulls this off through two factors: the Pokemon that inhabit the region and the region itself. Since the original games, there have always been those certain Pokemon that kept popping up throughout the series. Most notable among these Pokemon, and I'm certain that you'll recognize these names, Machop, Zubat, and Geodude. Every cave that you entered, you were one hundred percent guaranteed to run into at least one of those guys. Black and White really shake things up by doing away with those mainstays and introduces an all new cast of 156 Pokemon, the most ever to be introduced in a generation. Every Pokemon that you encounter is new, and the sense of discovery that this provides totally enthralled me during my play-through. The games are always released about six months prior to their North American launch in Japan, so I was familiar with the designs of the Pokemon but I was by no means familiar with the names. So even though I recognized them when I saw them, when their name was announced before they appeared I delighted when the thought of "Who the hell is that?"crossed me mind. Though there are Pokemon that assume the roles of those mainstays mentioned earlier, Timburr and Woobat I'm looking at you, the simple fact that there are new ones is something to get excited about.
Then there is the region of Unova to consider. I can safely say that no other region that I've travelled through in the Pokemon series has instilled as much awe in me as Unova. Two things really stick out at me when considering the region: how comparatively urban and technologically advanced it is to past regions and how jaw-droppingly impressive many of the sight are. Sure there has been technology in past regions, but can you actually say you've ever caught sight of any sort of transportation beyond a cruise ship or the occasional train? Travelling through Unova, not only do you come across the occasional campers on the occasional route but crossing the Sky Arrow bridge and travelling through the desert of Route 4 you encounter actual highways with semis travelling them. It doesn't end there either, Mistralton City home of the region's sixth Gym Leader features an airfield. In fact the Gym itself is housed in an airplane hanger. The urbanity and technology certainly lend a lot to that wow factor, but it's so much more than that. The region features several bridges, the most jaw-dropping of which is the Sky Arrow bridge leading to the even more jaw-dropping Castelia City. The Sky Arrow gets the nod for the sheer scale of it, and demonstration of that scale through utilization of the dynamic camera. Another factor in the impressiveness of the Sky Arrow is that it ends in Castelia City, the most amazing sight of the game. For once in the Pokemon series, players get to experience an actual city and it's all thanks to that dynamic camera. As you walk, the camera pans around the city, demonstrating the sheer scale of it. It's pressed upon the player further when the head down one of the streets, with skyscrapers rising up on both sides and the street just bustling with people heading on their way through the city.
An area that the series has always excelled in is connectivity, and Black and White take that to an all new level with the C-Gear and all-new online features. The C-Gear is a truly amazing device, it makes interaction as simple as could be, bringing players together easier than ever before. No longer do you have to head to the nearest Pokemon center to battle and trade your fellow trainers, now you simply tap the infrared section of the C-Gear and the battle and trade options are available right there. In fact, the innovation goes even further when it comes to trading. Prior in the series you had only your party of six when you entered a trade, with Black and White you now have full access to the boxing system. The C-Gear's capabilities go even further than simply battling and trading, one of it's greatest features is it's utilization of Tag Mode. Unlike previous DS games where you set the game into Tag Mode and you could do nothing else while it was in the process, with the C-Gear Tag Mode is always on in the background while you're playing thus being much more forgiving on the player and making interaction through Tag Mode much easier and much more likely. In fact, not counting my friends, I've encountered five other players so far. That has literally never happened with any other game I've attempted Tag Mode with, and I attribute this to the ease of interaction that the C-Gear provides as well as the massive popularity of the series. Other notable features of the C-Gear are the Entralink, the Xtransciever, and Game Sync. Entralink allows you to vist other player's worlds and perform missions to assist them, the Xtransciever allows video and voice chat with other players with range and Game Sync allows you to synchronize with the Global Link and send a Pokemon to the Dream World. While the C-Gear revolutionizes local multiplayer, the Pokemon Center's in a way revolutionizes the Global Terminal. Much in the way the C-Gear disinter-mediates local interaction, the Pokemon Center's disintermediates online interaction through it's assimilation of the Global Terminal. Now you simply head to the nearest Pokemon Center when you want to hop online, and with the addition of random battles and GTS Negotiations the series' online offerings are deeper than ever. GTS Negotiations are an especially intriguing addition, allowing you to connect with a random player from anywhere in the world and offer each other Pokemon while negotiating the selection through the usage of smiley icons.
While further innovation still may need to be made, Black and White prove to be a giant step forward for the series. Whether you're a veteran or a newcomer, you shouldn't deprive yourself by overlooking these titles.
Overall Score: 10/10
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