It’s really hard to lớn justify Pokemon đen 2 & White 2’s existence. Lớn the Pokemon maniac, they come as a bit of a slap in the face, coming off barely a year after the incredible Pokemon Black/White, & flying in the face of everything that trò chơi stood for. To the more distant, more dispassionate observer, they come off as relentless milking of a formula that is now, perhaps, finally, beginning lớn show its age. Lớn those with even the slightest bit of know how about trò chơi development, they come as the final attempts to squeeze some more massive revenue from the DS Pokemon engine (for a whopping fifth time this generation), before the inevitable move to lớn the infinitely more expensive to develop for 3DS.
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To me, as a Pokemon loyalist who has stuck with the series since the beginning, they come off simultaneously as exhilarating, và as a bit of a disappointment. Make no mistake, Pokemon black 2/White 2 are great. As they stand, they are probably the ultimate realization of the Pokemon formula, with everything fine tuned khổng lồ pitch perfection, the best series progression và pace structure, the best selection of game modes both online & offline, the best roster of critters available from the get go, and overall, delivering the kind of deep, immersive, and addictive Pokemon experience that I demand from each new entry in the saga.
But they also often feel like a step back for the series.
Pokemon Black/White came as a breath of fresh air. After nearly a decade & a half of continuity that the games were increasingly burdening themselves with, the games decided khổng lồ say ‘screw it,’ & basically rebooted the entire franchise, taking the players khổng lồ the far off & absolutely disconnected from everywhere else Unova region. Every Pokemon you encountered here was brand new, so you had the sense of discovery và wonder that had not been a part of a Pokemon trò chơi since Red & Blue kickstarted the phenomenon back in 1998. Every location was brand new, everything, even though it unfolded as you would expect it to unfold, felt new, as though seen from a fresh new lens. Even the games graphics took the biggest jump a Pokemon trò chơi has ever taken visually between two installments, & the games took on a new cinematic bent, with an emphasis on storytelling và characterization, delivering the richest story the games have ever told, one that dared to break series conventions and even ask ethically probing questions that lie at the foundation of the franchise itself.
That is all gone now.
Pokemon đen 2/White 2 take place in the Unova region. Most players coming off of the original Black/White will find themselves almost uncomfortably familiar with the region. The games have taken it upon themselves to make the region seem fresh for returning players: you start out in a new town, và all the places you visit until your third thể hình battle are brand new locations that you have never been to lớn before. Subsequent to that, you revisit older locales in your quest to lớn win all the gym badges of the Unova region, but you find that they have changed – two years have passed in the trò chơi world since the events of Black/White, and for example, a construction site in that game now sports a full fledged newly developed suburb. There’s more, but mostly, it spoils the element of surprise, và I don’t want khổng lồ spoil the element of surprise, since there isn’t much of it in the game.
A lot else has changed too: the order of the gyms, the layout of the gyms, the roster of Pokemon that thể hình leaders have, and finally, sometimes, even the gyms themselves. New Pokemon have started appearing in the wild, & Pokemon đen 2/White 2 represent the best distribution of Pokemon in the wild; before the second gym battle, you can have some viable Pokemon on your team that might even make it into your final roster of six, from Mareep lớn Growlithe & Magnemite. In the past Pokemon games, you just caught throwaway Pokemon lớn progress through the game, and didn’t even start building your real team until after the over of the game. Not so here. After you’re done with the inordinately long intro sequence, you’re không lấy phí to start building your team from the get go.
That’s a huge advantage that cannot be understated, and it is reflective of what defines black 2 & White 2 at their core: these are not Pokemon games for newcomers. Past Pokemon games have always been held back by the fact that they might be the first games for a new player, & so, they have had to slow themselves down, at the expense of the Poke-veteran, to lớn make sure the new player can catch up. Not so with black 2 & White 2. Oh sure, there are still the introductory tutorials, you’re taught how to use a Pokeball, & all of those shenanigans. But that’s not what I am talking about. The game assumes that you have played Pokemon before, at the very least played the original Black/White before you jumped into this. As such, it doesn’t shy away from having an almost brutal difficulty curve, và introducing some of the more advanced mechanics to begin with.
Even the post game content is made for Pokemon veterans. The lack of a proper post trò chơi was, in hindsight, a huge problem, as Black và White never really offered much for the player to lớn do. Not so this time. Apart from of course the addition of an unlockable Easy Mode, & a Hard Mode, Pokemon Black và White 2 have the best innovation for the series’ post game since Emerald brought us the Battle Frontier back in 2005: the World Tournament, a brutal Pokemon battle series that uses competitive battle rules, & pits you against old favorites from the previous games, such as Brock, Misty, và Blue from Red and Blue, khổng lồ Lance & Whitney from Gold & Silver. All the 32 gym leaders, & four sets of Elite Four plus Champions are represented in the World Tournament, and the battles you have there are some of the most intense ones you will ever have had in a Pokemon game.
It all sounds so good. địa chỉ to that the smaller touches, lượt thích the new Achievements system, the save file link with the original Black/White (nothing quite as robust as Mass Effect, but still pretty good), the distractions lượt thích Pokewood Studios, & you come khổng lồ the question… so what part of it is disappointing exactly?
The disappointment comes from the fact that after Black/White tantalizingly hinted at something bigger, better for the series that they were just taking first steps towards, đen 2 và White 2 seem khổng lồ have stubbornly returned lớn the series’ old grind. Yes, they are expansive & stuffed lớn the brim with content, rivaled only by the absolutely massive HeartGold & SoulSilver when it comes lớn that. Yes, they are polished and perfect, & the ultimate iteration of the Pokemon formula.
But they are also a return lớn the same formula that we have had for nearly fifteen years now, a formula that the series refuses lớn move on from. In making a game that appeals lớn the hardened Pokemon veteran, trò chơi Freak have lost almost everything that made Black/White so good- the sense of discovery in exploring a new region unlike any in the Pokemon world? Gone, because you’ve been here before. The sense of wonderment at each new wild Pokemon that appeared? Gone. Not only are the Unova Pokemon a familiar bunch now, but the healthy servings of the older Pokemon add further to the sense of stagnation. The wonderment at seeing Black và White stretch the DS to lớn its limits with their graphical effects is also gone, since black 2 and White 2 cannot conceivably stretch the system beyond what the originals did. & the daring & bold story of the originals, that has gone too, replaced by a plot that exists only as an excuse for you lớn get out there & fight Pokemon, disregarding whatever questions the original game brought up, và reducing Team Plasma lớn caricatures of their former selves.
It’s slightly sad. The evolution that Black/White represented is the antithesis of what đen 2/White 2, their direct sequels, represent. But at the same time, đen 2/White 2 possess uncharacteristic confidence: yes, they know they’re the same old grind the series has seen before. But they’re better, bigger than ever before, more refined and polished than any other entry in the series. You, who are a Pokemon player, got a dose of what fresh new things could mean for Pokemon with Black/White. & yes, that spirit will probably be maintained in the inevitable sixth generation that will hit the 3DS sometime in the not too distant future. But for now, và for the first time ever, it’s good khổng lồ be back where you belong: home, as the Pokemon series, for the first time in fifteen years, acknowledges you, the fan, the Pokemon player that has been there since the beginning & now knows the games inside và out.
