Pokémon Black and White are arguably the biggest innovators in the series since probably Gold and Silver back on the GBC. They build off what was left from Diamond and Pearl and add a whole bunch more.

The first change that you’ll probably notice, you’ll encounter none of the old Pokémon during your playthrough of the game (well, they show up at the end, but not before). This means you can get through the game without running into hundreds of god damn zubat with supersonic in every cave. It’s an interesting idea and encourages players to try out some Pokémon they might not otherwise have picked up.

There are now 3 on 3 battles where the position of your Pokémon in the battles themselves is a factor, something not previously seen in the main series. Graphically the battles have changed too, gone are the old static sprites we all love and instead we get animated sprites similar to that introduced in Pokémon Crystal except that they’re constantly moving now in battle. There’s also things such as Critical Captures and other smaller additions which overall add to the experience.

Another place that Game Freak has pushed for this time around is connectivity. The game encourages you to constantly be connected and on the lookout for various ways to interact including Wi-Fi, wireless (DS to DS) and Infrared. Throughout the game you’ll have your bottom screen dedicated almost entirely to this when wondering around the world. Unfortunately, due to the Nintendo DS’s Wi-Fi issues when it comes to the security types it accepts I’ve not actually been able to test the online features myself so can’t comment on them. But there’s a lot more of Pokémon and other misc giveaways from connecting to the service amongst others.

Overall it’s still a Pokémon game so if you don’t like Pokémon games then this isn’t for you but having said that it’s still a bunch of fun to play and you’ll easily be able to put a whole bunch of hours into it.

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#15 - MvC3

I decided to skip this generation of Pokémon, it's already gone to far and Silver/Gold is as far as I will go. I'm a little interested in the "new" graphics, ubt it wasn't enough to get me to buy the game.

Also: Pokémon WHACK.

@Vexxan: More like Pokemon TIGHT.

Damn, even slang that rhymes with actual words is racist.

Ironic that my recently posted GOTY blog contains a rant about how much I don't like pokemon. But if you like it, that's totally cool. I guess?

Pokemon whack sounds like a game I would actually buy for a handheld!

I loved that game, played it twice!