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Game Review: Pokémon Black And White 2

Ryan McLaurin |
October 14, 2012 | 8:36 p.m. PDT

Contributor

 

Pokemon Black and White 2 (gamefans)
Pokemon Black and White 2 (gamefans)
“Your very own Pokémon legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with Pokémon awaits! Let’s go!”

While this may be a somewhat familiar phrase from Pokémon Red and Blue versions, Pokémon has come a long way from the simple Game Boy game it originated from. With over ten games in the main series and enough spin-offs to make your head spin, luckily the latest installment is a complimentary addition to the main series in a time where transition from the DS to 3DS isn’t exactly complete.

I must admit, I was one of the skeptics at first. I was worried Nintendo was just pushing this sequel out purely for cash. But after logging in over forty hours worth of game play, at least I can say they did a good job earning my money. Considering Pokémon hasn’t changed much over the course of its life, this game has excited me about Pocket Monsters once again. 

This game starts like a typical Pokémon game. A Pokémon Professor, in this case Prof. Juniper, totally doesn’t know a thing about you and wants you to venture out and catch wild animals to fight each other, but this time you start in a new town. I was impressed with this new town. It was a nice way to keep things fresh on the already familiar continent of Unova .

After choosing your starter, tepig, snivy and oshawatt (the same selection from original Black and White), you head out on your journey to two new towns before eventually making it out to the original Unova continent from the games’ predecessor. Your main antagonist from Black and White is still here, with one exception. In the past two years, Team Plasma has now split. One faction wants to take over the continent while the other group wants to follow N and develop the relationship between trainers and Pokémon.

The story itself was decent. It was nice to be able and see the changes of the continent and references to the original trainer protagonist from two years ago. However, it wasn’t some spectacular achievement of storytelling and the climactic ending to team plasma was anticlimactic. This mostly has to do with how they handled doing a new legendary, a combination of Zekrom or Reshiram and Kyurem.

Most everything else remains the same, except for some new content. That being in the form of the Pokémon World Tournament, which lets you compete in various tournaments against random opponents and Gym Leaders to earn Battle Points used for items, and Pokéstar studios, a way of following movie scripts to become a movie star. These greatly add to the replability of the game, especially the World Tournament, which gives players the chance to take on any of their favorite trainers, from previous champions like Cynthia and Lance, to the protagonist and rival of the first game, Red and Blue.

As a fan of the series, I am thoroughly enjoying what Game Freak has produced this time, and would recommend this to any fan of the series or for those who are perhaps looking to get into the Pokémon series. 

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