Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Review for Nintendo DS (DS)

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Review for Nintendo DS (DS)

Unova All Ova’ Again

In some ways, a review of a Pokémon game boils down to a simple question: Do you like Pokémon? The basic formula of the venerable series has changed little over the years: Set out on a journey to become a Pokémon master, catch a bunch of alternately cute and strange monsters, pit them against other monsters in turn-based battles, and progress through the nation’s gym badge system until you get the chance to take on the Elite Four and beat the previous Pokémon champion into the ground.

Of course, the series has become more complex and interesting over the years, and this fifth generation of Pokémon games places a major emphasis on connectivity, both with other players and with the suite of supporting products that The Pokémon Company has produced. The original Pokémon Black and White featured Unova, a far-off region of the world that was populated only with new Pokémon until after the player had toppled the Elite Four and Champion. It also dedicated a full half of the DS screen real estate to a passers-by multiplayer interface—something rarely useful to us spaced-apart North Americans. Though it was a solid series entry, I found it overall to be lacking compared to the recent Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes, having moved a few steps backwards in terms of interface and quality of life improvements.

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Screenshot

Now, for the first time, The Pokémon Company is releasing a direct sequel to a previous Pokémon title instead of a simple enhanced third version. Pokémon Black/White Version 2 continues the story of Team Plasma two years after the hero of Pokémon Black/White defeated the evil Ghetsis, who hid his scheme to control the world behind a front of “freeing” Pokémon from humans. While most of Unova believes that Team Plasma has disbanded, it has actually split into two factions. One has gone full evil and is stealing Pokémon for its own personal gain, while the other is trying to make up for what it did under Ghetsis’ leadership by caring for orphaned Pokémon.

It’s a pretty decent story as far as Pokémon games go, and Black/White 2 has the most coherent storytelling method yet. This is due to the role of the traditional “Rival” character in the game. This time around, he’s a genuinely nice guy who is a friend of the main character. He has a very personal reason for going after Team Plasma, and you’ll want to help him once you find out what that reason is. Instead of showing up at inopportune moments to challenge the player to a duel just to be a jerk, this Rival encourages the player to get stronger, and you and he work together at regular intervals through the story. His presence, plus that of various other major characters (many of whom return from the original Black/White) throughout the game, gives the story a far better sense of direction and progression than Pokémon games usually have. Though the player returns to familiar areas throughout the game, they’ve changed a fair bit, so they’re still relatively interesting to explore.

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Screenshot

Of course, the bulk of Pokémon gameplay still involves capturing and battling Pokémon. While the original Black/White featured nothing but Unova-region Pokémon, that decision led to a lack of Pokémon diversity in some areas. Black/White 2 adds a healthy selection of older Pokémon to the roster, even shaking up what you’d normally find in early areas a bit. For example, the first Fighting Pokémon the character encounters isn’t the traditional Machop, but a far more stylish and popular Pokémon from a previous generation. Things get a bit more predictable after the first few areas, when the character returns to the areas of Unova that were present in the first game, but the overall difficulty of the battles has been upped slightly due to more complex movesets of the wild Pokémon. This is a nice bone to throw to Pokémon veterans, who will actually need to think a bit about the battles in the single-player campaign for a change.

The battle system itself hasn’t changed a bit since Black and White, though the new gimmick battles like triple and rotation battles show up more frequently. Instead, Game Freak has worked on giving players plenty of things to do beyond simply trolling the tall grass and grinding endlessly. While the underwhelming musical theater from the previous game returns, the star of the show is the Pokéstar Studios, a movie-making minigame that’s actually rather fun. The player films a Pokémon fighting sequence, being careful to follow instructions from the movie’s script as closely as possible and getting the occasional chance to improvise a line. Once filming is complete, the full movie with all the lines and special effects can be viewed. If the player does well during filming, the movie will be a success and the writers may pen a sequel.

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Screenshot

Other new features are similarly well-made. Join Avenue is a row of very useful shops that expands as the player interacts with others locally or via Wi-Fi. Even loner players can receive new shops by gaining fans from Pokéstar Studios. The Pokémon World Tournament allows players to fight in tournaments against Gym Leaders and Champions from previous games. A Memory Link feature allows the player to transfer information from a Black/White save game, which unlocks a series of events that show what’s happened in the last two years, along with having characters refer to the previous Unova Champion by name. There’s even the ability to place opposing trainers in “easy” or “challenging” mode after the main game has been completed, though this would have been nicer as a difficulty option at the beginning of the game.

Several small quality-of-life changes end up making a big difference in Black/White 2, as well. The Pokémon box system is more convenient and features the ability to batch-move Pokémon around. If a player is using Repels and one wears out, the game automatically asks if s/he wants to use another, a nice small touch. The “Extralink” online activities are now far easier to engage in and can be done solo.

My favorite improvement is that the Xtransceiver now allows the player to call other characters like Pokémon Professor Juniper. These characters give very useful information about type match-ups, how to evolve Pokémon, and a current Pokémon’s friendship level with the character. Much of this information wasn’t easily available in previous games, leading to players using online resources instead. It’s great to see Game Freak making the game more user-friendly in this way.

Pokémon Black/White Version 2 Screenshot

The look and sound of this sequel has changed little. While the graphics are fairly nice for a DS game and the animated battle sprites are a nice touch, the fact that the battle camera zooms in on the sprites and turns them into a pixellated mess ruins the effect. We can only hope that the next main Pokémon game will make use of the lovely 3D models that have been shown off in the Pokédex 3D program. As for the sound, I found the new ditties in Black/White 2 catchier than many of the musical pieces that are left over from Black/White. The effects are the same as the previous games, and I don’t know if Game Freak is ever going to replace the horrible Gameboy-era sound effects from the early generations of Pokémon.

Unfortunately for gamers on this continent, Black 2/White 2 continues to have the C-Gear interface on the bottom screen. This rather ugly interface (especially when it’s hot pink for a girl character, ugh) is aimed at helping players interact with passers-by who are also playing the game. Of course, most people in North America run into others playing the same game next to never, so in order to avoid draining our batteries, we turn the C-Gear off, rendering the bottom screen completely useless until the X button is pressed to bring up the actual main menu. If only the main menu would pop up on the bottom screen when the C-Gear was off, things would be so much better. Instead, accessing basic game functions takes more time and button pressing than it should. Most unforgivably, the ability to set the main character to auto-run, which was available from the main interface in HeartGold/SoulSilver, is still absent, forcing everyone to hold down the B button or use the bicycle in order to avoid moving at a dreadful crawl. This makes me want to smack Game Freak on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.

Still, the many improvements make this sequel worthy of a recommendation. Pokémon Black/White Version 2 is a better game than the original Black/White. It features a more cohesive story, a more diverse array of Pokémon, more activities to engage in, and a better implementation of several features. It’s definitely recommended for those who skipped the original Black and White. As for those who played Black and White, the question is: how much Pokémon can you take? If you’re rearing to play another Pokémon game, this is a good one. If you’re feeling apathetic about the series as it stands, Black and White 2 are not going to change your mind. Wait and see what the next generation, which will be native to the 3DS, has to offer.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
Packed with detail and featuring more dynamic combat sprites, but the pixellated close-up shots are ugly. 3.6 Control
There are some decent quality-of-life improvements here, but the C-Gear needs to go as the default interface. 3.4 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The new tunes are catchy, but could somebody please re-record the early Pokémon sound effects? 4.4 Play Value
As always, there’s a great deal of play value in Black and White 2 if you’re not tired of the Pokémon formula. 3.8 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • New places, new faces, and exciting new twists lead to unexpected surprises that await in Unova!
  • Travel through a whole new area with new locations to explore. Discover transformations in familiar locations.
  • Visit the updated gyms and meet the new Gym Leaders.
  • Fill your new Pokédex with Pokémon from other regions as well as Unova!
  • Meet old friends and make new ones, uncover the mystery of Black Kyurem/White Kyurem, and challenge your adversaries Ghetsis and the new Team Plasma faction as you unravel their plot to take over Unova using the power of Kyurem!
  • Enjoy exciting new in-game features such as Pokéstar Studios, Pokémon World Tournament, and Join Avenue!

  • To top