"Pokémon Black and White" are glorious returns to form

As every kid in the late 90’s knows, the most addictive drug on the market is Pokémon. A hybrid of adventure games mixed with role -playing game elements and a sprinkle strategy is now in it’s fifth generation.

Starting with 151 Pokémon in it’s original games the final Pokémon count has reached 649.

The game starts like all Pokémon games, with a voice-over by a “Pokémon Professor” who gives you, a child, your first Pokémon and sends you on an adventure across the country.

While this introduction may seem strange to non-fans, as your best friend’s mom amply puts; “Going on a Pokémon adventure is a critical part of growing up” and as any fan can attest, this is the truth.

Pokémon are creatures that live harmoniously with humans. In this world people known as “trainers” capture Pokémon and raise them to be fighters. The player is one such trainer and is faced with the daunting task of being the best, like no one ever was.

You do this through battles with wild Pokémon and other trainers. Battles involve one Pokémon from each side taking turns attacking each other. The winner of the battle receives money and their Pokémon will gain experience and level up, which increases their stats.

In terms of mechanics and gameplay, Pokémon is the same game it was a decade ago, and it operates under the mentality that if it’s not broke don’t fix it. Usually this can stagnate a series but in the case of Pokémon it helps add familiarity to a series that is constantly adding new characters, locations, attacks and battles.

Previous games have added double battles, which allow the player to use two Pokémon at the same time against two opponents. These are insanely challenging and force the player to think on their feet to conquer the enemies Pokémon.

Some new features in “Black” and “White” are triple battles, which take the challenge to a whole new level because the position of your Pokémon directly impacts whom they can attack.

There are very subtle differences between the two editions of the game, “Black” or “White”. “Black” features more rotation battles, which make players constantly change Pokémon while “White” includes more triple battles and an exclusive area which dozens of exclusive Pokémon.

For fans of the series, “Black” and “White” are the best of the best that a Pokémon game can get.

The game is without serious faults. Critics may nitpick about the difficulty curve that seemingly appears out of nowhere or the bland personality of everyone who was gifted enough to have an actual name. For me Pokémon is a flawless example of well designed games that have only gotten better with age, like Catherine Zeta-Jones.