A Blurb about Pokemon

So while I was down in Tampa I bought both versions of the newest Pokemon game (Don't worry, they had a sale). Over the past 3 weeks I've been playing the White version of the game on my DSi XL, and while I haven't beaten the game yet I thought I should talk about it a bit.

First things first, I've seen 86 Pokemon, played 16 hours and have 6 badges. So far I can say that it is definitely a very good Pokemon game. The features it adds are really cool and necessary for the series to grow. While the Pokemon Global Link, which provides for online stats is not active yet, I can say that when it is released, will probably add a new life for the game. The ability to only capture new Pokemon for the main quest seems like a good decision since it forces older players to rely on new strategies than 'get my favorites and dominate.' It adds a lot of strategy to the game, and makes the game quite a bit tougher as well.

The story mode is your basic 'become League Champion and defeat the evil team' quest, but this one seems a bit more involved while still staying very basic. Overall, it keeps me going outside of capturing and raising Pokemon while facing trainers. While this isn't a full review yet, pretty much everything I've seen I've liked with the exception of the C-Gear interface.

C-Gear is basically your multiplayer menu and is with you at all times on the touch screen. It allows you to converse with wi-fi, local and infrared multiplayer at any point. The interface, while simple seems really confusing to me. You can move the buttons around, but there's no real point unless I've missed some unlockable features somewhere. It doesn't detract from the game though, but I just don't mess with it. I recommend this game if you're looking to get back into Pokemon, or are looking for a solid, old school JRPG to help you pass the time.

For me though, if Nintendo releases a Pokemon Gray next year, I'm going to have to pass. I'm really burnt out on Pokemon at the moment given that we've seen a new game released every year for almost the past decade with remakes, 3rd versions of games, etc. Pokemon is a great series, but I think it needs time to breathe a bit.