It’s been a good year for Pokémon fans what with the long awaited release of the remakes Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. This would have been enough to keep us entertained for months to come, but Game Freak aren’t content to stop there; they still have a couple tricks up their sleeves, namely the fifth generation of the series- Pokémon Black and White.
Where HeartGold and SoulSilver optimised the series, taking everything Game Freak had achieved so far and applying it in the form of a remake for the generation two classics, Black and White promises to reboot the franchise and make some sizable additions to it. Thankfully, unlike the third generation games, this doesn’t mean that the new games will be incompatible with previous generations; Black and White will be able to receive Pokémon transferred over from generation four. Details about how this will be possible are currently unclear, but it appears that the process will likely require two DS consoles.
The most noticeable new development in early footage of the game is a more three dimensional appearance to the over world, with the camera using lower angles than the usual top down approach of the previous games. Alongside the improved aesthetics of the over world is a far more impressive battle scene. Replacing the static Pokémon sprites used by the series so far are fully animated versions of the rowdy critters. The battles will also feature a dynamic camera that focuses on specific events. Altogether this adds up to a very new look for the series- something that has been long needed, given the aging appearance of the games.
The game play, on the other hand, looks to be somewhat unchanged. You will still find yourself journeying across the Pokémon world, collecting Pokémon to build your team and battling to train them. One new addition to the game play will be the inclusion of three versus three or triples battles, expanding on the doubles battles introduced in generation three.
As has become traditional in the series, Black and White will introduce a sizable new set of Pokémon and a new land. This new world to explore is called Isshu, said to be relatively far away from previous regions. It also appears to have more urban settings than the lands of other Pokémon games, with a very large city featured in early footage of Black and White. In an interesting development it has been revealed that Isshu will have some different locations in each of the two game versions; Black will feature a city called Black City and White will feature White Forest. This is the first time a Pokémon generation has featured unique locations available in each of the two game versions.
Another new feature set to be in Black and White will enable nearby players to join each other in the over world. Exactly how this will work in terms of story progression or the potential for co-operative play is currently unknown, but it could be a fun new aspect to the game. The games are still a long way off with a Japanese release planned for September 18th 2010 and international releases aimed at early 2011. We can expect more information to come out as we approach the September release so be ready for some exciting new Pokémon developments in the coming months.
