Pokémon White Version Review: 5 Reasons to Buy

Pokemon White is one of the best-reviewed games in the Pokemon franchise. According to Metacritic, Pokemon White is the third-best Pokemon game of all time with a high score of 87. Pokemon Black and White were the first games to do something new with region inspiration. The region of Unova is inspired by New York City and that inspiration shines through as no other region feels quite like Unova. Here are the top 5 reasons you should dig out your old Nintendo DS and play (or replay) the fifth generation of Pokemon.

Phenomenal Narrative

There won’t be any spoilers for the narrative in this article but I would argue that this is peak Pokemon. Pokemon stories are usually simple and formulaic. You play as a kid starting their Pokemon adventure. You run into an evil team of ne’er-do-wells who are up to no good. The player battles and catches various Pokemon to increase team strength as they complete the gym leader challenge. You defeat the evil team’s leaders and Elite 4. Then you become the champion of the region and credits roll. There is nothing wrong with this type of storytelling. It’s Pokemon. Pokemon is targeted towards young kids between the ages of 7-12. But Pokemon White did something different. Pokemon White told a story that posed a question?

Is it ethical to use Pokemon for our own benefit?

The villains of Pokemon White, Team Plasma, posed this moral question and it sits with you. Most players probably wouldn’t have batted an eye about catching hundreds of Pokemon, breeding them, and forcing them to fight for rewards until this game brought it to the forefront. The game offers nuance in the story of a series that usually beats around the bush.

Beautiful Spritework

The fifth generation games introduced animated sprites to the series. These sprites still hold up today as Pokemon has some of the best sprite work of all time. Understandably so, the fifth generation is the last generation to use these 2D sprites. These games are known for being the first to utilize full Pokemon back sprites and we’re also the first games to utilize a “dynamic” camera during battle. This, on top of the beautiful sprite work itself, allows for the art of this game to never look outdated. This game still looks amazing 13 years later.

New Pokemon

Pokemon White enforced a generation of entirely new Pokemon. Up until the player defeats the elite four, they only have access to these 155 Pokemon.

Sequel

A few sections ago, I spoke about how great the story of Pokemon White is. Would you believe me if I told you that there is a direct sequel to this story? This sequel provides a wider variety of Pokemon. White 2 picks up 2 years after the storyline of the original game. It’s exciting to see how the region has changed over time. The sequels implement the Pokemon World Tournament which allows you to battle against other Elite Four Members and Gym Leaders from other regions. You also can switch up the battle format in the world tournament. You can battle Brock using the double battle format, or perhaps Lance in the triple battle format.

Challenging Gameplay

Fans consider the fifth-generation games to be harder than others. Now the fans can’t quite agree as to WHY these games are harder than others but they can’t quite agree on anything. I believe these games are harder because of the new EXP system. In Pokemon White, EXP earned depends on the difference between the enemy trainer’s Pokemon and your own. If you defeat a level 50 Pokemon with your own Level 50 Pokemon you could receive a certain amount of EXP. If you were to defeat that level 50 Pokemon with a level 25 Pokemon you would get more exp since you defeated a stronger Pokemon with a weaker one. This incentivizes players to use generally lower-level Pokemon which would make the game feel harder even if the mechanics haven’t changed.