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Pokemon Black 2
Players: 1-2 Offline, 1-2 Online
Publisher: Nintendo
Genres: RPG
Publisher: Nintendo
Genres: RPG
Release Date: October 7, 2012
Developer: Game Freak
MSRP: $34.99
Developer: Game Freak
MSRP: $34.99
Return to the captivating Unova region two years after the events of the original Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version games - the first time in the core Pokémon game series that a storyline has continued from one game to another.
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Posted By Robert H. about 7 months ago
Pokemon Black 2 Review,
…Bro?
However, something that has had a significant change is the difficulty. I can’t speak for others, but I never had a hard time beating the earlier generations. As long as you had a super-effective attack on the opposing trainer, you were nearly guaranteed to win. This is most definitely not true anymore. Damage seems to be much harder to do and, as a result, trainers become a significant obstacle. This is even more so for gym leaders, other bosses, and late-game trainers, who have trained extremely well and given their Pokemon moves counteracting their type weaknesses. Even wild Pokemon seem to be much harder to defeat or catch, with levels that often match your own as you progress. Despite that notable change, I found myself liking the difficulty spikes. Strategy became far more important to the battles and I’m one who always likes a challenge. Though I have to say, I’m glad they gave you a double battle tag partner like Hugh for some of the most difficult sections.
Speaking of Hugh, the rival is always an important aspect of any Pokemon game that’s handled a bit differently here. Normally, the rival is a unpredictable test of skill that can show up anywhere and make sure your Pokemon are up to snuff. However, Hugh is a bit different in the regard that he only battles you a total of four times. In fact, he teams up with you exactly as much as he challenges you and is more a constantly appearing companion than anything else. I will say that I miss having the difficult test, but the larger character depth makes him a more likable character in the long run. Although, he has more than a small obsession with getting a stolen Pokemon back from Team Plasma that gets really old really fast. Still, he serves his purpose well enough and I never minded seeing him, especially because he makes for a great partner.
The post-game and online content for Black 2 and White 2 is also significantly expanded from previous games. There has always been something to do after the main story, be it catching legendary Pokemon scattered around the region or tough challenges like the Battle Frontier. However, Black 2 and White 2 have a wealth of content, including exploring numerous previously-unreachable areas, rematches against many tough trainers, extra bosses with significantly powerful Pokemon, and epilogues to many of the story threads brought up during the main game. There are also many different online aspects like the online trading that, while not amazingly intuitive, still provide more to do and more ways to get Pokemon.
Particularly praiseworthy among the crowd of content is the Pokemon World Tournament, a completely new addition to the Pokemon world that allows for tournament matches against many recognizable trainers around the region. In fact, beating certain tournaments allows matches against gym leaders from previous generations and, eventually, previous champions. It’s a great callback to the previous games in the series and seeing old hats like Brock or Jasmine again is a great blast of nostalgia, difficulty aside.
This should look familiar to most folks, minus the 3D part.
The visuals are not the most impressive I’ve ever seen, but they do the job. Even now, the look seems to be an expansion on the basic visuals of the original games, although the 3D environments and cutscenes do look quite nice and the design of many locations is inspired, such as the Black 2 version of Opelucid City. The Pokemon and Trainer movement details are also nice little additions and it’s clear that a significant amount of polish went into making the game look as nice as it can while keeping a similar look to the original Black and White. With that said, I’m not sure what more can be done to improve the underlying base at this point. When they inevitably continue on to the sixth generation, I believe they’ll have to give the visuals a significant change to have them look any noticeable amount better than they currently do.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the music seriously impresses. The Pokemon games have always had catchy, well-done songs to fit their different locations and battles perfectly, and this is extremely true here. Listening to the various tunes, I can’t find a single one I honestly disliked. The musical style of the entire game is also consistent throughout the soundtrack while still matching the kind of music expected from a Pokemon game. Also notable are the changes to the music to fit the myriad situations, such as a remix of the main Pokemon theme playing when a gym leader is on their last Pokemon, the gym theme changing depending on the gym in question, and the previously annoying low life beeping made into a song for far less annoyance. These changes flow well with the battles and environments themselves and manage to make them far more dynamic than they would be otherwise. Among many others, I have to say I have a special fondness for the new champion theme, the Colress battle theme, Hugh’s battle theme, and all the themes from the fourth gym. Really, I can’t say enough good things about the music from this particular entry.
In the end, the first direct sequels in the series are yet another couple of games following the standard Pokemon formula. However, this game is the smoothest refinement I’ve seen of this system. Battles require more strategy, the world is more interesting, the Pokemon are still cool to pick out, and the callbacks to the generations of old bring back great memories. I can’t fault the developers for keeping with an idea if it still works and despite any initial misgivings and disenfranchisement with the series, I did have fun battling through another region. That fact can’t be denied. If you have fond memories of Pokemon, these games will remind you of why you loved the originals and even if you’ve never played a Pokemon game before, I’d still say it’s worth a try. With refinement like this, there’s never been a better time to test the waters. Just watch out for the Basculins.
A review copy was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review. The reviewer played the game for almost 50 hours.
8/10
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Direct sequel or not, it's still Pokemon, so it's pretty much what you'd expect it to be.Pages : Page 1 Page 2
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Direct sequel or not, it’s still Pokemon, so it’s pretty much what you’d expect it to be.
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Posted By Robert H. about 7 months ago
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Pokemon Black 2 Review,
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Ahh Pokemon. What can be said about it that hasn’t been said already? Upon first release, it quickly became a massive phenomenon and I can’t remember any kids during my younger years who didn’t at the very least know about it. There just seemed to be a certain magic to the idea of catching a team of little monsters, your personal team, and defeating all of the most powerful trainers in the region until you were the very best, like no one ever was.
Catchy anime openings aside, things seemed to change as time went on. As the newer generations came and went, many of those same kids who had become so enraptured seemed to drift away. New fans were always attracted, many older fans stayed, and the brand has continued to sell extremely well, even after all these years. However, it almost seemed as though the magic was gone and while it was still popular, it was nowhere near what it once was in terms of its impact on culture. Personally, the last generation I bought and played through was the 3rd, specifically Emerald. While I did enjoy the game, it didn’t get me excited as it once did and when the 4th and 5th generation games came out, I passed them by as there were other games I wanted more. As such, getting to play Black 2 was like opening a time capsule to my childhood. However, does the tried and undeniably true formula still hold up today? Allow me to tell you.
| PROS | Refined gameplay, Dynamic music, Still fun |
| CONS | Graphics could be better, Won’t change your mind |
| WTF?! | The random Zoroark in Lostlorn Forest. Where did that thing come from anyway? |
If there’s one thing the main Pokemon games aren’t lacking on, it’s consistency. Even with these “5.5 gen” games, the basic gameplay and story ideas seen in the original three are still in full force. In fact, considering the extremely heavy similarities, I’m going to do a little something different with this review. I’m going to compare each of the major aspects of a main Pokemon game for this particular entry against those in previous generations, while still talking about how it works toward the overall experience. The way I see it, it’s impossible to avoid comparisons, so let’s just get right into the thick of it with the story.
I’ll be blunt here. From a story perspective, the original games had practically nothing going for them. Yes, there was the whole “become the Champion” point and yes, there was also the whole deal with Team Rocket’s constant attempts to muck around. However, there wasn’t really much, if any, depth to be seen and, even as a kid, I was a bit disappointed at how there could have been so much more to it. In comparison, the story of Black 2 and White 2 is better, with Gym Leaders interacting outside the gyms, a resurgence of Team Plasma from the original Black and White with actual stakes, and constantly reappearing characters like your rival Hugh and previous game rival and new gym leader Cheren. However, the story is only good in that comparison. Outside of that scope, it’s still lacking rather painfully. Hugh’s constant motivations against Team Plasma can get irritating, characters seem to pop up with little rhyme or reason, and supposedly big payoffs aren’t built up to enough to make them feel as important as they should be. To me, it comes off as kind of amateur when I really believe they can do better than this, although the effort is there.
Gotta catch ‘em … all?
Considering the setting in a short aside, the region is still the same as the original Black and White, the Unova region. However, if you are worried about the game being a complete retread because of this, fear not. From the info diving I’ve done, it’s clear that many things are significantly different, from the all new starting region in the lower left corner of the map to the reformatted northeast section. On the flipside, many things are still the same, with five gym leaders and the Elite Four reprising their roles, but even they manage to differentiate themselves at least slightly, with new gym designs and Pokemon teams. The Unova region is not exactly the same by any margin, and you won’t be feeling like you’ve seen it all before.
Also notable is the Pokemon available in this revamped Unova region. In the original Black and White, before beating the Elite 4, the only available Pokemon were those native to the Unova region. While I, unlike some people I’ve seen, have no problems with the newer Pokemon, it does feel a bit limiting to only focus on those new ones in the main game. This is completely different in Black 2 and White 2, where previous generation Pokemon are scattered all over the region, setting the number of available Pokemon before the Elite 4 to an unprecedented amount of around 300. This makes for a lot more variety and choice in choosing your personal team and, as previously stated, that’s a large part of what makes the Pokemon series good.
As for the gameplay, the basic idea is still the same as it’s always been. You catch Pokemon, form a team with different movesets and types to conquer any other team, and get into battles against other Trainers to try and knock out all their Pokemon before they do the same to you. However, there are many different aspects to consider and variations to try on this basic idea. Particularly interesting to me are the Triple Battles and Rotation Battles, specific fights each involving three Pokemon, the first simply having six Pokemon battling it out at once and the second involving six Pokemon out at once, but rotating the main attacker between those choices. It’s nice to see some differences in the formula, although these particular types are merely carried over from the initial Black and White, so it’s nothing new. With that said, the design is still very solid and despite the fact that little of the groundwork has changed since the series’ inception, it’s still rather fun to battle against both trainers and friends.
8/10
Pokemon Black 2 Review
Direct sequel or not, it's still Pokemon, so it's pretty much what you'd expect it to be.Pages: Page 1 - Page 2
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October 22, 2012 at 10:25am
I liked this game except for one glaring problem that seems to be present in all the games, TRAINERS AND WILD POKEMON SUCK. All of the trainers and wild pokemon are extreemly low leveled meaning that leveling takes forever if your leveled enough to take on the gym leader
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October 21, 2012 at 10:21am
i think it is an allright pokemon game but it has some real issues.
like you can’t get the really awsome gen 5 pokemon untill you have beaten the game or really late game which is really bad.
and then there is the issue of water pokemon in this game it isn’t untill the 8th gym you can get the first good water pokemon with staruy and otherwise there is a total of 8 water type pokemon.
and then i have a hugh issue with the story, it is not your characters story it is your rivals story about getting back his sisters pokemon you just tag along since your a cool bro
the entire flow of the game is also not on the level i expect from gamefreak. the first pokemon black and white is better in all aspects expect for diffculty. i will say that 2 gets diffculty right trainers are allways at or just below your level and the trainers use proper moves and thinking.
lastly do not pick the fire starter since it is the worst pick you can make since there are amazing fighting and fire pokemon you can get early on while a good grass type or water is much rarer and later into the game
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October 21, 2012 at 12:42pm
Honestly in what gen could you get the really awesome pokemon early? This game is actually the best in that regard IMO, it gives you a good selection of great pokemon early on.
Yes, by giving you the only fishing rod postgame you’re really limited in water pokemon. I don’t really care as much really, it’s pretty much the most common type in every other game except for maybe B/W1. Also, as far as awesome water types go, see the first paragraph.
Yes, the story is not really about you, but it also was more story than the typical pokemon storyline has and it was also not less about you than the other games. The fact that this time there’s actual character development in some NPCs was quite the surprise to me.
Can’t say I noticed the storyflow being too slow or anything. You have any specifics about this? Would like to know what specificly turned you off.
The last point was just as true for B/W1, too. I don’t know why they felt the need to make the fire starter fire/fighting AGAIN. Especially when the other starters don’t get any subtypes anyways.
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October 21, 2012 at 05:31pm
with the flow after the 8th gym you need to go threw a cave then the ship get droped off do an other cave onto the ship once more for the climax of the story then you need go threw the victory road which has 4 healings points before you are the end of it, the time from leader to leader here is crazy long. while from first and secound gym is about 6-8 trainers and your there.
while pokemon black and white which i call gold standard it is a good flow of cave gymleader cave gymleader which gives the game a really good flow.
but the biggest issue is that i am used to every pokemon game is better than the last gold is better than red, ruby is better than gold, firered is better than ruby etc. with this games it didn’t feel more refined it felt like insted of making a minor update in the vain of emerald or crystal and just retreading the story they just made a totally new story to justify why pokemon players like me should get it. this is pokemon gray and not the full step forward i expect from the 2 titled pokemon release
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October 19, 2012 at 10:57pm
Why not try to find some new gameplay with the idea of being the Pokemon as you battle in real time. Also is it too much to ask to let us CHOOSE which Pokemon we send out in battle first instead of just hoping that the Pokemon in the first slot is a good one for the specific area (to say nothing of surprise boss battles)?
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October 20, 2012 at 03:24am
My theory on this topic has always been that they want you to play as the trainer. RTB pokemon battles would require you to play as the pokemon, which is not the focus. But that’s just speculation.
As far as letting you pick the one you send out on the initial turn.. it would basically break the game unless you weren’t told what pokemon the opposing trainer was going to send out.
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October 20, 2012 at 04:24am
If you have a guide or have already played it through you’ll already know what Pokemon your opponent starts with, that’s never broken the game in the franchise’s long, long past.
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October 20, 2012 at 07:17am
If you’re going to know every inch of the game before playing it, why even complain about a the “lead Pokemon” mechanic. May as well just codebreaker in a bunch of max stated legendaries if you want to eliminate any surprise or challenge from it.
I’m not one to shame people who use guides, codes, cheats, etc, -play how you have fun- but seeing as we’re now talking about using a guide book and knowing what’s coming anyway, your reasoning comes off as someone who’s too lazy to change their lineup to suit the situation they’re about to encounter, knowing full well what the situation will bring.
And maybe I’m alone here.. but even after repeated playthroughs, I don’t remember what half the gym leaders are gonna start out with, let alone what every trainer in the game is going to.
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October 20, 2012 at 04:22pm
Really? I have no problem remembering exactly what each boss starts with.
And my point is still the same. Using those has never broken the game for anyone so I fail to see how being able to choose which you start with would do anything besides make it slightly more realistic. -
October 19, 2012 at 10:24pm
I’m still playing White right now. Trying to finish it so I can get to these.
But one thing that’s seriously bugged me about Pokemon games for awhile was the battle flow. It’s so mindbogglingly slow. Attacks take forever to show their very minimal animations and start ups at the beginning of each battle are notoriously lengthy with the more and more animations they add. God help you if there’s weather involved. Thank you game, thank you for telling me it’s still sandstorming out and then showing me a 5 to 6 second animation of it sandstorming EVERY SINGLE TURN.
It’s my opinion that Pokemon could learn something from the Etrian Odyssey games, which also sport a minimal animation fighting style and their battle flow is much faster and still gets away with flashy animations.
That’s my ONLY gripe with this generation really but to be fair you can (and I did) turn off battle animations which vastly improve this.
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October 20, 2012 at 03:21am
I’m rather fond of the addition of more involved animations, though that’s just personal preference. But, with that said, the weather effects do take far, far too long and always have. I couldn’t stand using Groudon back in G3 and I still can’t for just that reason.. which is sad cause he’s one of the few Ground types I really like the look of.
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October 20, 2012 at 03:51am
From what I hear, the battles where even slower in gen 4, and I know for a fact that Pokemon stadium battles took forever because the animations where really long. I’m happy we’ve gotten away from that.
I think the battles now flow relatively well, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if they would be a bit quicker.
That also counts for the online battles, which are slow as molasses due to the text speed being set to the lowest and everything having somewhat of a delay.
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October 20, 2012 at 10:54am
Oh yeah, it’s not just Gen 5, Gen 4 bugged me equally.
And Sylveria, yeah I really love seeing the cool animations they make (I freaked out when I played Crystal for the first time) but I do wish they could speed it up, such as both trainers sending out their pokemon at the same time ect. It’s the little things really.
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October 19, 2012 at 04:37pm
I’ve finished the game two days ago and also did a lot of the endgame content in the game.
Gotta say, from all the Pokémon games I’ve played, which are Blue, Silver, Saphire, White and now Black 2, Black and White 2 is probably my favorite ‘generation’ of games (replacing Gold and Silver on the top spot).
It’s a lot of little things that make this game awesome:
– the music (only track I kinda dislike is the remixed Team Plasma Battle theme, but that’s only when compared to the awesome original)
– the awesome earlygame Pokémon selection
– an actual difficulty curve throughout the game
– some nice references towards the first game(at least after using the unova link function, dunno if you get as many if you don’t use it)
– characters with actual character growth (what, in my pokeemans?!)In total I think I agree with the review, it’s a great – maybe even the best – representation of a pokémon game, but if you know you hate the series, it probably won’t convert you. If you’re interested: Try it out now.
Also, am I the only one who had to laugh out loud when the new Champion Battle theme came up? It’s so… incredibly… happy compared to all the epic champ themes from the earlier games.
It’s by no means a bad track, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot after the initial shock. It just hit me off guard I guess.
I liked this game except for one glaring problem that seems to be present in all the games, TRAINERS AND WILD POKEMON SUCK. All of the trainers and wild pokemon are extreemly low leveled meaning that leveling takes forever if your leveled enough to take on the gym leader
i think it is an allright pokemon game but it has some real issues.
like you can’t get the really awsome gen 5 pokemon untill you have beaten the game or really late game which is really bad.
and then there is the issue of water pokemon in this game it isn’t untill the 8th gym you can get the first good water pokemon with staruy and otherwise there is a total of 8 water type pokemon.
and then i have a hugh issue with the story, it is not your characters story it is your rivals story about getting back his sisters pokemon you just tag along since your a cool bro
the entire flow of the game is also not on the level i expect from gamefreak. the first pokemon black and white is better in all aspects expect for diffculty. i will say that 2 gets diffculty right trainers are allways at or just below your level and the trainers use proper moves and thinking.
lastly do not pick the fire starter since it is the worst pick you can make since there are amazing fighting and fire pokemon you can get early on while a good grass type or water is much rarer and later into the game
Honestly in what gen could you get the really awesome pokemon early? This game is actually the best in that regard IMO, it gives you a good selection of great pokemon early on.
Yes, by giving you the only fishing rod postgame you’re really limited in water pokemon. I don’t really care as much really, it’s pretty much the most common type in every other game except for maybe B/W1. Also, as far as awesome water types go, see the first paragraph.
Yes, the story is not really about you, but it also was more story than the typical pokemon storyline has and it was also not less about you than the other games. The fact that this time there’s actual character development in some NPCs was quite the surprise to me.
Can’t say I noticed the storyflow being too slow or anything. You have any specifics about this? Would like to know what specificly turned you off.
The last point was just as true for B/W1, too. I don’t know why they felt the need to make the fire starter fire/fighting AGAIN. Especially when the other starters don’t get any subtypes anyways.
with the flow after the 8th gym you need to go threw a cave then the ship get droped off do an other cave onto the ship once more for the climax of the story then you need go threw the victory road which has 4 healings points before you are the end of it, the time from leader to leader here is crazy long. while from first and secound gym is about 6-8 trainers and your there.
while pokemon black and white which i call gold standard it is a good flow of cave gymleader cave gymleader which gives the game a really good flow.
but the biggest issue is that i am used to every pokemon game is better than the last gold is better than red, ruby is better than gold, firered is better than ruby etc. with this games it didn’t feel more refined it felt like insted of making a minor update in the vain of emerald or crystal and just retreading the story they just made a totally new story to justify why pokemon players like me should get it. this is pokemon gray and not the full step forward i expect from the 2 titled pokemon release
Why not try to find some new gameplay with the idea of being the Pokemon as you battle in real time. Also is it too much to ask to let us CHOOSE which Pokemon we send out in battle first instead of just hoping that the Pokemon in the first slot is a good one for the specific area (to say nothing of surprise boss battles)?
My theory on this topic has always been that they want you to play as the trainer. RTB pokemon battles would require you to play as the pokemon, which is not the focus. But that’s just speculation.
As far as letting you pick the one you send out on the initial turn.. it would basically break the game unless you weren’t told what pokemon the opposing trainer was going to send out.
If you have a guide or have already played it through you’ll already know what Pokemon your opponent starts with, that’s never broken the game in the franchise’s long, long past.
If you’re going to know every inch of the game before playing it, why even complain about a the “lead Pokemon” mechanic. May as well just codebreaker in a bunch of max stated legendaries if you want to eliminate any surprise or challenge from it.
I’m not one to shame people who use guides, codes, cheats, etc, -play how you have fun- but seeing as we’re now talking about using a guide book and knowing what’s coming anyway, your reasoning comes off as someone who’s too lazy to change their lineup to suit the situation they’re about to encounter, knowing full well what the situation will bring.
And maybe I’m alone here.. but even after repeated playthroughs, I don’t remember what half the gym leaders are gonna start out with, let alone what every trainer in the game is going to.
Really? I have no problem remembering exactly what each boss starts with.
And my point is still the same. Using those has never broken the game for anyone so I fail to see how being able to choose which you start with would do anything besides make it slightly more realistic.
I’m still playing White right now. Trying to finish it so I can get to these.
But one thing that’s seriously bugged me about Pokemon games for awhile was the battle flow. It’s so mindbogglingly slow. Attacks take forever to show their very minimal animations and start ups at the beginning of each battle are notoriously lengthy with the more and more animations they add. God help you if there’s weather involved. Thank you game, thank you for telling me it’s still sandstorming out and then showing me a 5 to 6 second animation of it sandstorming EVERY SINGLE TURN.
It’s my opinion that Pokemon could learn something from the Etrian Odyssey games, which also sport a minimal animation fighting style and their battle flow is much faster and still gets away with flashy animations.
That’s my ONLY gripe with this generation really but to be fair you can (and I did) turn off battle animations which vastly improve this.
I’m rather fond of the addition of more involved animations, though that’s just personal preference. But, with that said, the weather effects do take far, far too long and always have. I couldn’t stand using Groudon back in G3 and I still can’t for just that reason.. which is sad cause he’s one of the few Ground types I really like the look of.
From what I hear, the battles where even slower in gen 4, and I know for a fact that Pokemon stadium battles took forever because the animations where really long. I’m happy we’ve gotten away from that.
I think the battles now flow relatively well, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if they would be a bit quicker.
That also counts for the online battles, which are slow as molasses due to the text speed being set to the lowest and everything having somewhat of a delay.
Oh yeah, it’s not just Gen 5, Gen 4 bugged me equally.
And Sylveria, yeah I really love seeing the cool animations they make (I freaked out when I played Crystal for the first time) but I do wish they could speed it up, such as both trainers sending out their pokemon at the same time ect. It’s the little things really.
I’ve finished the game two days ago and also did a lot of the endgame content in the game.
Gotta say, from all the Pokémon games I’ve played, which are Blue, Silver, Saphire, White and now Black 2, Black and White 2 is probably my favorite ‘generation’ of games (replacing Gold and Silver on the top spot).
It’s a lot of little things that make this game awesome:
– the music (only track I kinda dislike is the remixed Team Plasma Battle theme, but that’s only when compared to the awesome original)
– the awesome earlygame Pokémon selection
– an actual difficulty curve throughout the game
– some nice references towards the first game(at least after using the unova link function, dunno if you get as many if you don’t use it)
– characters with actual character growth (what, in my pokeemans?!)
In total I think I agree with the review, it’s a great – maybe even the best – representation of a pokémon game, but if you know you hate the series, it probably won’t convert you. If you’re interested: Try it out now.
Also, am I the only one who had to laugh out loud when the new Champion Battle theme came up? It’s so… incredibly… happy compared to all the epic champ themes from the earlier games.
It’s by no means a bad track, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot after the initial shock. It just hit me off guard I guess.